August is carrying more weight than usual this year. Two humanitarian policies are hitting expiry dates, a student pilot is opening a new intake window, and a major provincial nominee program is sitting on the edge of reopening.
Here’s what’s actually confirmed, and what’s still up in the air.
IRCC Overhauled How It Reports Backlogs
IRCC quietly redesigned its application inventory dashboard in July, dropping the percentage-of-applications-within-standard metric that applicants used to track monthly progress.
The new format reports raw totals instead, split into Economic, Family, and Protection categories for permanent residence. As of May 31, the department listed 1,517,770 applications still awaiting a decision across all lines, with 705,315 of those sitting in permanent residence alone.
Comparing old and new numbers side by side isn’t straightforward anymore. The next update under the new format lands sometime in August.
Francophone Student Pilot Opens A New Intake
The Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot opens its third annual intake on August 26, running through August 25, 2027, capped at 2,970 study permit applications.
The pilot gives French-speaking students from designated countries a direct route to permanent residence after finishing a Canadian credential, provided they hold a letter of acceptance from one of 17 participating institutions outside Quebec.
Hong Kong PR Pathways Close August 31
Both dedicated Hong Kong permanent residence streams, one for recent graduates and one for workers with a year of Canadian experience, are scheduled to close on August 31.
Applications filed before the deadline still get processed, though current wait times run past 12 months. IRCC hasn’t signaled whether an extension is coming, which makes this one of the month’s genuine open questions.
Express Entry Keeps Its Cluster Pattern
Draws are expected to continue through August, though IRCC gives no advance calendar. Recent months have followed a cluster pattern, with PNP, CEC, and French-language rounds bunching into three or four day windows rather than spreading evenly across the month.
French-language draws have been the busiest category this year, with a CRS cutoff that dropped to 399 in July.
Portage College PGWP Refusals Remain Unresolved
Graduates connected to Portage College campuses in Calgary and Edmonton are still fighting a wave of PGWP refusals tied to a June 24 clarification on IRCC’s website, which stated that non-credit programs don’t qualify for a post-graduation work permit.
IRCC maintains this isn’t a new rule, just a clarified one. A Change.org petition is asking the immigration minister to pause refusals on these files, but as of early August, no reconsideration has been announced.
Palestinian Temporary Measures Extended To 2027
The special measures for eligible Palestinian passport holders and certain family members, first introduced in 2023, were set to lapse on July 31. IRCC extended them again, this time through December 30, 2027.
Eligible applicants can still access fee-exempt study permits, open work permits, and status extensions under the policy.
Ontario’s Workforce Priority Stream Could Reopen
Ontario replaced eight OINP streams with a single Workforce Priority Stream in late June, covering all NOC TEER levels and adding a no-job-offer pathway for self-employed physicians.
The province closed its old expression of interest system in June and has said the new one reopens “later in the summer,” without giving a firm date. Roughly 1,100 nomination spots remain out of Ontario’s 2026 allocation.
Ebola Border Measures Set To Expire Late August
Temporary restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan are due to lift in stages: the travel document suspension ends August 28, and quarantine requirements follow on August 29.
A separate entry ban for anyone who’s been in the DRC within 21 days was added in July. Ottawa has said the health risk to Canadians remains low, but nothing here is locked in if the outbreak shifts before the scheduled end dates.