IRCC has just announced Canadian Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024.
Canada is increasing its immigration targets yet again. It will look to welcome 431,645 new immigrants this year instead of its initial plan to welcome 411,000 immigrants.
Over the coming three years, Canada will target the following number of new immigrants:
- 2022: 431,645 permanent residents
- 2023: 447,055 permanent residents
- 2024: 451,000 permanent residents
Highlights of the plan include:
- overall admissions amounting to 1.14% of the Canadian population by 2024.
- a long-term focus on economic growth, with nearly 60% of admissions in the Economic Class.
- help for vulnerable populations, like the special measures for granting permanent residence to refugee claimants working in health care during the pandemic.
- support for global crises by providing a safe haven through humanitarian immigration to those facing persecution.
- talent retention of those already in Canada by granting permanent status to temporary residents accepted through the time limited pathways for essential workers launched in spring 2021.
- Helps maintain the 12-month processing standard for spouses and children under family sponsorship program.
- As part of its Francophone Immigration Strategy, the IRCC is working to reach a target of 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants from outside Quebec by 2023.
According to the highlights of the plan, in 2022, nearly 60% of new immigrants will under Economic Class such as Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program, and the Temporary to Permanent Residence (TR2PR) stream that was available in 2021.
The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will be the main admissions program for economic class immigrants, and IRCC looking to land 83,500 new immigrants via the PNP in 2022.
However, IRCC has cut Express Entry admissions in half for this year, from 110,500 to 55,900 compared with the initial plan. The reduction in Express Entry is for two years, and IRCC aims to return to normal Express Entry admissions levels by 2024 when it targets the arrival of 111,5000 Express Entry immigrants.
It seems to suggest that IRCC is temporarily reducing Express Entry admissions so it can accommodate admissions under the TR2PR program. IRCC is looking to land 40,000 immigrants in 2022 and the final 32,000 immigrants by 2023 under the TR2PR stream.
The family class will account for 24% of the 2022 admissions target, with 80,000 entering through the Spouse, Partner and Child Program and 25,000 entering through the Parent and Grandparent Program (PGP). Compared to the previous program, IRCC has slightly increased the PGP admissions target by 1,500 from 23,500 to 25,000.
The remaining 20% of immigrants will arrive through refugee and humanitarian programs. This is an increase of about 5 percentage points from Canada’s last immigration level program, which is likely the result of Canada looking to resettle 40,000 Afghan refugees in the coming years. The increase in refugee and humanitarian assistance will result in a smaller than usual share of economic and family class immigrants, however, these two classes will account for a higher share of Canada’s new immigrants in 2023 and 2024, as Canada looks reduce its refugee and humanitarian intake once it completes its Afghan resettlement operations.
