Canadian immigration interest increased significantly in the months between April and August 2020.

The interest in Canadian immigration has been increasing as the restrictions due to the Coronavirus pandemic have loosened. 

According to a recent survey conducted by World Education Services, it was observed that the coronavirus pandemic has changed the intentions of potential immigration aspirants about immigration to Canada.

WES had surveyed many prospective Canadian immigrants, who had applied for WES evaluations between the months of January 2019 and July 2020. 27,930 valid responses were analyzed for this report by the WES.

The key findings reported by WES were as follow:

• Interest in Canadian immigration increased significantly in potential immigration aspirants between the months of April and August.
• There was a steep decrease in the number of immigration aspirants who were planning to postpone immigration to Canada.
• Potential immigration aspirants are expecting to find the economic conditions in their home country to be a lot worse than in Canada. 

This was the third survey report which was released by WES. The first report covered attitudes of potential immigrants toward Canadian immigration during the first major wave of the pandemic in the month of April 2020. The second survey reported about the attitudes of potential immigrants toward Canadian immigration during the month of June 2020. The third and most recent survey reported on the attitudes of potential immigrants toward Canadian immigration during the month of August 2020.

Out of all the candidates who took part in this survey, about 46 percent, were of Indian nationality, 17 percent, were of Nigerian nationality. 5 percent were of Philippian nationality, 4 percent were of Pakistani nationality, Lebanon and Bangladesh nationals comprised of about 2 percent of respondents, and the remaining 25 percent were mentioned as “other” countries.

Major points observed from this survey are:

1. Potential immigration aspirants expect more negative post-Coronavirus economic conditions in their home country.
2. COVID-19 is expected by the majority to negatively affect job availability.
3. The majority of potential immigration aspirants are interested in immigrating to Canada.
4. Potential immigration aspirants are undeterred by the economic hardship and the economic recession they might have to face after immigrating.
5. A decrease in the availability of jobs in immigrant occupations is not expected to be a deterrent for more than half of the candidates who took part in the survey.
6. Most increased interest in Canadian immigration was shown by Philippines nationals.
7. Very few are thinking about immigration to Canada.
8. The major deterrents faced by immigration aspirants who wish to immigrate to Canada are less job availability, the possibility of economic recession, and strict travel restrictions.