Dear Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship of Canada,

I want to bring your attention to the plight of temporary foreign workers in Canada who have been affected by the delay in the Express Entry-Canadian experience class (CEC) draw.

Most of the workers mentioned above comprise international students who have contributed significantly to Canada's economy and the job market. The current global pandemic crisis has already crippled the future prospects and economy of this community and made it harder for them to make their ends meet. The only ray of sunshine for them during this period was the hope of securing permanent residency sooner or later through the various streams that have been introduced throughout the years. These are law-abiding members of the community who has maintained their legal status for the last 4-5 years. Unfortunately, the previous CEC draw was in September 2021, and there have been no further updates in this matter. This scenario leaves no other options for a large portion of the Postgraduate work permit holders with expiring work permits in the near future other than to leave the country to comply with the legal requirements. This mass exodus will burn a hole in the Canadian economy and skilled job market as they already work and contribute to their communities. The others have already applied or planning to apply for temporary status to maintain their legal status. This may eventually lead to an exponential increase in the number of individuals waiting for this CEC draws and an increase in temporary residency applications, which will affect the already strained and overstretched Canadian immigration system, resulting in further processing delays. This could also affect the local economies.

Keeping in mind the enormous backlog of applications that we have in the immigration system due to the pandemic crisis and the looming crisis in Ukraine, we would like to put forward some recommendations aligned with the goals and sentiments of the temporary workers in Canada for your kind consideration and pursual.

· Resume the CEC draws as early as possible.

·Temporary workers can extend their work permits for at least 18 months.

· Re-opening of TR to PR pathway

· Priority PR application processing for international students who have graduated from a Canadian DLI.

· Fast Track PR application for in-Canada PNP candidates

· Prioritize the PR applications based on the expiry of temporary status

The Canadian Government has always supported the temporary workers in the past and has played a pivotal role in fulfilling their dreams by introducing various fast and innovative immigration pathways like TR to PR. We expect the same from you and hope positive and proactive measures will be taken to resolve the issues of the temporary foreign nationals.

Mathews Benny, RCIC.

KGraph Immigration Consultancy Inc.