Canada Relaxed Rules For Students Seeking PR Through Express Entry

A piece of good news for students who studied online during the pandemic, the Canadian government has relaxed rules for PR eligibility through their Express Entry system, which will come as a huge relief to thousands of students.

Students enrolled in Canadian universities who had to complete their courses online due to the pandemic are now eligible for Canadian educational credential points.

Normally, online education does not count for Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points if it accounts for more than 50% of the programme.

But now, Express Entry candidates will now be eligible for Canadian educational credential points for programmes completed online between March 2020 and August 2022, due to a new Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) update.

The new measure, according to the IRCC, applies to those who earned a Canadian degree, diploma, or certificate online during the eligibility period. Candidates may now be eligible for CRS points even if the program was either;

• completed online,
• from outside Canada, or
• through part-time studies.

IRCC also recommends Express Entry candidates update their profiles by August 2 in order to benefit from a new measure that counts online, out-of-country, and part-time studies for points.