The closure of Canada\u2019s \u201clifeboat\u201d migration scheme for Hongkongers has left some applicants who are struggling to meet permanent residency requirements in limbo, prompting others to consider alternative destinations such as the US and Britain.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong-based immigration agents made this observation on Sunday after Ottawa announced on Friday that its dedicated pathways for Hongkongers would stop accepting new applications on Monday. Applications submitted before the deadline will continue to be processed.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2021 in response to Beijing\u2019s imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong, the pathway allowed applicants to qualify for permanent residency either by completing a diploma or bachelor\u2019s degree at designated Canadian institutions, or obtaining an open work permit and working full-time in the country for at least one year, or accumulating 1,560 work hours.<\/p>\n
Benny Cheung Ka-hei, director of immigration consulting firm Goldmax, said the scheme\u2019s closure was widely expected amid Canada\u2019s tightening immigration policy.<\/p>\n
He noted that some Hongkongers who moved to the country failed to meet the requirements, particularly struggling with the English proficiency test and that the closure could shut down their route to permanent residence.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our clients moved to Canada but are busy or need to take care of children and remain unable to pass the English test despite multiple attempts,\u201d Cheung said. \u201cSome of them are stuck at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said some Hongkongers unable to qualify for permanent residency had begun seeking alternatives, prioritising the United Kingdom and the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The closure of Canada\u2019s \u201clifeboat\u201d migration scheme for Hongkongers has left some applicants who are struggling to meet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1177033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[318940,748,943,318938,393,318942,4884,3749,70229,40,114182,1144,32994,70771,318941,712,182,16,318939,15,49,1764],"class_list":["post-1177032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-bno-visa","tag-britain","tag-canada","tag-celpip","tag-england","tag-goldmax","tag-great-britain","tag-hong-kong","tag-hongkongers","tag-immigration","tag-national-security-law","tag-northern-ireland","tag-ottawa","tag-permanent-residency","tag-refugees-and-citizenship-canada","tag-scotland","tag-social-media","tag-uk","tag-uni-immigration-consultancy","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117183892969187542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}