Canada Adopts New Visa Policy

Canada Adopts New Visa Policy from August 2024. The new policy is stringent and changes the ease of visiting, tourism, business or immigration for Canada. The Canadian Government announced end of temporary public policy allowing visitors to apply for work permit from within the country. The move follows pressure on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for allowing open immigration to several thousand foreigners. Currently, there is a large chunk of foreigners, primarily from Indian nationality, that have taken immigration into Canada. Most importantly, there are travelers on visit visas who chose to settle in Canada after landing in the country.

Although, the Canadian government had plans to settle around 1.5 million immigrants in the country until 2026. The Canadian Immigration Levels Plan for 2024-26 had predictions for 485,000 immigrants in 2024. The plan had highlights for 500,000 immigrants in years 2025 and 2026 respectively. “Canada’s immigration goals are to strengthen the economy, reunite families, and help refugees,” stated the policy.

However, this sudden change in policy refers to the domestic pressure on the Conservative Party in Canada. Canada has one of the world’s oldest populations and also one of the world’s lowest birth rates. This creates economic and fiscal pressures. Canada has a low rate of natural population growth which results in low rates of labor force and economic growth. Low economic growth makes it difficult for Canada to raise the taxes it needs to support social spending on services such as education, health care, and other important areas that provide high living standards in the country.

As a result, Canada has been increasing its immigration levels since the late 1980s to increase its rate of population, labor force, and economic growth. Canada now depends on immigration for the majority of its population and labor force growth and a larger share of its economic growth.

Although, Canada’s open door policy has long remained to attract global talent, investors, entrepreneurs and artists from varying backgrounds. As Canada Adopts New Visa Policy, it mainly affects the genuine visitors to the country. The new policy may result in rejection of visitor visas to thousands of genuine visitors to Canada. Moreover, Canada announced a cut in temporary foreign workers a few days ago. The new policy reflects the immediate and sudden changes to the Canadian tourism, business and immigration regime.