A leading businesses advocacy group says economic immigration to Canada needs to be increased to almost two-thirds of all newcomers to the country to help companies dealing with serious labour shortages.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser laid out Ottawa’s plans for immigration for the next three years Tuesday.
In its 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government is targeting record immigration to Canada each year through 2025.
The target for next year is 465,000 new permanent residents. The country would then welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
That’s a total of 1.45 million immigrants to Canada over the coming three years.
The Business Council of Canada thinks that record immigration is great. But the business advocacy group also wants Ottawa to make economic immigration a bigger piece of that immigration pie.
“Unfortunately, economic-class permanent residents represent only 58.5 per cent of total admissions in the plan announced today,” said Goldy Hyder, the Business Council of Canada’s president and CEO, in a statement.
“This is far fewer than the number needed to support Canadians’ high standard of living.”
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data for the first eight months of this year reveal the country welcomed 186,195 new permanent residents through economic immigration programs during that period.
Economic Immigration On Track To Be 60.2 Per Cent Of All Immigration To Canada This Year
Those who came to Canada through those economic immigration programs in the first eight months of this year comprised 60.2 per cent of the total 309,240 new permanent residents to the country during that period.
Based on that trend, Canada is already on track to welcome 279,292 new permanent residents under economic programs this year, roughly 2.6 per cent or 7,267 new permanent residents more under those programs than Ottawa is targeting for next year under the new immigration levels plan.
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Adopting the Business Council of Canada’s target of 65 per cent for economic immigration, the country would see 302,250 new permanent resident under economic immigration programs out of the total 465,000 next year.
That would be 30,225 more immigrants under economic programs next year, another 31,525 extra in 2024, and 32,500 more in 2025 than are currently to be allowed under the latest immigration levels plan.
The Business Council of Canada’s higher economic immigration target could mean 94,250 more workers settling in Canada over the next three years than the 848,250 currently projected under the latest immigration levels plan.
Eight Out Of 10 Businesses Having Trouble Finding Staff, Survey Reveals
A survey of Business Council of Canada members earlier this year revealed 80 per cent of them are having trouble finding skilled workers and 67 per cent of those businesses have canceled or delayed major projects because of the labour shortages.
The business association maintains economic immigration is critical to growing the Canadian economy.
“Every job that is not filled represents one less person contributing to Canada’s economic growth and one less person paying taxes to support Canada’s social infrastructure,” said Hyder.
The Global Talent Stream (GTS), a part of the TFWP, can under normal processing situations lead to the granting of Canadian work permits and processing of visa applications within two weeks.
Employers can also bring in foreign nationals to fill available positions through the Express Entry system, which receives immigration applications online.
A hiring blitz at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is barely making a dent in the department’s inventory of applications for permanent and temporary residency and citizenship.
At the end of the first week of June this year, there was a backlog of roughly 2.39 million applications at the IRCC.
Fast forward four months and the IRCC’s backlog of applications is even higher at more than 2.5 million.
That’s despite a hiring blitz announced about a month ago to bring on 1,250 more employees at the immigration department this fall and several measures announced in late April to help Canadian employers deal with the challenge of finding employees amid a severe labour shortage.
In late April, the IRCC announced:
the resumption of Express Entry draws starting in July of this year;
a temporary policy to give recent international graduates with expiring temporary status the opportunity to stay in Canada longer;
the extension of a temporary public policy to allow foreign nationals in Canada as visitors to apply for an employer-specific work permit without having to leave Canada until the end of February 2023, and;
Despite those changes, the backlog at the IRCC initially only grew over the summer as the immigration department was flooded with a record level of applications.
By mid-July, the IRCC was staring down more than 2.6 million applications.
Since then, the department has made some headway. Applications at the IRCC have since fallen by almost 4.3 per cent, or 112,432 applications.
In an emailed response to Immigration.ca, IRCC spokesperson Isabelle Dubois said the department’s performance in August and September “largely matched projections.”
The latest drop in the IRCC’s inventory of applications comes as immigration to Canada shows every sign of setting a new record again this year.
Based on the trend in the first eight months of this year, Canada is poised to welcome 463,860 new permanent residents by the end of this year, or almost 7.5 per cent more than the 431,645 targets in the Immigration Levels Plan for 2022.
Applications Are Being Processed Faster But There Record Numbers Of Them
Under pressure to deal with the backlog, the IRCC made a distinction between the number of applications it has in its inventories and applications which have taken longer to process than allowed under service standards.
In her response to Immigration.ca, Dubois pointed out that although the total number of applications in the department’s inventory was nudging back up again in the first few weeks of October, applications are being processed faster.
The number of applications the IRCC defines as backlog is going down.
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“The percentage of applications in backlog has remained consistent for permanent residence at 53 per cent, and decreased for temporary residence from 59 to 54 per cent and citizenship grants from 35 to 31 per cent,” wrote Dubois.
“This means that we are well on our way to meeting our goals to reduce overall backlogs and process 80 per cent of new applications within service standards – and we will continue to do what it takes to get there.”
The latest IRCC data reveals citizenship applications in the department’s inventory fell by more than 9.1 per cent, from 387,368 in mid-July to 351,964 by Oct. 3.
Permanent residency applications also fell from mid-July through to Oct. 3, decreasing almost 1.7 per cent from 514,116 to 505,562 applications, a drop of 8,554.
Applications For Privately-Sponsored Refugees Fell By 6.9%
A big chunk of the drop in permanent residency applications, 57.3 per cent of that reduction in applications in that category, is due to a decrease of 4,905 privately-sponsored refugee applications, a drop of 6.9 per cent from the 71,076 in mid-July.
Under the economic programs, the IRCC had 9,484 fewer applications in its inventory at the start of October than it did in mid-July as the number of those applications fell almost 4.5 per cent from 211,903 to 202,419.
The biggest change in that category of programs during that period was the reduction of 7,100 applications under the Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program, a cut of 39.1 per cent from the 18,127 applications in July to 11,027 in early October.
During that same period, the number of applications in the IRCC inventory for the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP) was cut almost exactly in half as the federal government transitioned away from the pilot towards the permanent version of that program.
There was a drop of 7,269 in the number of Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) applications through Express Entry but that was more than offset by aspike of 8,809 PNP applications received outside the Express Entry system.
Applications in the IRCC inventory for the Quebec Skilled Worker program dropped by 3,626 during that period and applications under the one-time TR-to-PR pathway were down by a comparable amount, 3,966.
Temporary residence applications in the IRCC’s inventory fell by just under four percent, or 68,474 applications, from July through to October.
That result is largely attributable to the reduction of 62,748 study permit applications and another drop of 4,109 study permit extension applications during that period, for a total of 66,857 student-related applications, as the school year got underway.
Permanent Residence Applications as of Oct. 3, 2022
Immigration Category
Program
Total
Economic
Agri-Food Pilot Program
830
Atlantic Immigration Pilot Programs
1,194
Atlantic Immigration Program
320
Canadian Experience Class (EE)
7,420
Canadian Experience Class (No EE)
115
Caring for Children
42
Federal Investor
4
Federal Self Employed
3,831
Federal Skilled Workers (C-50)
134
Federal Skilled Workers (EE)
11,027
Federal Skilled Workers (Pre C-50)
23
High Medical Needs
4
Home Child Care Pilot
19,842
Home Support Worker Pilot
9,034
Interim Pathway Measure
536
Live-in Caregiver
754
Provincial/Territorial Nominees (EE)
20,656
Provincial/Territorial Nominees (No EE)
44,408
Quebec Entrepreneur
249
Quebec Investor
10,484
Quebec Self Employed
78
Quebec Skilled Workers
20,944
Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
1,167
Skilled Trades (EE)
293
Skilled Trades (No EE)
5
Start-up Business
1,599
TR to PR
47,426
Economic – Total
202,419
Family Class
Children & Other Family Class
8,761
FCH-Family relations – H&C
2,575
Parents and Grandparents
53,530
Spouses & Partners
60,622
Family Class – Total
125,488
Humanitarian & Compassionate / Public Policy
HC & PH class-ADM Dependant Person Overseas
44
Humanitarian & Compassionate Straight
10,868
Humanitarian & Compassionate with Risk or Discrimination
13,635
Public Policy With RAP
38
Public Policy Without RAP
4,665
Humanitarian & Compassionate / Public Policy – Total
29,250
Permit Holders Class – Total
21
Protected Persons
Blended Visa Office-Referred
195
Dependants Abroad of Protected Persons
27,088
Federal Government-assisted Refugees
30,659
Privately Sponsored Refugees
66,171
Protected Persons Landed In Canada
23,435
Quebec Government-assisted Refugees
836
Protected Persons – Total
148,384
Overall – Total
505,562
Temporary Residence Applications as of Oct. 3, 2022
Another 3,150 Afghan refugees came to Canada in October, increasing the number who have come here to more than 23,500.
“Earlier today, two charter flights with Afghan nationals landed in Toronto and Edmonton. We’ll continue to work hard to safely resettle at least 40,000 individuals by the end of 2023,” tweeted Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on Wednesday.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has developed several unique programs and measures to bring Afghanis to Canada out of recognition for the help they provided during Canada’s combat role and, later, its peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan from 2001 through 2021.
During those missions, 158 Canadian Armed Forces members died in the cause of peace and freedom in Afghanistan.
With the Taliban fundamentalist Islamic group finally seizing control of the country last year, many Afghanis have been seeking to escape out of fear of retribution for their help of Canada’s missions and support for western democratic freedoms.
Through the IRCC’s special programs, Canada is planning to bring to safety:
5,000 Afghans through the permanent residence pathway for extended family members of former interpreters;
18,000 Afghans through the Special Immigration Measures (SIM) program for Afghan nationals who closely assisted Canada’s efforts in Afghanistan;
a mix of government-assisted and privately-sponsored Afghan refugees through the humanitarian program.
The IRCC has made it easier to sponsor Afghan refugees through the humanitarian program, allowing groups of five and community sponsors to sponsor Afghan refugees without having to submit a refugee status determination document if this document isn’t available.
Ottawa To Use EMPP To Bring To Canada More Afghan Refugees
“We’ll continue to explore other options and pathways to bring Afghans to Canada, such as the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP),” notes the IRCC on its website.
Through the SIM, Canada is hoping to resettle 18,000 Afghans who were employed by the Canadian government as:
interpreters who worked with the Canadian Armed Forces, or;
local staff who worked at the Canadian embassy in Afghanistan, depending on when they left the country.
Under that program, spouses and common-law partners, dependent and unmarried children under 22 years of age are also eligible as well as de facto dependents.
Ottawa Exceeds Its Original Target Of 20,000 Afghan Refugees
Ottawa surpassed its original goal earlier this year of resettling 20,000 Afghans and is now pledging to bring 40,000 of these refugees to Canada by the end of the next year.
Many of these refugees are settling in Canada’s bigger cities but others are choosing smaller communities which offer safe places with settlement services, employment opportunities, affordable housing options and a lower cost of living.
“Resettlement Assistance Program service provider organizations are working to make newcomers, including Afghans, feel welcomed and integrate successfully in their new communities,” notes the IRCC website.
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The latest IRCC shows that as of last week, Toronto had welcomed 4,560 Afghan refugees, Calgary 3,675, Ottawa another 1,090, Vancouver 1465, Edmonton 930, St. John’s 605, and Halifax 355.
Together, these seven cities alone welcomed 12,680 Afghan refugees or roughly 55.3 per cent of those who had come to Canada at that time.
But many smaller communities throughout the country are also opening their arms to Afghani refugees, with Bathurst in New Brunswick receiving 20, Airdrie in Alberta accepting 35, and Belleville in Ontario and Winkler in Manitoba each saying yes to another 15 refugees.
Canada Working With Other Countries and International Organizations To Bring Afghans To Safety
Canada is working with the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as international organizations including the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency, Frontline Defenders and ProtectDefenders.eu to bring in Afghani refugees.
Maryam Masoomi, one of the refugees who arrived in Saskatoon in the Prairie province of Saskatchewan in October last year is making a new life for herself.
Since her arrival in Canada, she has won an award for her leadership skills, met with King Charles III, and begun hosting a local radio show and is working with newcomer youth.
Ghousuddin Frotan, an Afghan journalist, is another who has made a home for himself and his family in Windsor since arriving in Canada earlier this year, winning a fellowship from the University of Toronto.
“These newcomers will enrich the communities that have embraced them,” said Fraser.
“The situation in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries remains very challenging, and we truly appreciate all that our partners at home and abroad have done to bring Afghan refugees to safety in Canada.”
Upon their arrival in Canada, the Afghan refugees get a minimum of 12 months of income support under the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) and also have access to settlement services, including language training and the Interim Federal Health Program for medical coverage.
Canada’s most populous province of Ontario is on track to attract almost as many new immigrants this year as the record number it welcomed last year.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data reveal Ontario welcomed 132,755 new permanent residents in the first eight months of this year, meaning it could see 199,132 new permanent residents for the year provided the existing trend continues.
That would put it within arms reach of last year’s 199,280 new permanent residents to the province.
It would also mean that Ontario, which is home to slightly more than 15 million people, or 38.8 per cent of Canada’s population of roughly 38.8 million, is going to once again grab an outsized bite of the total Canadian immigration pie.
Immigration to Ontario this year is projected to account for 42.9 per cent of the total 463,850 new permanent residents projected to come to Canada this year.
With the exception of the precipitous drop in immigration during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration to Ontario has been steadily increasing since 2015.
In 2015, 103,580 new permanent residents settled in Ontario. That grew by almost 6.1 per cent, to 109,880, the following year and that, in turn, grew an additional 1.9 per cent to 112,005 in 2017.
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In 2018, 137,465 new permanent residents came to Ontario, a figure that grew by almost 11.6 per cent to hit 153,370 in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
With the pandemic public health restrictions, border closures and travel restrictions, immigration to Ontario plummeted much as it did for all Canadian provinces and territories. By the end of 2020, only 82,960 new permanent residents had settled in Ontario that year, a drop of 45.9 per cent.
Immigration To Ontario Surged Back To Life In 2021
Then, last year, immigration to Canada roared back to life and the number of new permanent residents coming to Ontario more than doubled, increasing by 140.2 per cent to 199,280.
Ontario Immigration Minister Monte McNaughton wants to do even more and asked Ottawa late last year to double the number of skilled newcomers that Ontario can welcome.
“I’ve called on the federal government to increase the number of skilled newcomers Ontario can welcome,” tweeted McNaughton. “We are facing a historic labour shortage. Our government wants to build back a better, stronger Ontario – but we need the people to do it.”
Through the Employer Job Offer: In-Demand Skills stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), the province gives foreign workers with a job offer in specific in-demand occupations the opportunity to apply to permanently live and work in Ontario.
The jobs can be anywhere in Ontario (inside and outside the Greater Toronto Area) and must be in one of the following occupations in National Occupational Classification (NOC) Skill Level C or D:
NOC 3413 – nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates;
NOC 4412 – home support workers and related occupations, excluding housekeepers;
NOC 7441 – residential and commercial installers and servicers;
NOC 7511 – transport truck drivers;
NOC 7521 – heavy equipment operators (except crane);
NOC 7611 – construction trades helpers and labourers;
NOC 8431 – general farm workers;
NOC 8432 – nursery and greenhouse workers;
NOC 8611 – harvesting labourers, and;
NOC 9462 – industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers.
Many More Occupations Qualify For In-Demand Stream Provided They Are Outside Of The GTA
Other jobs that qualify must be outside the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto, Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions) and can be any of the following occupations:
NOC 9411 – machine operators, mineral and metal processing;
NOC 9416 – metalworking and forging machine operators;
NOC 9417 – machining tool operators;
NOC 9418 – other metal products machine operators;
NOC 9421 – chemical plant machine operators;
NOC 9422 – plastics processing machine operators;
NOC 9437 – woodworking machine operators;
NOC 9446 – industrial sewing machine operators;
NOC 9461 – process control and machine operators, food, beverage and associated products processing;
NOC 9523 – electronics assemblers, fabricators, inspectors and testers;
NOC 9526 – mechanical assemblers and inspectors;
NOC 9536 – industrial painters, coaters and metal finishing process operators, and;
NOC 9537 – other products assemblers, finishers and inspectors.
On Nov. 16, Ontario will be switching to the 2021 version of the NOC. NOC Skill Level C or D occupations that are currently eligible are proposed to be the equivalent TEER 4 or 5 occupations under NOC 2021.
The OINP has three immigration categories: Human Capital; Employer Job Offer, and; Business Immigration. Each category is further divided into several streams.
Ontario Nominates Skilled Worker Candidates Through Its Human Capital Category
The Human Capital Category allows the OINP to nominate candidates who have the skills, education and work experience to contribute to Ontario’s economy and labour market. It is comprised of three Express Entry streams and two international student streams:
the Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream;
Express Entry Human Capital Priorities Stream;
Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream;
Masters Graduate Stream, and;
PhD Graduate Stream.
The Employer Job Offer Category allows applicants only if they have the support of an Ontario employer who has extended to them a full-time, indeterminate job offer. It is broken down into four streams:
the Foreign Worker Stream;
International Student Stream;
In-Demand Skills Stream, and;
Regional Immigration Pilot.
The Business Category has only one stream, the Entrepreneur stream, directed to applicants with a successful business background.
Ontario operates an Expression of Interest system to manage the intake of five streams: Employer Job Offer (all three streams) and International Student (Masters and Ph.D. Graduates).
The province also operates three Express Entry streams targeting applicants who have the requisite qualifications, including education, experience, language proficiency and ability to successfully establish in Ontario and contribute to the province’s economic development.
OINP Issues ITAs and NOIs to Qualified Candidates
The OINP issues periodic Invitations to Apply (ITAs) through its Expression of Interest system and Notifications of Interest (NOIs) to candidates in the Express Entry pool, allowing them to apply for nomination under one of the targeted streams. The details and methodology used are published after the draws are done.
Processing times are divided into two periods: how long it takes for the province to issue the nomination and then how long it takes for the permanent resident visa to be processed and issued.
Ontario currently estimates its processing times between 60 and 90 days for most streams.
The Express Entry Skilled Trades applications are being processed within 30 to 60 days. The Business applications’ processing times depend on the complexity of each file.
The Express Entry process is simple.
Submit your profile and enter Express Entry Pool;
Get issued an Invitation to Apply if the minimum points requirement I met;
Submit an application in 60 days;
Get a decision in a target processing time of six months, and;
If successful, move to Canada.
Under Express Entry, candidates score Comprehensive Ranking System points for core factors such as age, education, work experience and language ability.
Quebec will not increase immigration after the release of Canada’s latest plan that sets out record-breaking targets for the next three years, Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette says.
“It is up to Quebec to set its own targets for permanent immigration,” the newly-minted immigration minister tweeted in French on Tuesday.
“The upper limit for Quebec is now 50,000 (new permanent residents) due to our capacity to welcome, provide French-language services and integrate them.”
The francophone province’s immigration minister maintains that Quebec is already welcoming proportionately more immigrants than do either the United States or France.
“Our position has remained the same: we need more control over immigration to protect the French language,” tweeted Fréchette.
In that tweet – retweeted by Quebec Premier François Legault without additional comment – the Quebec immigration minister wrote she would be continuing talks with federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.
Legault has reportedly backed his immigration minister and reiterated his position made on the campaign trail ahead of the provincial election earlier this year that Quebec cannot handle more than 50,000 new permanent residents annually.
In the 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan unveiled earlier this week, Ottawa is targeting 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023,485,000 new permanent residents in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.
That’s a total of 1.45 million immigrants to Canada over the coming three years.
Under a provincial-federal agreement, Quebec’s annual share of new permanent residents is to be equal to its demographic clout within Canada. Since the province has 23 per cent of the country’s population, a national immigration target of 465,000 new permanent residents would mean Quebec could accept up to 106,950 new permanent residents next year.
By 2025, that number would rise to 115,000.
IRCC Data Shows Quebec Already On Track To Receive 68,265 Immigrants This Year
The latest data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reveals Quebec had already welcomed 45,510 new permanent residents by the end of August.
Based on that trend, the province is already on track to welcome 68,265 new permanent residents this year. That would be 18,265, or more than 36.5 per cent, more than the province’s current immigration minister maintains Quebec can accept.
In Quebec, immigration was a hot-button issue last summer with business groups calling for vastly-higher immigration levels during the election campaign to resolve serious labour shortages in the province.
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Véronique Proulx, president of the Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ) manufacturing and exporting industry association, reportedly called for the province to receive as many as 90,000 immigrants annually ahead of the election.
“We know the labour shortages cannot be fixed in the blink of an eye and it will take a series of strategies working in tandem to reduce the impact of the lack of workers,” Proulx said in a statement in French.
Ahead of the campaign period for the provincial election, MEQ and three other business associations, the Conseil du Patronat du Québec (CPQ) employers’ group, the Fédération des Chambres de Commerce du Québec (FCCQ) association of chambers of commerce, and the Fédération Canadienne de l’Entreprise Indépendante (FCEI) association of independent businesses, lobbied the provincial political parties to take a series of measures to resolve the labour shortages, including a massive increase in immigration.
Liberals And Business Groups Wanted Immigration To Quebec Raised To 70,000 Immigrants Annually
The provincial Liberals, who were soundly defeated on election day, picked up on the immigration issue, pressing Legault to dramatically increase the province’s immigration targets.
Provincial Liberal leader Dominique Anglade called for up to 70,000 new permanent residents annually.
“This year, Quebec will on the whole welcome that many,” she reportedly predicted in French. “This is the policy of François Legault, 70,000 people. If we have the capacity to welcome 70,000 immigrants, I think that we should base ourselves on that figure and we are discussing that in all the regions of Quebec.”
Legault refused to budge.
In the week ahead of the election, he went so far as a controversial comment to describe a substantial increase in immigration to the province as something that would be cultural suicide for the Quebecois culture.
“Until we have stopped the decline of French,” the premier told business leaders, “I think that, for the Quebec nation, which wants to protect French, it would be a bit suicidal to increase (immigration).”
Canada will welcome an unprecedented 1.45 million immigrants over the next three years as it looks to step up efforts to curb a chronic labour shortage by welcoming more newcomers.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Tuesday the country would target 465,000 newcomers in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025 in the federal government’s new Immigration Levels Plan.
Canada is already on track to exceed the 431,645 target for 2022 announced in the previous Immigration Levels Plan in February.
The increases announced by Fraser include 301,250 new immigrants in the Economic Class alone, as Canada continues its commitment to help businesses beset with chronic labour shortages.
Immigration accounts for almost 100 per cent of Canada’s labour force growth, and, by 2032, it is projected to account for 100 per cent of Canada’s population growth, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says.
“Last year, we welcomed the most newcomers in a single year in our history,” Fraser said.
“This year’s immigration levels plan will help businesses find the workers they need, set Canada on a path that will contribute to our long-term success, and allow us to make good on key commitments to vulnerable people fleeing violence, war and persecution.”
He made the announcement at the Finishing Trades Institute in North York, Ontario.
The Provincial Nominee Program and Federal High Skilled categories will dominate the Economic Class newcomers.
PNP newcomers will account for 105,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 110,000 in 2024 and 117,500 in 2025.
Canada will also welcome 82,880, 109,020 and 114,000 in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively through the Federal High Skilled stream, mainly managed by Express Entry.
The stream includes newcomers through the Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience Class programs.
The Atlantic Immigration Program will also grow to 14,500 newcomers by 2025, and other economic pilots to 14,750.
Family Class
Canada’s Family Class category will grow to 106,500 in 2023, then 114,000 in 2024 and 118,000 by 2025.
The majority of family sponsorship newcomers will be spouses, partners and children, growing to 82,000 by 2025. However, there will also be room for a record number of parents and grandparents, at 36,000 by 2025.
Refugees
Canada will continue to welcome large numbers of refugees, including 76,305 in 2023, 76,115 in 2024 and 72,750 in 2025.
More Highlights of the 2023 to 2025 Immigration Levels Plan
a long-term focus on economic growth, with just over 60% of admissions in the economic class by 2025.
using new features in the Express Entry system to welcome newcomers with the required skills and qualifications in sectors facing acute labour shortages such as, health care, manufacturing, building trades and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
increases in regional programs to address targeted local labour market needs, through the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot.
reuniting more families faster.
ensuring that at least 4.4% of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone.
support for global crises by providing a safe haven to those facing persecution, including by expanding the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot.
Canada’s federal government will lay out its 2023 to 2025 Immigration Levels Plan today.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says the plan will outline “ways to address critical labour market shortages, with a focus on regional immigration”.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser is making the announcement at 11 am Eastern time at the Finishing Trades Institute in North York, Ontario.
He will be joined by two important stakeholders in skilled trades industries: Sean Strickland, Executive Director of Canada’s Building Trades Union (CBTU) and Robert Kucheran, General Vice President (Canada) of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) and Chairman of CBTU’s Canadian Executive Board.
The presence of the skilled trades bigwigs suggests more room for skilled trades immigrants under the latest three-year immigration plan, although that remains to be seen.
This will be Fraser’s second Immigration Levels Plan as immigration minister, the first coming in February and covering the years 2022 to 2024.
The plan will include projected numbers for four main categories of immigrants, the Economic Class, Family Class, Refugees and Humanitarian and Others.
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Under the current plan, Canada plans to welcome 431,645 newcomers this year, 447,055 next year and 451,000 in 2024.
Fraser’s new announcement could see changes to the overall levels or changes to the distribution of newcomers within those levels.
One of the main changes expected between now and 2024, aside from the over-immigration increase, is the increase in numbers in the Federal High Skilled category, normally managed through Express Entry.
The one-off TR to PR Pathway (included in the plan under Federal Economic Public Policies), announced during Covid-19, is expected to finish welcoming its new immigrants by 2024.
This allows room for the Federal High Skilled category to double in size, from the reduced 55,900 newcomers this year up to 111,500 in 2024. This means significantly larger Express Entry draws can be expected.
New Canada immigration data shows entrepreneurs are setting up businesses through the Start-Up Visa (SUV) at almost three times the rate they did last year.
In the first eight months of this year, 420 new permanent residents came to Canada under the SUV.
That’s up 189.6 per cent from the 145 new permanent residents in the first eight months of last year under the program which allows foreign nationals to gain permanent residency in Canada by embracing entrepreneurship.
Although overall immigration to Canada set a record last year with 406,030 new permanent residents, arrivals under the SUV were sluggish last year.
But this year’s performance isn’t just a rebound on an abnormally-low level of arrivals in 2021.
SUV Up 13.5% From Pre-Pandemic Levels
In the eight months ending in August, Canada welcomed 50 more entrepreneurs, or 13.5 per cent more, through the SUV than it had in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent public health restrictions which hampered international travel and immigration.
As the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 spread throughout the globe, Canada closed its borders to all but essential travel in 2020 and public health restrictions made international travel very difficult due to COVID-19 tests, quarantines, and the need to wear face masks.
In Canada, many businesses were shut down for part of that year.
Immigration plummeted by 45.9 per cent to only 184,585 new permanent residents in 2020 but with more and more Canadians vaccinated against COVID-19, the border eventually re-opened and public health restrictions were eased last year.
Ottawa also put in place many measures to boost immigration.
Due to these smaller numbers, the monthly fluctuations in the number of new permanent residents under the SUV can seem exaggerated when examined in percentage terms.
SUV Saw 22.2% Bump In August Over July
In August, for example, the number of new permanent residents to Canada under the SUV rose by 22.2 per cent when only 10 more applicants gained their permanent residency.
This year, the program welcomed 55 new permanent residents to Canada in January, 40 in February, 60 on March, 20 in April, 60 in May and hit a high of 70 in June before slumping back to 45 in July.
The SUV program has averaged 52.5 new permanent residents to Canada per month this year, meaning it could welcome 630 new permanent residents to the country this year should the current rate of arrivals continue for the rest of 2022.
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That projected number of new permanent residents under the SUV this year would be 63.6 per cent more than 385 last year and 22.3 per cent more than 515 in 2019.
The two provinces getting the biggest benefit from the SUV this year are British Columbia which had already welcomed 190 new permanent residents under the program by the end of August and Ontario which had welcomed 185 new permanent residents through it by that time.
Candidates applying under the SUV program can initially come to Canada on a work permit supported by their designated Canadian investor before their application for permanent residence is finalized.
Business Development And Investing Through The SUV
A designated venture capital fund must confirm that it is investing at least $200,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more commitments from designated venture capital funds totalling $200,000.
A designated angel investor group must invest at least $75,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more investments from angel investor groups totalling $75,000.
A designated business incubator must accept the applicant into its business incubator program. It is up to the immigrant investor to develop a viable business plan that will meet the due diligence requirements of these government-approved designated entities.
Investing and the development of the business is usually done with the help of business consultants in Canada’s start-up ecosystem with oversight from experienced corporate business immigration lawyers who can ensure a start-up’s business concept meets all industry-required terms and conditions.
The basic government-imposed candidate eligibility requirements for the SUV are:
sufficient unencumbered, available and transferable settlement funds to meet settlement funding, and;
proficiency in English or French at the minimum Canadian Language Benchmark level 5. However, it frequently occurs that higher levels of English are needed to meet due diligence requirements imposed by designated entities.
Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) is still seeing massive growth year over year, despite the number of new immigrants dropping sharply in August, down more than 37.8 per cent compared to the previous month.
The latest Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data reveal only 1,815 new permanent residents to Canada came here through the PGP in August, a decline of 1,105 from the 2,920 in July.
Despite that monthly decline, the data shows the PGP still allowed Canada to welcome 18,825 new permanents in the first eight months of this year, more than twice as many as during the comparable period last year.
By the end of August, the number of parents and grandparents who had become new permanent residents to Canada through the PGP was up by 13,180 people, or 233.5 per cent higher than during the first eight months of 2021.
With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, immigration to Canada took a massive hit in 2020 but then rebounded and closed off last year at a record-breaking level.
The PGP’s performance this year, though, is even stronger than it was in 2019, prior to the pandemic.
The number of new permanent residents through the PGP in the first eight months of this year is up by 2,640 parents and grandparents, or 16.3 per cent higher than for the comparable period in 2019.
Based on the current trend in the PGP, with an average of 2,353 new permanent residents per month, Canada could welcome 28,237 parents and grandparents to Canada through the program by the end of this year.
Projection For PGP This Year Shows Growth Of 132.8% Over Last Year
The projected total number of new permanent residents to Canada under the PGP this year is 132.8 per cent higher than the 11,740 parents and grandparents who came to Canada under that program last year.
This year’s projected total number of new permanent residents to Canada under the PGP is even 24.2 per cent, or 5,327 parents and grandparents, higher than the 22,010 who came here in 2019.
In its Immigration Levels Plan 2022 – 2024, Ottawa was hoping to bring in 25,000 parents and grandparents to the country under the PGP this year and then raise that target to 28,500 new permanent residents next year.
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Based on the current trend for this year, the PGP seems almost certain to surpass the immigration plan’s target for not only this year but also the next.
In the first six months of this year, the trend had been for gradually more new permanent residents to come to Canada through the PGP – but the number of new permanent residents under the program began to fall in July.
Only 1,300 new permanent residents came to Canada under the PGP in January but that rose to 1,680 the following month and again to 2,270 in March.
Monthly Arrivals Under The PGP Were Climbing This Year, Until July
In April, the PGP was responsible for 2,403 new permanent residents to Canada. Then, the numbers really spiked, up 692 new permanent residents, or almost 28.8 per cent, in May over the previous month – and again another 10.5 per cent to hit 3,420 in June.
But the numbers fell off in July and then again in August.
It’s clear, though, that the number of new permanent residents under the PGP is nonetheless headed for the upper part of the range under the immigration levels plan.
The range for the PGP for this year was set at 19,000 to 31,000 new permanent residents. So, the projected number of new arrivals under the program for 2022 is still within that range, albeit close to the upper limit.
During its record-breaking year for immigration in 2021, Canada welcomed 406,025 new permanent residents, including the 11,740 under the PGP.
The program to sponsor parents and grandparents had by then been growing fairly steadily since 2015 when the country welcomed 15,490 new permanent residents to the country under the PGP.
In 2016, the number of new permanent residents through the PGP grew by more than 10 per cent, or 1,550 new permanent residents, to hit 17,040, IRCC data reveals.
The following year, that number swelled to 20,495, a jump of 3,455, or almost 20.3 per cent.
Then, in 2018, there was a slump. The number of new permanent residents through the PGP dropped 12 per cent, or 2,465 new permanent residents, to 18,030 before rebounding the following year.
In the last year before the pandemic, the number of new permanent residents under the PGP jumped by 3,980, or 22.1 per cent, over the previous year.
COVID-19 Slowed Down Immigration To Canada Temporarily, Including PGP
As COVID-19 spread throughout the globe, Canada closed its borders to all but essential travel in 2020 and public health restrictions made international travel very difficult due to COVID-19 tests, quarantines, and the need to wear face masks.
In Canada, many businesses were shut down for part of that year.
Immigration plummeted by 45.9 per cent to only 184,585 new permanent residents in 2020 – and the number of sponsorships through the PGP fell in step with that, dropping 52.5 per cent, or 11,555 new permanent residents that year.
With more and more Canadians vaccinated against COVID-19, the border eventually re-opened and public health restrictions were eased last year. Ottawa also put in place many measures to boost immigration.
There is, though, an inherent lag in the PGP because the children or grandchildren of these foreign nationals must first come to Canada before being able to sponsor their relatives.
That seems to have been the reason for the relatively small number of new permanent residents through the PGP last year.
The big surge in the number of parents and grandparents coming to Canada through this program is only being seen this year – and is likely to continue through into 2023.
By end of August, Canada had already welcomed 309,240 new permanent residents – an average of 38,655 per month – putting the country on track to receive 463,860 new permanent residents by the end of this year.
Canada On Track To Break Immigration Records Again This Year
That’s 7.5 per cent, or 32,215 new permanent residents more than the target of 431,645 new permanent residents for this year under the current immigration plan.
It’s even higher than the immigration target of 447,055 for next year, and even 451,000 in 2024.
That will mean many more permanent residents in Canada who will then be able to sponsor their parents and grandparents to rejoin them here in the coming years.
The PGP allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents outside Quebec to sponsor their parents and/or grandparents to become permanent residents of Canada.
Here’s how the program works.
Canada’s immigration department operates a lottery system for the PGP with citizens and permanent residents submitting an Interest to Sponsor form before being placed in a pool.
The IRCC makes random draws from the pool and issues Invitations to Apply (ITA). The sponsors and their parents and grandparents then have 60 days to submit a full application.
The sponsors must:
be at least 18 years old;
live in Canada;
be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or a person registered in Canada as an Indian under the Canadian Indian Act, and;
have enough money to support those they want to sponsor by meeting minimum income requirements for the previous three years. Candidates can include a co-signer in their application, allowing the combined income to be considered.
Processing Time For PGP Currently Estimated At 37 Months
Sponsors must also:
agree to financially support the parent or grandparent for 20 years from the date they are approved for permanent residence, and;
reimburse the government for any social assistance paid out to the parent or grandparent during that time.
Sponsors who live in Quebec must meet the Quebec immigration sponsorship requirements after being approved as a sponsor by IRCC. The Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) also assess the sponsor’s income and requires an undertaking to be signed.
Through the PGP, sponsors can bring to Canada their own parents and grandparents, related by blood or adoption. In cases of divorce or separation, the spouses or common-law partners of parents and grandparents are also eligible.
A sponsor’s brothers and sisters, or half brothers and sisters, are only eligible if they qualify as dependent children.
The current processing time for sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents is 37 months and includes the time needed to provide biometrics.
New PGP Invitations Sent In October
Canada finished the process of sending out 23,100 invitations to apply to potential sponsors through the PGP last week.
IRCC said the invitations went to people in the pool who submitted an interest to sponsor forms in 2020. There were 182,113 potential sponsors in the pool, IRCC said.
Immigration officials expect to receive 15,000 completed applications from the invitations, which were sent between October 12 and October 20.
Candidates receiving an invitation have 60 days to file a completed application.
An Environics Institute survey reveals Canadians are now more supportive of record-breaking immigration than they have been in decades.
“Even as the country is now taking in more than 400,000 newcomers each year, seven in 10 Canadians express support for current immigration levels, the largest majority recorded on Environics surveys in 45 years,” notes Environics.
The survey’s results come as Canada is poised to welcome 463,860 new permanent residents by the end of this year based on the trend during the first eight months.
By the end of August, Canada had already welcomed 309,240 new permanent residents – an average of 38,655 per month.
Ottawa’s current Immigration Levels Plan for 2022-2024 sets out immigration targets of 431,645 new permanent residents for this year, 447,055 next year, and 451,000 in 2024.
That means Canada is likely to beat its immigration target for this year by 32,215 new permanent residents, or almost 7.5 per cent, if the current trend continues for the rest of the year.
At 463,860 new permanent residents, Canada’s rate of immigration would be even higher than the ambitious target set for next year and even 2024, beating the target set for two years from now by more than 2.8 per cent.
Last month, two insiders within the ruling Liberal Party of Canada called for much higher immigration to the country in an open letter published in The Financial Post.
Former Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains and his former chief of staff in 2016 and 2017, Elder C. Marques, recommended in that letter that Canada become even more ambitious with its immigration targets.
“Canada deserves praise for our approach to immigration levels,” the two wrote in their letter in The Financial Post. “But while the absolute numbers may seem high, they actually need to be higher in light of Canada’s population and demographic challenges.
Country Needs Even More Immigration, Says Former Liberal Government Cabinet Minister
“In the early 1910s, a much-smaller Canada welcomed similar annual absolute numbers as today. Raising immigration targets responsibly and effectively will require more investments in infrastructure, housing, transit and resettlement services across the entire country, and that means better federal-provincial collaboration.”
Now retired from politics since last year, Bains is currently vice-chair of global investment banking for CIBC. During his time as a federal Cabinet minister, Bains worked closely with the Advisory Council on Economic Growth, a group that advocated raising Canada’s annual immigration target to 450,000 people a year.
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Elders, now a partner at the law practice of Blake, Cassels & Graydon, was also a senior advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a bit more than two years from 2017 through to 2019 and later chief of staff to the minister of finance in the Liberal government prior to returning to private practice.
Their view on immigration is one shared by most Canadians, the Environics survey reveals.
”Public support for immigration is grounded in part in the belief that it supports the country’s economy, and the public consensus around this view has strengthened over the past year,” reveals the Environics survey.
“More than eight in 10 now strongly, at 50 per cent, or somewhat, at 35 per cent, agree that immigration has a positive impact on the Canadian economy, up five percentage points since 2021 and now at its highest level since the question was first asked.”
Albertans Most Likely To Question Legitimacy Of Refugees In Canada
Only roughly one in 10 Canadians hold the view that immigration provides no economic benefit to the country.
“For much of the past 35 years, Canadians have tended to believe that many claiming to be refugees are not in fact legitimate, and while this view has diminished over time the public continues to be somewhat divided on this question,” reports Environics.
“Just over one in three now strongly, at 15 per cent, or somewhat, at 21 per cent, agree … that ‘many people claiming to be refugees are not real refugees],” notes Environics.
The biggest bones of contention Canadians have with immigration is not the level of immigration but the ability of those immigrants to integrate into the Canadian society and its culture – and the legitimacy of those claiming refugee status.
“Across the country, concerns about the legitimacy of refugees have increased noticeably in Atlantic Canada … up eight points since 2021, and to a lesser extent in Quebec … up four percentage points and Ontario … up percentage points, while declining in B.C., down six percentage points.”
Albertans are the most likely to hold the view that many refugees are not “real refugees,” the survey reveals.
