Canada plans to welcome nearly 1.5 million new immigrants between 2024 and 2026, representing a significant increase from previous years.
When Immigration Minister Marc Miller recently announced his Immigration Levels Plan, much was made of there being no increase between 2025 and 2026. But, with 500,000 newcomers expected to arrive in both of those years, the pace of Canada immigration is not about to let up.
In 2023, it expects to have its third consecutive record year for new permanent residents, with the Immigration Levels Plan announced in the fall calling for 465,000 newcomers. Official numbers are yet to be announced, but the country is well on target to eclipse those numbers in terms of actual newcomers.
The Liberal government’s strategy is to make up for a chronic labour shortage by bringing in more immigrants. Canadian employers have been fighting to find staff for years and their government is trying to do something about it.
Miller’s plan calls for rises across the board in 2024, spearheaded by economic immigration, as Canada looks to boost the skills of its workforce with the brightest and the best from overseas.
Canada’s 2024 to 2026 Immigration Levels Plan
2024 | 2025 | 2026 | ||
Overall Planned Permanent Resident Admissions | 485,000 | 500,000 | 500,000 | |
Economic | Federal High Skilled | 110,770 | 117,500 | 117,500 |
Federal Economic Public Policies | 3,000 | – | – | |
Federal Business | 5,000 | 6,000 | 6,000 | |
Economic Pilots: Caregivers; Agri-Food Pilot; Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot; Economic Mobility Pathways Project | 10,875 | 14,750 | 13,750 | |
Atlantic Immigration Program | 6,500 | 8,500 | 8,500 | |
Provincial Nominee Program | 110,000 | 120,000 | 120,000 | |
Quebec Skilled Workers and Business | To be determined | To be determined | ||
Total Economic | 281,135 | 301,250 | 301,250 | |
Family | Spouses, Partners and Children | 82,000 | 84,000 | 84,000 |
Parents and Grandparents | 32,000 | 34,000 | 34,000 | |
Total Family | 114,000 | 118,000 | 118,000 | |
Refugees and Protected Persons | Protected Persons in Canada and Dependents Abroad | 27,000 | 29,000 | 29,000 |
Resettled Refugees – Government-AssistedFootnote7 | 21,115 | 15,250 | 15,250 | |
Resettled Refugees – Privately Sponsored | 27,750 | 28,250 | 28,250 | |
Resettled Refugees – Blended Visa Office-Referred | 250 | 250 | 250 | |
Total Refugees and Protected Persons | 76,115 | 72,750 | 72,750 | |
Humanitarian and Other | Total Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other | 13,750 | 8,000 | 8,000 |
Economic immigrants make up more than 281,000 of the 485,000 newcomers this year, or 58 percent of them. This clearly illustrates where Canada’s immigration priorities lie.
The message is clear: if you are considering a Canada immigration project, now is the time to set it in motion, as the country looks to consolidate its position as the world’s foremost receiver of newcomers.
Here is what to expect from Canada immigration in 2024:
PERMANENT RESIDENCE
1. Express Entry
Express Entry remains the foremost way to move to Canada in 2024.
The flagship selection system is used to control applications for the main federal programs: Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades.
Canada plans to welcome 110,770 Federal High Skilled immigrants in 2024, up from 83,000 in 2023, according to the latest Immigration Levels Plan, rising to 117,500 in 2025 and 2026.
Occupation-specific draws were introduced in 2023 and are set to expanded on in 2024. Healthcare, STEM, Trades, Transport, and Farming and Food – plus French-speakers – were all the subject of targeted draws in 2023.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has the power to add or remove categories in 2024, but is it most likely to push ahead with more of the same having identified the areas with the biggest shortages.
This could mean that all-program draws take more of a back seat, as officials prefer to be more targeted with who they are inviting.
The one certainty is that, with such a high target to hit, the record for the number of invitations in a calendar year should be broken this year.
2. Provincial Nominee Program
The combined force of Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs will see them welcome nearly as many newcomers as the Federal High Skilled class in 2024.
Canada plans to welcome more than 110,000 newcomers through the nine provincial (and two territorial) immigration programs. Quebec is considered separate from this.
From British Columbia in the west, through the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, to Ontario and the Atlantic Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island, there are thousands of spots for Canada immigration in 2024.
Parts of the PNP also feed into Express Entry, meaning each of the provincial programs mentioned above have specific streams for the federally-operated selection system.
The provinces are geared up to select immigrants specific to their economic needs. Candidates should consult target occupation lists and streams, because provincial and federal priorities differ.
They are also more nimble and subject to change than the federal programs, able to identify shortages or categories of immigrant that they need to prosper in their individua economies.
3. Quebec
Quebec is in a category of its own as it has full control over its economic immigration intake.
Much has been made of the powerful Quebec provincial government’s push to ensure all immigrants welcomed to the province are francophone.
Francois Legault, leader of the Coalition Avenir Quebec, believes the French language is central to preserving Quebec’s culture and is focused on limiting newcomers to the province to around 50,000 in total, 33,000 of them through economic programs.
It remains to be seen how Legault’s policy of continuing to limit immigration plays out, with the province in the grip of a chronic labour shortage.
Can Quebec attract enough French-speaking newcomers to allow the provincial economy to thrive? With temporary workers to the province also expected to learn French, it means Quebec is no longer an option for many.
The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program also relaunched with a new set of requirements on January 1. The revamped requirements include a beefed up language requirement, a mandatory residency requirement, and a temporary work permit requirement.
4. Employer-Driven Pilot Programs
Canada also operates a number of employer-driven pilot programs targeting specific areas of the economy or regions with chronic labour shortages.
At the forefront of these is the Atlantic Immigration Program, which started life as a pilot but has since been made permanent.
Covering the four Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island, the AIP has an allocation of 6,500 spaces for skilled worker and international graduate immigrants in 2024.
A further 10,875 newcomers are to be welcomed through the other streams: the Agri-Food Pilot, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot and the Economic Mobility Pathways Project, as well as the caregiver programs, covered separately below.
All of these programs are employer-driven, meaning they cannot be applied to directly. An employer identifies a need, finds an immigrant to fulfil that need and uses the program to bring that candidate to Canada.
5. Caregiver Pilots
Canada’s two caregiver programs to apply for permanent residency reopened on January 1: the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot. The annual quota is 5,500.
Immigration through the stream in 2024 falls under the target of 10,875 newcomers mentioned above for pilot programs.
6. Start-Up Visa
Canada’s Start-Up Visa has become an important route to Canada immigration for business-minded individuals.
To qualify, candidates with a qualifying business or business idea must secure the support of a designated angel investor group, venture capital fund or business incubator, plus have the required settlement funds and language ability.
Candidates can move to Canada on a work permit while they establish their business, before qualifying for permanent residence. To qualify, applicants must be actively involved in the management of the business within Canada.
Canada plans to welcome 5,000 newcomers through business programs in 2024, rising to 6,000 in 2025 and 2026. A significant number of these will come through the Start-Up Visa.
There are also rumours of a new work permit program to allow candidates faster entry.
7. Quebec Immigrant Investor Program
As mentioned above, Quebec reopened the revamped Quebec Immigrant Investor Program on January 1. The revamped requirements include a beefed up language requirement, a mandatory residency requirement, and a temporary work permit requirement.
8. Provincial Business Programs
Many of Canada’s provinces operate their own entrepreneur programs, which fall under their respective Provincial Nominee Programs.
Each of these programs has specific requirements related to the province or territory they serve.
9. Self-Employed Programs
Both the federal government and Quebec operate self-employed programs.
The federal Self-Employed Class is geared towards applicants who have relevant self-employment experience as well as the intention and the ability to create their own employment and make a significant contribution to the cultural, artistic or athletic life of Canada.
In Quebec, self-employed applicants are primarily differentiated from skilled workers in that they create their own jobs by practising a profession or engaging in a commercial activity.
10. Spouses, Partners and Children
Canada combines spouses, partners and children in its Immigration Levels Plan, with an aim to welcome 82,000 such newcomers in 2024, making up the majority of the 114,000-strong Family Class.
The spouse and partner stream allows for applications from outside or within Canada (via the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada Class). Spouses and partners can be of any sex provided they meet requirements.
Spouses and partners can qualify for a work permit while they are waiting for their applications to be processed.
Children being sponsored are generally under 22 and do not have a spouse or partner of their own. To qualify over the age of 22, they must be unable to financially support themselves because of a mental or physical condition or have depended on their parents for financial support since before the age of 22.
Canada operates a separate stream for adoption from overseas.
11. Parents and Grandparents
Canada’s Parents and Grandparents Program operates on a lottery system, where sponsors declare their interest in a pool and are drawn at random and issued an invitation to apply.
Canada plans to welcome 32,000 newcomers through the stream in 2024.
The stream has drawn controversy over the years as it is regularly oversubscribed, with officials searching for the fairest way to select candidates to come to Canada.
The PGP pool has not been opened for new sponsors since 2020. Four batches of sponsors have been invited to apply since then. It is possible that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will move to open a new window for the submission of interest to sponsor forms in 2024.
Parents and grandparents who are not selected can consider the Super Visa.
12. Study Permit and Post-Graduation Work Permit
Canada has an established route to permanent residence for international students, with nearly one million expected to study in Canada in 2024, making it the largest category of temporary residents.
As of January 1, the requirements to get a Study Permit were overhauled. Candidates are now required to show double the amount of cleared funds – more than $20,000 – to prove they can afford to live in Canada.
A temporary policy allowing students to work off campus for more than 20 hours is due to expire on April 30, 2024.
Students can come in on a Study Permit, qualify for a Post-Graduation Work Permit, which can give them the experience needed to qualify for immigration via Express Entry.
However, while that pathway exists, candidates must be aware that it is highly competitive. Only a fraction of international students studying in Canada will become permanent residents.
Many immigration consultants and colleges and universities promote the fact that international students can come to Canada to study and transition to permanent residence. However, the reality is that very few will achieve this.
13. Temporary Workers
Canada’s cohort of Work Permit holders may have fallen behind Study Permit holders as the largest group of temporary residents, but they are still a significant number.
Temporary workers come to Canada via a number of channels, including the Temporary Foreign Worker Program for those who require a Labour Market Impact Assessment and the International Mobility Program for those who do not.
A positive LMIA confirms there is a need for a foreign worker to fill the job at hand and that no Canadian worker is available to do the job.
The IMP allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers without the need for an LMIA. It includes intra-company transferees, those entering Canada as part of trade treaties, such as the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) or the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) and those who qualify for an open work permit.
The TFWP is made up of high-skilled workers, low-skilled worker and, the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.
The Global Talent Stream also falls under the TFWP, through which employers can access two-week processing for a list of technology occupations.
A number of provincial programs also operate programs that target technology occupations, including the BC PNP Tech stream and Ontario Tech Draws through its Human Capital Priorities stream.
12. Buy A Business And Move To Canada
There remain options for candidates who wish to buy a business and move to Canada, including a pathway through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the Ontario Entrepreneur Success Initiative.
The OINP Entrepreneur Success Initiative is a two-year pilot with the aim of welcoming 100 newcomers outside the Toronto area and drawing an investment of $20 million.
13. Refugee Immigration
Canada continues to prioritize welcoming refugees as part of its humanitarian effort around the world.
It recently introduced policies to help those affected by the Israel-Hamas war to come to Canada. Study Permits and Open Work Permits are available without application fees for family members of citizens and permanent residents who have left Israel and the Palestinian territories.
New measures to help Sudanese refugees were also recently introduced.
Syrians, Afghans and Ukrainians have all benefitted from Canada’s openness to refugees.
The 2024 Immigration Levels Plan has room for more than 76,000 newcomers to Canada in the Refugee Class.
Miller said in December that Canada is planning a “broad and comprehensive program” to allow undocumented people to apply for permanent residence status.
Between 300,000 to 600,000 individuals are currently living in Canada without possessing valid documents, and many of them face deportation.
The newly proposed program would also span to those people who entered Canada legally but have stayed even after the expiration of their visas. Not all without valid documents will be allowed to apply for PR, however. The plan for this policy change will be submitted to the cabinet in the spring.