Nearly 14,500 Hongkongers apply for work, study permits in Canada, taking advantage of new pathway to emigration
- Last year’s applicants include 9,100 seeking jobs and record 5,355 wanting to study in Canada
- Many blue-collar jobs available but younger Hongkongers shun them, emigration consultants say
Canada’s relaxed immigration pathway for Hongkongers drew a strong response last year, with nearly 14,500 applying to work or study there as a step towards obtaining permanent residence (PR).
Most Hongkongers hoping to emigrate eyed moving to Britain, but Canadian applications helped raise to almost 100,000 the total who left or applied to go to the two countries in the first nine months of last year.
A record 38,167 Hongkongers also applied to police last year for certificates of no criminal conviction (CNCC), a requirement for emigration to Canada, the United States and Australia.
Canada’s immigration authority, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), told the Post the country’s Hong Kong Pathway programme received 9,110 applications in the first nine months of last year.
The scheme, providing work permits valid for up to three years and leading to PR there, was announced last February. To qualify for PR, applicants must work full-time in Canada for at least one year, or chalk up 1,560 hours in total.
IRCC said 698 of the work permit applications were either refused or withdrawn, but gave no details.
Canada also announced that those who graduated from designated postsecondary learning institutes in the country would be allowed to apply for PR.