The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced today that the other 2 streams are now open, offering a path to permanent residence for eligible Hong Kong residents in Canada who are workers or recent graduates. 

Eligible applicants must have valid temporary resident status and be in Canada both when they submit their application and when their permanent residence is granted. They must also meet the specified language, education, work and eligibility requirements, and they are subject to Canada’s regular immigration application and screening processes and admissibility requirements.

Full details are as follows:

Stream A – Applicants must have completed one of the following educational credentials at a post-secondary designated learning institution in Canada in the last 3 years, and they must have done at least 50% of their program of study (in person or online) while in Canada:

• degree (bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate)
• diploma from a program that is at least 2 years in length
• graduate or post-graduate credential (for a diploma or certificate) from a program that is at least 1 year in length; in addition, the program must require a post-secondary degree or diploma, which must have been earned no more than 5 years before starting the graduate or post-graduate program

Stream B – Applicants must have at least 1 year of full-time work experience (or the part-time equivalent, that is, at least 1,560 hours in total) in Canada in the last 3 years; they must also have completed one of the following at a post-secondary learning institution in or outside Canada in the last 5 years:

• degree (bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate)
• diploma from a program that is at least 2 years in length
• graduate or post-graduate credential (for a diploma or certificate) from a program that is at least 1 year in length; in addition, the program must require a post-secondary degree or diploma, which must have been earned no more than 5 years before starting the graduate or post-graduate program

To be eligible for this pathway, you must:

• hold a valid passport issued by one of the following:
  • Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China
  • United Kingdom to a British National (Overseas) as a person born, naturalized or registered in Hong Kong
• be physically present in Canada when you apply and when you get permanent residence
• have valid temporary resident status in Canada
• intend to live in Canada, in any province or territory other than the province of Quebec
• have a level 5 score in all 4 skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in either English or French in one of the following:
  • Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB)
  • Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC)

If you have a graduate or post-graduate diploma or certificate (Both Streams)

You must also have completed a post-secondary diploma or degree as a prerequisite to this graduate or post-graduate program. You must have competed this prerequisite diploma or degree in the 5 years before you started your graduate or post-graduate program.

How to meet the hours of work requirement (Stream B)

You must have been allowed to work legally in Canada for these hours to count. This means you either had a valid work permit, or you were exempt from needing a work permit.

You can’t include any hours of work that you spent

• as a full-time student
• self-employed
• working outside Canada
• on leave from your job (medical, parental or similar)
• on an extended absence outside Canada
• unemployed