Canada Aims to Welcome 1.3 Million Immigrants by 2024

The Canadian government announced its Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024. It is increasing its immigration targets again. As a result, Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 aims to welcome about 432,000 new immigrants this year, instead of its initial plan of 411,000.

So, over the following three years, Canada will aim the following number of new immigrants:

Year             Permanent Residents

2022             431,645 

2023             447,055 

2024             451,000 

Immigration Levels Plan

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told CIC News, “This levels plan is a balance of needs for our country and our international obligations. It focuses on attracting skilled workers who will contribute to Canada’s economy and tackle the labour shortage while recognizing the importance of family reunification and helping the world’s most vulnerable populations through refugee resettlement. Our focus remains on supporting our economic resurgence through increased retention of newcomers in regions with real economic, labour and demographic challenges. I’m proud of what Canada has achieved thus far, and I want to see how newcomers will continue to make Canada a top destination of choice.”

In effect, by 2022, about 56 % of new immigrants will arrive under economic class pathways like Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), and the Temporary to Permanent Residence (TR2PR) stream, available in 2021.

Also, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will be the main pathway to welcome individuals under the economic class. Therefore, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) aims to land 83,500 newcomers via the PNP this year. However, IRCC has cut Express Entry admissions in half for this year but aspires to return to average Express Entry admissions levels by 2024, when it targets the arrival of 111,500 Express Entry immigrants.

Accordingly, this immigration levels plan suggests that IRCC temporarily reduces Express Entry admissions to accommodate admissions under the TR2PR program. In essence, IRCC is looking to land 40,000 immigrants in 2022 and the final 32,000 immigrants by 2023 under this stream.

Express Entry Draws 

So far, Express Entry draws are continuing on a biweekly basis, and IRCC is still processing the applications.

Currently, most provinces and territories in Canada operate the PNP program, and those invitations have been constant since the pandemic’s beginning.

On the other hand, the family class will represent 24% of admissions in 2022, with 80,000 spots set under the Spouses, Partners, and Children Program and 25,000 under the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP). Besides, IRCC has reasonably enhanced its PGP admissions target by creating 1,500 additional spots compared to its previous plan.

The other 20% of newcomers will come under refugee and humanitarian programs. It also has a boost of about 5% points compared to Canada’s last immigration levels plan to resettle 40,000 Afghans over the coming years. 

To sum up, abound 56% of new permanent residents will arrive under economic class pathways, like:

Immigration Levels Plan 2022 – 2044

• Express Entry
• Provincial Nominee Program
• Temporary to Permanent Residence (TR2PR) stream

Since October 2020, this was the first Immigration Levels Plan announcement.

Overall, Immigration is one of the main drivers of Canada’s economy, and it supports almost all of the nation’s employment growth. Last year, Canada welcomed more than 405,000 newcomers. It was the most significant single-year boost in its history.