CIMM – Levels – October 2, 2025

Key Messages

• The government has prioritized making the immigration system more responsive to Canada’s needs, while continuing to attract talent in key sectors.
• The government has a mandate to return immigration to sustainable levels and reduce Canada's temporary population to less than 5%, to ease pressure on housing, infrastructure, and public services.
• Results of our early action show that, compared to the same period last year, Canada has welcomed close to 100,000 fewer international students and 137,000 fewer temporary workers. Asylum claims have also dropped by almost 35%.

Key Facts and Figures

• The Immigration Levels Plan sets permanent resident (PR) admission targets annually, and for the first time, the 2025–2027 Plan included temporary resident (TR) admission targets.

• The 2025–2027 Levels Plan reduced overall immigration targets to support the economy, while easing pressure on services and housing.

  TR and PR Targets

  	2025	2026	2027
  TR Targets	673,650	516,600	543,600
  PR Targets	395,000	380,000	365,000

• TR targets were developed with the primary objective of reducing the share of non-permanent residents (NPR) to 5% of Canada’s total population.
• Supporting the Canadian economy is a key priority of the Levels Plan. The economic category represents the largest proportion of PR admissions each year, reaching approximately 59% in 2025, and projected to reach 61% in 2026 and 62% by 2027.
• Early positive signals show a downward trend of TR arrivals in Canada. Between January and July 2025:
  • 98,000 fewer new students arrived compared to the same period in 2024; and
  • 137,000 fewer new workers arrived compared to the same period in 2024.
• Throughout 2024 and early 2025, changes were introduced to Canada’s international student and temporary worker programs to decrease volumes and increase program integrity. We are already seeing some resulting decreases in applications and expect this trend to accelerate towards the end of this year.

Temporary Resident Targets

• TRs play an important role in Canada’s economy and cultural fabric. However, the number of people working and studying temporarily in Canada has to align with the evolving needs of our labour market, housing supply, and community capacity.
• The government’s TR targets in the Levels Plan focus on two major groups: international students and temporary workers. Targets only include new study and work permits (i.e., new people arriving as TRs each year).
• Temporary workers include people admitted under either the International Mobility Program (IMP) or the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
  • The IMP is a program that does not require a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and can result in either employer-specific or open work permits.
  • The TFWP is based on employer demand to fill specific jobs when no Canadians or PRs are available to do the work. An LMIA is required, and work permits under the TFWP are employer specific.
• Targets are not set for short term visitors arriving with temporary resident visas or electronic travel authorizations, or seasonal workers who remain in Canada for 270 days or less, as they do not represent a significant pressure on Canadian social or economic systems.
• Targets are not set for asylum claimants, given the unplanned and unpredictable nature of asylum claims and international obligations.

Temporary Resident Reduction Measures

• Measures were introduced to reduce the intake of international students and temporary workers under the IMP.
• As of January 21, 2025:
  • For family members of international students, access to open work permits is now limited to spouses of those enrolled in master’s programs of 16 months or more, doctoral programs, certain professional or pilot programs.
  • For family members of temporary workers, access to open work permits is now limited to spouses of temporary workers employed in management or professional occupations (e.g., C‑suite executives, scientists), or in sectors or jobs linked to government priorities.
• In the fall of 2024, the eligibility criteria for Post-Graduation Work Permits was updated to better align the program with economic objectives. Changes included introducing minimum language requirements for all applicants and a field of study requirement for all graduates except those completing bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree programs.
• To stabilize the international student population, an intake cap was also established on most study permit applications in January 2024. A further 10% reduction from the 2024 study permit cap was introduced in 2025, decreasing the cap from 485,000 to 437,000 permits issued.
• Employment and Social Development Canada also introduced a number of tightening measures aimed at improving program integrity in the TFWP, including:
  • expanding employer recruitment obligations to include asylum seekers;
  • reducing LMIA validity periods and limiting employment durations;
  • reducing the cap from 20% to 10% of low-wage temporary workers that can be employed at a worksite;
  • refusing to process applications in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher; and
  • raising the minimum wage threshold to access the High-Wage Stream, which has stricter requirements.

Permanent Resident Reductions

• The 2025–2027 Levels Plan decreased overall PR admissions to respond to Canada’s shifting domestic context. More than 40% of overall PR admissions in 2025 are anticipated to be from students or workers already in Canada, to alleviate pressure on communities’ capacity to welcome newcomers.
• Support for family reunification continues through the family category, with a rate of approximately 24% overall PR admissions in 2025, 23% in 2026 and 22% in 2027.
• The Levels Plan also preserves Canada’s strong and proud tradition of offering protection to the world’s most vulnerable refugees through the resettled refugees and protected persons category, which makes up 15% of overall PR admissions.
• The Levels Plan established ambitious targets for French-speaking PR admissions: 8.5% of total admissions for 2025 (29,325), 9.5% (31,500) for 2026 and 10% (31,500) for 2027.

Economic Impact of Immigration

• In 2024, core working age (25–54) immigrants (NPRs and PRs) represented 35.4% of the Canadian labour force, and all labour force growth between 2023 and 2024 (source: LFS 2024).
• PRs admitted through federal economic pathways under Express Entry consistently make higher contributions in the Canadian economy, demonstrating significantly higher average earnings ($62,800 one year after admission for PRs admitted in 2020; and $72,000 two years after admission) than the median Canadian employment earnings ($43,060 in 2022, up from $40,923 in 2020) (source: IMDB, Statistics Canada).
• Immigrants (PRs and NPRs) accounted for one in three healthcare sector workers.
  • Of all PRs and NPRs working in the healthcare sector in 2024, 49% worked as nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates, 41% as pharmacists, and 36% as licensed practical nurses.
• In 2024, immigrants (PRs and NPRs) of all ages represented:
  • 30% of people working in construction;
  • 40% of those working in professional, scientific and technical services;
  • 44% of those working in the transportation and warehousing sector; and
  • 43% of those working in accommodation and food services.
• International students have a direct positive impact on the Canadian economy, including indirect support for jobs in the education sector, domestic tuition rates and domestic student opportunities (program choice and access to education facilities).
• In 2024:
  • International students contributed $39B to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP), or 1.2% of GDP.
  • International students spent $47.5B in Canada, which surpasses the value of most of Canada’s largest exports including wood and wood products ($18.5B), aluminum and aluminum products ($17.5B), pharmaceuticals ($15.5B), fertilizers ($9.1B), etc.
  • International students generated $9.4B in tax revenue and supported over 407K jobs in the Canadian economy.
• International students may work up to 24 hours per week and full-time during break periods filling local labour needs. Roughly 750,000 students are available today as part-time workers in Canada.

Attracting Talent

• The government has committed to attracting the best talent in the world to help build our economy, while returning our overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.
• Canada’s immigration system is already designed to select top talent and facilitate the entry of temporary workers in priority areas for our economy, but more can be done.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) supports partners across the government to align immigration pathways with domestic workforce needs and to develop new strategies to recruit and attract the top international talent that Canada needs to grow our economy.
• Talent attraction efforts will occur within the prescribed limits of the Immigration Levels Plan.

Housing Shortages

• Housing shortages are a complex issue. Finding solutions to Canada’s housing pressures will require all levels of government and the private sector working together.
• The government has committed to sustainable immigration levels that align with the capacity of communities to welcome newcomers.
• To achieve this outcome IRCC is:
  • reducing the proportion of NPRs to less than 5% of the population by the end of 2027; and,
  • stabilizing PR admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027.
• Measures to cap international student volumes are already resulting in lower rental prices in some areas of the country. In particular, the cap on international students has slowed demand for rental housing in British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
• Many key industries needed to help build homes, including in construction and trades, are experiencing workforce shortages.
• IRCC is helping bring in new construction workers through category-based selection to put shovels in the ground and build new homes, when qualified Canadians are not available.
• IRCC is also helping to address labour pressures in the construction sector by facilitating labour market connections for NPRs already in Canada, especially when the unmet demand is for labourers and others at the lower end of the skills spectrum who require very little training and previous experience to perform the work.
• Measures across multiple Government of Canada organizations and all levels of government, such as streamlining foreign credential recognition, can support increased immigrant participation in the construction industry and other economic sectors.

Levels Plan Development and Consultation

• The annual Immigration Levels Plan sets targets and ranges for each immigration category in line with the government’s economic, social, and humanitarian priorities.
• Levels planning enables the Department and its partners to allocate resources appropriately for the review and management of applications and plan settlement supports.
• Each year, the Levels Plan is developed following extensive consultations, including engagement with provinces and territories (PTs), partners, stakeholders, and the public.
• More specifically, engagement typically includes:
  • PTs: Engagement with PTs is conducted bilaterally and multilaterally, guided by the Joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial Immigration Levels Consultation Framework, as approved through the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration.
  • Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined to the province (except Family Class and in-Canada refugee claimants). The Accord commits the federal government to take into consideration Quebec’s desired levels in all categories. Quebec’s immigration levels plan is established annually.
  • Stakeholder consultations: The Department conducts an annual consultation survey, which is shared with key stakeholders (e.g., business representatives, educational institutions, multicultural or ethno-cultural associations, municipalities, settlement or resettlement organizations, etc.). For the 2025–2027 Levels Plan, a total of 977 stakeholders completed the survey from the 6,772 invited.
  • Indigenous peoples: IRCC prioritizes engagement with Indigenous peoples and makes efforts to increase response rates from Indigenous organizations. For the 2025–2027 Levels Plan, the Department invited 479 individuals from First Nations, Métis, and Inuit serving and/or representing organizations to provide feedback.
  • Public opinion: While public opinion research shows that Canadians still believe that immigrants make important contributions to Canada's economy and society, the proportion of Canadians who believe there are too many immigrants coming to Canada has risen substantially in 2024. On the other hand, some employers, post-secondary institutions, and small/medium sized communities are calling for more immigrants to meet their specific regional, economic and labour needs.