The Canadian government is expected to announce the latest Immigration Levels Plan by November 1, 2022.
Each year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) publishes an Immigration Levels Plan that acts as a guide for how many immigrants will be allowed to come to Canada each year. Includes the breakdown of immigrants from economy class, family class, and humanitarian class programs over the next three years. This year will show projections for 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The government must make this announcement by November 1 of each year, according to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which is Canada’s main immigration law. It is the second Immigration Levels Plan announced in 2022, the first occurring in February after the most recent federal election on September 20, 2021.
Why are there two announcements this year?
The 2022-2024 plan was not announced until February 2022 instead of the normally scheduled November 1, 2021.
After the elections, Parliament did not resume until November 22, 2021, after which it only sat for 19 days until the holidays began. In these situations, according to IRPA, the plan must be announced within 30 days after Parliament is reconvened. In this case, Parliament resumed in mid-January 2022.c
Now that Parliament is in full swing, the government will proceed to publish the most recent Immigration Levels Plan on its regular schedule.
The current Immigration Levels Plan
Under the Immigration Levels Plan for 2022-2024, Canada aims to bring in a total of 431,645 new permanent residents across all classes of immigration in 2022. This target is steadily increasing in 2024 for a total of 451,000 new permanent residents.
So far in 2022, Canada has already welcomed more than 300,000 new permanent residents. Most of them are from economy class programs. The economic class immigrant target in 2022 is 241,850, or about 60% of the total number of immigrants. The 2022 plan also targets 105,000 family-class immigrants and 8,250 refugee and humanitarian class.
Once the new Immigration Levels Plan for 2023-2025 is announced, it is possible that all of these targets will change and will no longer be used as a benchmark for IRCC immigration targets.
What to expect?
Typically, the Immigration Levels Plan contains new increases and is currently at its highest levels. For example, less than 10 years ago the total target for 2016 was 250,000 immigrants. In 2021, IRCC broke the record for the largest number of permanent residents in history, totaling more than 405,000, even during the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
The current overall target for 2023 is 447,055 before a very modest increase to 451,000 in 2024.
IRCC works with various other government departments and stakeholders to create an Immigration Levels Plan that is balanced in how permanent resident places are allocated in each subsequent class and program.
In June, in an interview with CIC News, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said he would consult with provinces to better understand their labor market needs, as some provincial immigration ministers have criticized the current plan for not allocating enough places to the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP). , which they believe are better suited to targeting the skilled immigrants needed to bolster the workforce and fill gaps in Canada’s workforce.
The minister also said that he can foresee targets of up to 500,000 new permanent residents a year in the coming years. However, he did not specify when.
“Look, I wouldn’t have it on the clock,” he said. “I think we will get there. We are growing more than 1% of our population through the existing pathway. That trajectory will continue. I don’t know the exact year that we are going to cross that threshold [500,000 immigrants per year]. It will be based on the needs of the communities.”
According to IRCC data, as of August 31, there are 513,923 applications for permanent residence waiting to be processed. IRCC recently announced that it was working to improve client services and speed up processing time by hiring more than 1,000 new employees, moving to a 100% digital application process, and generally making investments to modernize the outdated technology on which the department relies.
Why is Canada receiving more immigrants?
The Immigration Levels Plan is created by IRCC, in consultation with various government departments, to support IRCC’s mandate to welcome and support immigrants to grow the economy, reunite families and provide humanitarian assistance.
New immigrants are especially vital to Canada’s economy because they contribute through their work and by paying income taxes. For example, these taxes are intended to support infrastructure, health care, education, pensions, and more. Canada’s population is aging and baby boomers, those born between 1946 and the early 1960s, are reaching the retirement age of 65. More immigrants will help Canada maintain its high standard of living.
