Yes, IRCC said it's currently prioritizing applicants who are eligible to travel to Canada under COVID restrictions.Canada is not processing any outland candidates in any immigration programs. Ontario even wants to stop international student from entering the province. That's why IRCC created new program for people currently working or graduated in Canada. This people are living in the country right now, so they what to give them a chance. It's not fair for the outlands but this solution is cheaper and faster for them because most of the people who qualify has already a job or studied and live here. I don't think that IRCC will start processing outlands before the end of this year. The situation is very unstable and they have a solution for now.
This is where we come to the same point again. If an international student or any other non-restricted traveller can enter to Canada with 3 days mandatory hotel quarantine, why an outland applicant can’t enter?
They should not use travel restrictions as an excuse, they should tell the real intention behind it. There might be some economical reasons, I understand. But those Outland people are not coming to exploit Canadian resources, many of them directly start to contribute economy in many ways.
For example, in my case, I won’t be even looking for a job. I will continue to work in my current company, it has a six figure salary. Believe me many people don’t even care the government subsidies or COVID paychecks. They just want this limbo to end.