Ottawa removes education requirement for Hong Kongers pursuing permanent residency in Canada

More people from Hong Kong will now be eligible for permanent residency (PR) in Canada with changes to immigration requirements amid China's tightening of civil liberties in the former British colony.

Starting Aug. 15, there will no longer be an education requirement for Hong Kongers with Canadian work experience who are applying for permanent residency in Canada through one of two pathways. 

"Expanding Stream B will allow us to bring more talented and bright individuals from Hong Kong with valuable Canadian work experience into our workforce," said Paul Chiang, parliamentary secretary to the federal minister of housing and diversity and inclusion, in a Tuesday announcement in Markham, Ont., on behalf of immigration minister Sean Fraser. 

"It allows us to welcome more Hong Kongers while also simultaneously helping Canadian businesses fill labour gaps."

Chiang said eliminating the education requirement would simplify the PR application process for Hong Kong citizens who are already working in Canada with an open work permit. 

The changes come one week after the federal government condemned Hong Kong authorities for issuing arrest warrants for eight pro-democracy activists — who now reside in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia — on alleged national security offences.

Expanding the Stream B pathway

In June 2021, Ottawa announced details for two new pathways exclusively for Hong Kong citizens and residents seeking Canadian permanent residency.

Those pathways apply to individuals who have graduated from a Canadian post-secondary institution within the last three years, considered part of Stream A.

Stream B, meanwhile, pertains to those who have graduated from a Canadian or qualified foreign institution within the last five years, and worked in Canada full-time for at least one year or part-time for at least 1,560 hours within the last three years.

Currently, Stream B applicants need to have obtained their educational qualifications within five years, specifically, of applying for permanent residency — meaning those who graduated five years ago or more may not meet the cutoff by the time they have completed the required duration of work in Canada. 

The revised Stream B pathway no longer requires educational qualifications to have been obtained within a certain time frame.

Instead, applicants only need to have at least one year of full-time work experience or 1,560 hours of part-time work experience in Canada within the last three years to apply for permanent residency — expanding the number of people eligible to apply.

According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), as of April 30, 2,358 Hong Kong residents have become Canadian permanent residents through Stream A, while 764 have gone through Stream B.

The pathways are set to expire on Aug. 31, 2026.

New policy follows arrest warrants for activists

Since the introduction of China's national security law in Hong Kong in July 2020, hundreds of thousands of people in the city have relocated to other countries, including Canada, according to data from the Hong Kong government.

Under Beijing's increasing control, Hong Kong has witnessed a rapid decline in free speech, press freedom, and other civil rights guaranteed by the Basic Law, the region's mini-constitution established under the "one country, two systems" framework based on the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984.

WATCH | What Hong Kong looks like 3 years after passage of China's national security law:

Hong Kong’s national security law three years later

1 year ago

Duration 5:45

Three years after China introduced a national security law for Hong Kong that cracked down on anti-government protests, the city has changed. CBC’s Saša Petricic found a different atmosphere where dissent remains, but it’s a lot quieter.

"Many people need to leave Hong Kong because of the human rights violation in Hong Kong now," said Ken Tung, president of Vancouver's Civic Education Society, who has actively supported democratic movements in Hong Kong since immigrating from Hong Kong to Canada 40 years ago.

"We can see the future of Hong Kong will become worse under the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] regime from Beijing."

Tung says the changes to the Stream B pathway is positive news for Hong Kongers who are disillusioned with China's failure to uphold their rights and freedoms for at least 50 years.

Tung is calling for increased settlement support, such as employment services, for Hong Kongers, many of whom are professionals in their home country and are expected to migrate to Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and other parts of Canada in the coming years.

In Vancouver alone, data indicates a 6.1 per cent increase in the population of individuals born in Hong Kong within the city's census metropolitan area over the past five years, bringing the total Hong Kong-born population to over 76,000 — marking a reversal in previous decades-long trends of declining numbers.

Finding home and belonging in Canada

Christopher Ng, who arrived in Vancouver last August to pursue a master's degree in geological engineering at the University of British Columbia, says he was driven by concerns about Hong Kong following the anti-extradition law protests in 2019.

Ng says the changes to the Stream B pathway would strengthen his confidence in permanently residing in Canada.

He adds that the new policy would also encourage many people in Hong Kong who are still considering whether to immigrate to Canada.

"It feels like a community is trying to move from Hong Kong to here to find another place to try to grow another community here," he said. 

"People who are trying to come here will definitely be able to find a sense of home and belonging here."