Ottawa eliminates education and learning prerequisite for Hong Kongers pursuing permanent residency in Canada

A lot more folks from Hong Kong will now be qualified for long lasting residency (PR) in Canada with variations to immigration prerequisites amid China’s tightening of civil liberties in the previous British colony.

Setting up Aug. 15, there will no extended be an education and learning requirement for Hong Kongers with Canadian get the job done expertise who are implementing for permanent residency in Canada by means of one of two pathways. 

“Expanding Stream B will allow us to bring far more talented and vivid men and women from Hong Kong with useful Canadian perform expertise into our workforce,” reported Paul Chiang, parliamentary secretary to the federal minister of housing and range and inclusion, in a Tuesday announcement in Markham, Ont., on behalf of immigration minister Sean Fraser. 

“It lets us to welcome far more Hong Kongers although also concurrently aiding Canadian corporations fill labour gaps.”

Chiang said doing away with the education requirement would simplify the PR software system for Hong Kong citizens who are presently working in Canada with an open do the job allow. 

The alterations come one week after the federal federal government condemned Hong Kong authorities for issuing arrest warrants for eight pro-democracy activists — who now reside in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia — on alleged countrywide stability offences.

Expanding the Stream B pathway

In June 2021, Ottawa announced details for two new pathways exclusively for Hong Kong citizens and people trying to find Canadian everlasting residency.

Those pathways implement to individuals who have graduated from a Canadian article-secondary institution within the final 3 many years, considered element of Stream A.

Stream B, in the meantime, pertains to those who have graduated from a Canadian or competent foreign establishment in just the final 5 yrs, and worked in Canada entire-time for at minimum a single calendar year or section-time for at least 1,560 hours in the final three years.

At present, Stream B applicants need to have obtained their academic skills within 5 several years, especially, of making use of for long term residency — which means these who graduated 5 yrs back or more may not meet up with the cutoff by the time they have done the demanded period of get the job done in Canada. 

The revised Stream B pathway no lengthier necessitates instructional skills to have been attained in just a specified time body.

In its place, applicants only require to have at least a single 12 months of whole-time operate encounter or 1,560 hours of portion-time get the job done experience in Canada within just the previous 3 many years to use for long lasting residency — growing the variety of men and women suitable to apply.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), as of April 30, 2,358 Hong Kong residents have develop into Canadian lasting citizens through Stream A, although 764 have gone through Stream B.

The pathways are set to expire on Aug. 31, 2026.

New policy follows arrest warrants for activists

Since the introduction of China’s nationwide stability regulation in Hong Kong in July 2020, hundreds of thousands of men and women in the city have relocated to other nations, which includes Canada, in accordance to knowledge from the Hong Kong govt.

Beneath Beijing’s raising manage, Hong Kong has witnessed a quick decrease in totally free speech, press liberty, and other civil rights certain by the Primary Law, the region’s mini-constitution proven below the “a person place, two systems” framework dependent on the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984.

WATCH | What Hong Kong appears to be like 3 several years just after passage of China’s national security legislation:

Hong Kong’s national security law 3 decades later

A few yrs immediately after China introduced a countrywide security law for Hong Kong that cracked down on anti-govt protests, the city has adjusted. CBC’s Saša Petricic observed a various ambiance where dissent stays, but it’s a large amount quieter.

“Several persons need to depart Hong Kong mainly because of the human legal rights violation in Hong Kong now,” said Ken Tung, president of Vancouver’s Civic Education and learning Culture, who has actively supported democratic movements in Hong Kong since immigrating from Hong Kong to Canada 40 a long time ago.

“We can see the foreseeable future of Hong Kong will turn into worse under the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] regime from Beijing.”

Tung says the improvements to the Stream B pathway is beneficial news for Hong Kongers who are disillusioned with China’s failure to uphold their rights and freedoms for at the very least 50 many years.

Tung is calling for elevated settlement assistance, these as employment products and services, for Hong Kongers, a lot of of whom are gurus in their dwelling place and are expected to migrate to Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and other areas of Canada in the coming decades.

In Vancouver alone, data suggests a 6.1 for each cent raise in the populace of men and women born in Hong Kong inside of the city’s census metropolitan space above the earlier 5 many years, bringing the overall Hong Kong-born inhabitants to above 76,000 — marking a reversal in previous a long time-long trends of declining figures.

Obtaining home and belonging in Canada

Christopher Ng, who arrived in Vancouver past August to go after a master’s degree in geological engineering at the College of British Columbia, says he was driven by concerns about Hong Kong pursuing the anti-extradition law protests in 2019.

Ng claims the adjustments to the Stream B pathway would reinforce his self-confidence in permanently residing in Canada.

He adds that the new policy would also motivate lots of people in Hong Kong who are still taking into consideration no matter whether to immigrate to Canada.

“It feels like a neighborhood is seeking to transfer from Hong Kong to right here to discover another spot to try to improve an additional local community here,” he stated. 

“Individuals who are hoping to arrive right here will definitely be equipped to find a feeling of home and belonging in this article.”