Thank you very much, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for inviting us here today.
I will take a few moments to make some opening remarks, and after that, we would be happy to take your questions.
As the committee is aware, immigration is crucial to Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to our country's long-term prosperity. The importance of immigration for Canada underlines the need for an agile and responsive immigration system.
As you know, last fall, our minister announced an immigration levels plan for 2020-22 that aims to increase admissions to 1.2 million over three years.
At the time, and acknowledging uncertainty, we were optimistic that admissions would be supported by entrants from abroad, with the easing of border measures restricting travel for approved permanent residents. However, given the ongoing need for our current border and travel restrictions to protect the health and safety of people in Canada, the government is looking at some creative additional measures that aim to capitalize on the talent and contributions of immigrants who are already in Canada.
We have in fact known for years that temporary residents make good candidates for permanent residence, as many have formed community ties that help them make a seamless transition to permanent resident status. Accordingly, the government made a decision to use public policies to launch, on May 6, a one-time pathway to permanent residence for over 90,000 temporary residents already in Canada.
This initiative focuses on three particular groups. The first is the group of health care and some other essential workers who have been on the front line of getting us through the pandemic. The second group are international student graduates who have recently graduated from Canadian institutions, given the tremendous contribution these graduates make to our economy and our society. Third are French-speaking candidates who we hope will settle in and support the vitality of francophone minority communities outside Quebec.
These public policies will end on November 5, 2021, or once the program stream has reached its maximum intake limit. Those limits are 40,000 applications for international student graduates, 20,000 applicants for temporary foreign workers in health care, and 30,000 applications for temporary foreign workers in other selected essential occupations. As noted, we have established streams for French-speaking applicants in these three groups. We have not set a limit on the number of applications we will take in these streams.
In terms of reaction to these initiatives, the stream for international graduates reached its capacity at midday on May 7, about 25 hours after it opened. We are monitoring the other streams. Information on the number of applications we are receiving is available in real time on the IRCC website.
Madam Chair, this pathway to permanent residence acknowledges the extraordinary service of newcomers to Canada throughout the pandemic.
On a wider level, it aims to both engage immigrants who are already here and to provide Canada with the workforce it needs for its economic recovery from the pandemic.
I hope this gives the committee some background regarding our recent actions.
We would now be happy to answer your questions.