Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CEC) announced on Friday that the 20,000th permanent resident under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program has recently been admitted. The announcement signals CIC’s intent to make the CEC a bigger part of Canadian immigration, in an effort to improve the long-term labour market integration of the typical Canadian immigrant.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was joined by a Mr. Gaurav Gore, the 20,000th CEC permanent resident, at a news conference celebrating the program’s milestone. Mr. Kenney held Mr. Gore, a native of India who recently earned a master’s in business administration from the University of Toronto, and currently works at BMO Financial Group, as an exemplary immigrant of the type that the Department of Citizenship and Immigration wants to attract through the CEC program.

The CEC program allows temporary residents, either foreign graduates of Canadian post-secondary institutions or temporary foreign workers, to apply for Canadian permanent residence if they meet the program’s educational and work experience requirements.

CIC has said that programs like the CEC attract immigrants who are more likely to succeed because they require applicants to have Canadian work experience to qualify, which is a strong predictor of economic success in Canada.

Immigration authorities also prefer the CEC to more traditional immigration programs like the Federal Skilled Worker Program because individuals who apply under the post-graduate stream of the CEC have Canadian educational credentials, which provide more employability than many foreign credentials.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney noted this perceived advantage of post-graduate CEC applicants, saying “international student graduates have educational credentials that are recognized by Canadian employers as well as official language skills that are important factors for success.”