IRCC introduced the New Immigration Level Plan on November 1st, 2022. The Immigration Level Plan shows the number of immigrants Canada plans to accept over the next three years, and the new level plan shows that Canada is set to welcome 500,000 new immigrants in 2025.
Canada has set its plan to welcome 465,000 new immigrants in 2023. However, this number will rise to 485,000 new immigrants in 2024 and, eventually, to 500,000 immigrants in 2025. Canada’s main goal is to grow the economy, reunite families and offer asylum to refugees in the upcoming years.
These numbers had broken the all-time immigration record in Canadian immigration history. Before 2015, Canada welcomed 260,000 immigrants annually until the Liberal government took power and increased the number of immigrants. The targeted number was increased to 340,000 right before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and despite the travel restrictions, Canada exceeded its immigration target and welcomed 405,000 new immigrants.
With nearly one million job vacancies and an ongoing labour shortage, Canada has increased its immigration targets.
Express Entry and Provincial Nomination Programs (PNPs) are the two primary programs that allow applicants to apply for permanent residency through the economic class.
Express Entry programs will target 82,880 applicants in 2023, 109,020 in 2024 and 114,000 in 2025. This includes principal applicants, their spouses and dependents.
On the other hand, in 2023, 105,500 applicants will be invited to apply for their permanent residency through PNP programs and 110,000 in 2024 and 117,500 in 2025. Making PNP the lead admission program for economic-class immigrants.
After the economic class programs, family class sponsorship will be the second largest pathway toward Canadian permanent residency. Under the family class program, applicants are sponsored for permanent residence by a spouse, parent or their children/grandchildren. Canada plans to welcome 80,000 new immigrants annually under the Spouses, Children and Parents program. The Parents and Grandparents Program will also raise its target to 28,500 in 2023, 34,000 in 2024 and 36,000 in 2025.
With the number of targeted immigrants increasing in most programs, the refugee and humanitarian class targets are set to decline in the upcoming years. Canada is set to welcome 76,000 refugees in 2023 and 2024, but this number will decrease in 2025 to 72,750 refugees. The humanitarian class target will also decline from 16,000 immigrants in 2023 to 8,000 in 2025.
If you would like to plan ahead and check your eligibility for Canadian Immigration through any of these programs, you may book your free case evaluation with one of our immigration experts to get started.
