My bet is on few years for travel to resume.
Very hard disagree. How about a dose of optimism for FSW? Here goes..
In spite of the recent supply chain issues with vaccines, Canada is on track to vaccinate their population by September 2021. And note that this is just using Pfizer and Moderna both of which are known to work very well even against the scary new variants. By end of Q1 (i.e April 2021), they will have vaccinated (using both doses) their most vulnerable population, which means in the summer we will see deaths, hospitalizations, and even cases
plummeting! We are already seeing deaths/hospitalizations/cases decreasing across North America. In fact, the US is on track to getting back to normal by Summer. This means that we will start seeing widespread rollback of restrictions starting this Summer. Of course, reopening borders will be last on their list, but it is definitely going to happen this year. They will probably start with reopening borders to the US sometime in the summer with some kind of proof of vaccination necessary to travel, since the vast majority of the US populace will be vaccinated by that time. Then they will probably start a staggered reopening for immigrants, since lots of outlanders have been waiting since October 2019. They would probably require a proof of vaccination, or offer to vaccinate you on landing, with some quarantine requirements (Note that Canada has ordered the
highest amount of vaccines per capita in the world, so there will be no shortage of vaccines to vaccinate new immigrants by the time they open up). I am very optimistic that outlanders will start landing in Canada in the last quarter of 2021. People like me (FSW-O, AOR September 2020) might have to wait until early 2022, but I am still very hopeful about spending my Christmas 2021 in the beautiful city of Montreal gorging on poutine while covered in three layers of clothing to keep myself warm. We have great vaccines and the general population is starting to get
real tired of lockdowns; once the vulnerable are vaccinated it won't be politically feasible to continue with strong restrictions.
My heart goes out to the FSW applicants in the pool, especially those who worked very hard to get to a competitive score and are going to lose points due to age. FSW draws are going to be unlikely in the next few months. But I'm confident they will start having FSW draws in the summer. Hang in there!