Voyageur 94
Oil Broke $126 This Morning. The Strait Still Has No End Date, and Getting Canadian Permanent Residency Just Got About 4 Per Cent More Expensive.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Oil Broke $126 This Morning. The Strait Still Has No End Date.
Brent crude briefly blew past $126 a barrel Thursday morning - its highest since the early days of Russia's Ukraine invasion in March 2022 - as U.S.-Iran talks collapsed and President Trump reportedly signed off on plans for fresh military strikes. Before the war started in late February, Brent was sitting around $70.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas, has been almost entirely shut since February 28 when the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran. A ceasefire landed on April 8, but Iran is still blocking the strait in retaliation for an American naval blockade on Iranian shipping. Neither side appears to be in any hurry to back down. Eurozone inflation climbed to 3 per cent in April from 2.6 per cent in March, with energy prices up nearly 11 per cent driving most of that jump.
For Canadians abroad, the math depends a lot on where you live. European costs keep climbing. Some countries are more exposed to Middle East energy flows than others. Back home, Canadian oil sands production runs through pipelines rather than tankers, so Hormuz barely dents domestic supply - but it does turbocharge government revenues, which is partly how Carney's spring budget came in with a much smaller deficit than forecast (Voyageur 92).
The last time traders were forced to absorb a $126 oil shock, the world was still digesting what Russia's war meant. This time, no one seems to know how long the stalemate lasts.
Read more: The Globe and Mail / CBC News
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Getting Canadian Permanent Residency Just Got About 4 Per Cent More Expensive
As of today, April 30, IRCC has bumped processing fees across every permanent residence category. Express Entry applicants are looking at $990 per person instead of $950. The Right of Permanent Residence Fee - the one that applies to most PR categories and can be deferred until later in the process - went from $575 to $600.
Family sponsorship saw the steepest percentage climb at roughly 6 per cent, with the sponsored principal applicant fee going from $545 to $570. Business class applicants took the biggest dollar hit, up to $1,895 from $1,810. Dependent children and protected persons saw smaller bumps, closer to 4 per cent.
If you applied online before today, you are locked in at the old rate. If you deferred your RPRF payment and haven't paid it yet, you owe $600 - even if you submitted the rest of your application at the old rate. That one catches people off guard.
For Canadians abroad who are either planning to return, sponsoring a spouse or partner, or helping family members come over, this is a modest increase rather than a dramatic one. A family of four going through Express Entry and their RPRF payments is looking at roughly an extra $130-170 more than they would have paid yesterday. Not catastrophic - but worth knowing.
Read more: CIC News