The amount of immigrants that Canada hopes to accept over the next three years is determined by the Immigration Levels Plan.
Canada recently unveiled its Immigration Levels Plan for the years 2023–2025.
In 2023, Canada plans to take in 465,000 additional immigrants.
In 2024, the goal will increase to 485,000 new immigrants.
By 2025, there will be 500,000 more immigrants.
In 2021, Canada welcomed over 405,000 immigrants, breaking its previous record. This year, it hopes to welcome close to 432,000 immigrants.
The Immigration Levels Plan serves as a benchmark for how many immigrants Canada hopes to accept annually. Growing the economy, reuniting families, and providing asylum to refugees fleeing persecution abroad are among Canada’s immigration objectives.
Targets for PNP and Express Entry will increase
Most new immigrants who become permanent residents do so via Provincial Nomination programs (PNPs) or economic class programs like those found in the Express Entry system.
The following targets will increase for Express Entry landings of principal applicants, spouses, and dependents:
82,880 in 2023
109,020 in 2024
114,000 in 2025
The PNP will continue to be Canada’s top program for admitting immigrants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and its goals will also rise to:
105,500 in 2023
110,000 in 2024
117,500 in 2025
Increased PGP enrollment
The goal of IRCC is to reunite families. The Immigration Levels Plan’s second-largest permanent residence class after economic class programs is family class sponsorship. Programs for family-based immigration require sponsors to be a spouse, partner, kid, or another immediate family member.
Under the Spouses, Partners, and Children program, Canada will continue to seek to accept about 80,000 new immigrants each year.
The Parents and Grandparents Program’s target population will increase to 28,500 in 2023, 34,000 in 2024, and 36,000 in 2025.
Humanitarian and refugee populations are expected to shrink
Under the Immigration Levels Plan, refugees and humanitarian-class immigrants also receive funding. Canadians have a long history of granting sanctuary to refugees escaping dangerous conditions in their native countries.
Due to its continuous efforts to accomplish many programs, such as accepting almost 40,000 Afghan migrants, Canada now has high humanitarian class targets.
The overall target for the refugee population will be somewhat more than 76,000 new landings in 2023 and 2024, before falling to 72,750 in 2025.
The humanitarian class objective is on a downward trend as well, falling from around 16,000 in 2023 to 8,000 in 2025.
The immigration policy of Canada
In the 1980s, Canada’s present immigration policy started to take shape. The government at the time did not plan as far ahead and frequently based immigration targets on the current state of the economy.
Canada received fewer than 90,000 immigrants in 1984. The Canadian government, led by the Conservatives, anticipated a labor shortage in the early 1990s and upped immigration targets to 250,000 new permanent residents in just eight years.
The succeeding Liberal administration expanded on these goals but, as a result of a financial crisis, started to emphasize welcoming more immigrants from the economic class and lowering Canada’s proportion of immigrants from the family and humanitarian classes.
Before the current Liberal government entered office in 2015, Canada yearly admitted about 260,000 immigrants. The goals were raised to 300,000, then 340,000 just before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 started.
In 2020, IRCC had trouble processing applications due to border closures and other travel restrictions. Nevertheless, with 405,000 invited permanent immigrants, Canada surpassed its immigration goal for 2021 and shattered the previous record. Large spot allocations through the Canadian Experience Class and Provincial Nomination Programs (PNPs) allowed for the achievement of these goals.
In addition to a labor deficit, Canada is currently experiencing a rare time of roughly one million open positions. Both serve as catalysts for the nation’s expanding immigration goals.
Canada has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, at 1.4 children for every woman. This has an additional negative influence on labor shortages. Immigration will soon be the only option for Canada’s population and labor force to grow due to the slow natural increase in population (the number of births still exceeds the number of deaths each year). In addition, Canada needs immigrants to keep its tax base robust, which is important for funding necessities like healthcare and education.
The population of Canada is among the oldest in the world. By 2030, nine million individuals, or over one-fourth of Canada’s population, will be of retirement age. Because of this, there will be a severe labor shortage in all spheres of the economy.
According to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which is Canada’s primary immigration statute, the government is required to announce the Immigration Levels Plan each year by November 1. The 2022–2024 immigration levels plan was the second to be released in 2022, the first having been in February following the post–most recent federal election announcement being postponed until September 20, 2021.
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