Canada's Immigration Minister recently announced an easier immigration route for Hong Kong young persons to study and work in the country, in response to the National Security Law imposed by the Chinese government this year. HK residents who have graduated from university in the past five years will be eligible to apply to work in Canada for three years. The procedure of obtaining a status of permanent residence (PR) will also be streamlined if they and their spouses/dependents plan to live in Canada indefinitely.

Canada is the third country to announce special arrangements for Hongkongers, further to the announcement of a streamlined pathway for settlement made by the UK and Australia in July 2020.

Comments by Karen Hsu, Education Services Manager for Hong Kong

Since the UK government’s announcement on British National Overseas (BNO) visa for Hongkongers who were born in or before 1997, the Australian government also decided to offer current and prospective students (from HK) a path to permanent residency after working in the country for five years under a graduate visa. With a new graduate route leading to citizenship offered by Canadian government, prospective students from Hong Kong now have more options to choose from in 2021. Below is a table summarising each country’s new policy:

It is difficult at this stage to foresee how the relaxed immigration policies offered by the Australia and Canada governments will impact on UK’s market share, but it is inevitable that this would intensify the already competitive student recruitment market in HK.

Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3109642/canada-reaches-out-hong-kong-students-amid-china