Trends and Catch Ups
Sep 8, 2025

I’m a creature of habit when it comes reflections and drawing conclusions on my experiences: it's the best way to observe from a different perspective and cement new knowledge.
First year of entrepreneurship was many things, but if I were to choose one word to describe it, it would probably be ‘messy’.
I didn’t create a business plan, didn’t have a clear ‘market entry’ strategy, nor did I have a structured work-day.
Instead, I threw myself into this practice, receiving opportunities as they came, and figured everything out as it appeared on my radar.
This strategy still worked - I’ve retained 20 clients most of whom already received approval letters while others are still processing with the IRCC.
Out of these 20:
3 cases for family sponsorship cases
5 cases for work permit (special measures of Ukrainian and Israeli citizens)
2 cases for visitor visa
3 cases for LMIA
2 cases for work permit extension
1 case for IEC (Working Holiday)
2 cases for study permit extensions
2 cases for study permits
Plus 15 paid consultations, 23 free discovery calls, and 5 paid review services.
This year has been tough: immigration strategies that worked flawlessly for years prior are no longer available, leaving applicants and immigration professionals in a bitter spot of not knowing what to do next.
Do you advise your client to learn French? Move to a different province and pursue occupation-specific stream? Go after a Masters/PhD?
French seems to be a solid option with Express Entry conducting 5 draws (so far) in 2025 and the public announcement of the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan to continue increasing French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec, bringing them to 10% by 2027.
Is it even possible to pick up French to the desired level? Honestly, when there is a will, there is a way. Especially with numerous resources that became available, I strongly believe it can be a very solid option.
Many provinces are also including French-specific streams but outside PR pathways and strategies, speaking French allows you to apply for a work permit in alignment with a valid job offer from a Canadian employer.
And ultimately having a work permit = more time to gain Canadian work experience.
International students that came to Canada to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree, with perfect English and 3 years of Canadian work experience are no longer competitive enough to receive an invitation to apply under general Canadian Experience Class.
What can you do in this case?
If going back home is an option, gaining 1 year of foreign work experience can boost the Express Entry profile by additional 50 point which can be enough to receive the invitation to apply within the next rounds.
If pursuing a Masters Degree in Canada is an option, consider doing that too - it will increase your CRS points with Express Entry and may offer provincial pathways that have dedicated streams for graduate students.
Married? Consider assessing yourself and your spouse separately for PR eligibility, especially if you both work in different industries and have an age difference.
Temporary Foreign Workers.
Looking at recent news, it looks like we moved the scapegoat from international students to temporary foreign workers for everything that is wrong with Canada.
The misuse and abuse of the temporary foreign worker program (and the workers) has been an ongoing issue but has been getting more attention over the last few years as many individuals have been using it to claim additional points in the Express Entry system.
It scares me how accurately the Netflix show “Black Mirror” represents our society - everything that starts with a good intention, eventually gets twisted, corrupt, and strays away from what it was intended to accomplish.
I still believe that hiring foreign talent can greatly benefit the Canadian labour market - after all, the quality of education is different all over the world and each individual has their own specialized knowledge or skillset that may not be easily available in Canada.
The only sustainable way (in my opinion) to make it work is for ESDC (Employment and Social Development Canada) to come up with non-negotiable labour market benefit activities and enforce them by conducting annual checks.
The temporary foreign program can still offer a transition to permanent residence depending on the applicant's background, however nowadays the chances are not as concrete and predictable as what they used to be.
My opinion on the temporary foreign worker program remains the same - it is merely a tool to address Canada's labour and talent gaps (within measure and common sense of course).
Provincial Nominee Programs & Express Entry.
This year was a tough year in immigration. Have I said it already?
The number of nomination letters that each province could issue were slashed in (almost) half and Express Entry cutoff scores for Canadian Experience Class have been at all time high.
What does this mean?
It means that planning to transition to permanent residence must start as early as possible: will your CRS score be competitive enough? Is there anything you can do to improve your score? Is your occupation considered to be essential by the province? Does your occupation fall under targeted occupations per Express Entry list? Will you meet the minimum cutoff for the provincial draw? When does your work permit expire and can you extend it?
If working with an immigration representative used to be 'princess treatment', now I would consider it a 'basic minimum' if you want to ensure success in your journey toward becoming a permanent resident of Canada.
From my consultations, I found myself saying to create a profile with Express Entry and Provincial Nominee Program, to maximize the chance of being selected - obviously this advice came after calculating their score under both systems.
For example: the most recent OINP draw selected administrative assistants, tile setters, and many others as priority occupations.
The cutoff score for the foreign worker stream was 42 points and 63 points for international student stream, both of which are more attainable if we compare with the recent cutoff scores for Express Entry’s Canadian Experience Class.
Business Immigration: SUV and Entrepreneur Streams (PNP)
Despite the things I hear about how these programs are unreliable and result in high refusals, I professionally disagree - when the applicant is genuine, has relevant experience that is verified by legitimate documentation, meets program eligibility requirements and actually works on their Canadian business venture, what ground would IRCC have to refuse this application?
The issue at hand for SUV is that we are seeing 'unprecedented' refusals in 2025 - but have we considered how many of these applicants actually had their own business idea, not the business idea that was developed for them by a third party agent?
SUV (before the IRCC capped each DO to issue 10 letters of support per year) was a very lucrative business for many third party service providers that offered full-support starting from the business ideation until receiving the letter of support.
In the end, SUV was sold as a package to say that 'you don't even have to ensure that your business succeeds, you just have to present a valid business idea to the IRCC that is backed by the letter of support'.
Word-for-word of what I heard during a few consultation calls that I had with those service providers.
And now to add into equation that SUV applications took approximately 2~3 years to process - isn't it obvious why there are so many refusals now?
Another issue that I observed with SUV is that some agents put together a group of 5 founders to ease the cost of getting the LOS. When you have a group of 5 strangers that you don't know and never worked with - what do you think happens when they are put together in a 2~3 year committed relationship?
Some married couples don't even last that long.
Entrepreneurs that choose PNP streams for immigration must also put in a lot of work into their business. The process is slightly different than SUV - eligible applicant must get a work permit first, work for about 1 year, apply to the province for nomination and once approved, can then apply for PR.
All of this to say: if you think (or are being sold on an idea) that purchasing or setting up a business will be an easy pathway toward getting PR - think again. Nothing is easy, especially now.
Refugees, asylum seekers and humanitarian cases are outside my areas of expertise so now would be the time to wrap up this post and share my knowledge and expertise on Canadian immigration in the following posts.
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Even though I chose the word ‘messy’ to describe my first year of entrepreneurship, it was also very rewarding and liberating.
Rewarding in a way that I gave myself the entire summer off - in May I travelled to the US and Europe so I made sure to wrap up and submit all my cases ahead of time.
In August I was presented with an opportunity to visit Russia, my homeland, the place where I was born, and spend time with my extended family.
I don’t get to visit Russia often because my parents and grandparents migrated to Korea so this time was truly special - to have an opportunity to pack overnight and catch a flight to Russia without asking for permission to take vacation/time-off is a true form of quiet luxury.
Stick around for more immigration content! After a full summer of rest, I am ready and recharged to share my knowledge on the topic of Canadian immigration!