Establishes how the regulations govern selection criteria — points, language requirements, education, and work experience. Express Entry operates under this authority.
(1)The regulations may provide for any matter relating to the application of this Division, and may define, for the purposes of this Act, the terms used in this Division.
(2)The regulations may prescribe, and govern any matter relating to, classes of permanent residents or foreign nationals, including the classes referred to in section 12, and may include provisions respecting(a) selection criteria, the weight, if any, to be given to all or some of those criteria, the procedures to be followed in evaluating all or some of those criteria and the circumstances in which an officer may substitute for those criteria their evaluation of the likelihood of a foreign national’s ability to become economically established in Canada;
(b)applications for visas and other documents and their issuance or refusal, with respect to foreign nationals and their family members;
(c)the number of applications that may be processed or approved in a year, the number of visas and other documents that may be issued in a year, and the measures to be taken when that number is exceeded;
(d)conditions that may or must be imposed, varied or cancelled, individually or by class, on permanent residents and foreign nationals;
(e)sponsorships;
(e.1)undertakings, and penalties for failure to comply with undertakings;
(f)deposits or guarantees of the performance of obligations under this Act that are to be given by any person to the Minister;
(f.1)the power to inspect, including the power to require documents to be provided for inspection, for the purpose of verifying compliance with undertakings; and
(g)any matter for which a recommendation to the Minister or a decision may or must be made by a designated person, institution or organization with respect to a foreign national or sponsor.
14.1 (1) For the purpose of supporting the attainment of economic goals established by the Government of Canada, the Minister may give instructions establishing a class of permanent residents as part of the economic class referred to in subsection 12(2) and, in respect of the class that is established, governing any matter referred to in paragraphs 14(2)(a) to (g), 26(a), (b), (d) and (e) and 32(d) and the fees for processing applications for permanent resident visas or for permanent resident status and providing for cases in which those fees may be waived.Limitation(2) Despite any instruction given by the Minister under paragraph 87.3(3)(c), no more than 2,750 applications in a class established under subsection (1) may be processed in any year.Application of regulations(3) Subject to subsection (4), regulations that apply to all classes prescribed under subsection 14(2) that are part of the economic class referred to in subsection 12(2) apply to a class established under subsection (1).Exception(4) The Minister may specify in an instruction that regulations made under subsection 14(2), paragraph 26(a), (b), (d) or (e) or 32(d) or subsection 89(1) do not apply to a class established under subsection (1).Non-application of regulations(5) For greater certainty, regulations that apply to only one class prescribed under subsection 14(2) that is part of the economic class referred to in subsection 12(2) — or to only certain classes that are part of that economic class — do not apply to a class established under subsection (1). However, an instruction given under that subsection may specify otherwise.Non-application of instructions(6) The instructions do not apply in respect of a class prescribed by the regulations.Compliance with instructions(7) An officer must comply with the instructions before processing an application and when processing one.Amendments to instructions(8) An instruction that amends another instruction may, if it so provides, apply in respect of applications in a class established by the original instruction that are pending on the day on which the amending instruction takes effect.Effective period — limitation(9) An instruction given under subsection (1) has effect for the period specified in the instruction, which is not to exceed five years starting on the day on which the instruction first takes effect. No amendment to or renewal of an instruction may extend the five-year period.Pending applications(10) Despite subsection (9), the Minister may direct officers to process, after the end of the effective period of an instruction, applications in a class established by the instruction that were made during the period in which the instruction had effect.Service Fees Act(11) The Service Fees Act does not apply in respect of the fees referred to in subsection (1).Publication(12) Instructions must be published in the Canada Gazette.