PACP - Immigration Levels Plan - December 5, 2023

Key Facts And Figures

The 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan, tabled in Parliament on November 1, 2023, projects stabilized levels in permanent resident admissions with targets of 485,000 in 2024; 500,000 in 2025; and 500,000 in 2026. There are no changes to the established mix that was outlined in the 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan, maintaining the focus on economic immigration (over 60% by 2025).
In 2022, Canada welcomed more than 437,000 new permanent residents, and is on track to meet the target of 465,000 for 2023.

Key Messages

Canada will continue welcoming newcomers who bring the skills our economy needs. The plan focuses on attracting skilled workers who will contribute to Canada’s economy, while recognizing the importance of family reunification and helping the world’s most vulnerable populations through refugee resettlement.
This plan upholds the Government’s commitment to bring in 500,000 newcomers by 2025 to help ensure Canada’s economic prosperity. It also allows Canada to maintain its humanitarian tradition while stabilizing overall growth to support positive outcomes for newcomers and those already in Canada.

Responsive

The multi-year levels plan is developed in consultation with provinces and territories, including Quebec. Under the Canada-Québec Accord, Quebec has full responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined to the province. My Department also consults with stakeholder organizations, and the public.
The impact of growing permanent resident and temporary resident volumes have been factored in, as well as considerations of the current state of critical services and infrastructure capacity.
The decision to stabilize provides space and time for all levels of government and partners to build winning conditions for immigration-driven population growth.
While public support for immigration in Canada has remained relatively stable and strong for many years, it can decline quickly if the perception of a well-managed migration system with positive outcomes is lost. Canadians are still likely to see immigration as having a positive effect on economic growth and the availability of labour, however they are also increasingly seeing it as having a negative impact on access to healthcare and the availability of affordable housing.

Supplementary Information

Over half of all admissions are dedicated to the economic class, reaching over 60% in 2025. Family class will reach 118,000 admissions by 2025 and then stabilize. Refugees and Protected Persons and Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other admissions will fall slightly before stabilizing, in part due to achieving the commitment to welcome at least 40,000 vulnerable Afghans since 2021.
This plan includes ranges, which provides us with some flexibility to adapt the plan, as needed, particularly as we face an increasingly unstable global context.
Some media and members of the public are voicing concerns about the immigration system and linking international student rates and temporary resident intake in particular to housing and other absorptive capacity issues. However, the business community generally advocates for increased economic immigration. Canadians are more likely to see immigration as having a positive effect on the availability of labour and economic growth, but a negative impact on healthcare, and especially on the availability of housing.
Extensive consultations were conducted for the development of the Plan, including engagement with provinces and territories, partners, stakeholders, and the public. This engagement built upon extensive engagement efforts already undertaken through a strategic review of Canada’s immigration system. More specifically, efforts included:
- Engagement with provinces and territories bilaterally and multilaterally, guided by the Joint Federal-Provincial-Territorial Immigration Levels Consultation Framework, as approved through the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration (FMRI).
- Bilateral engagement with the province of Québec under the Canada-Québec Accord. This included regular and ad hoc meetings with officials as well as through a formal exchange of letters.
- The Department’s annual consultation survey, which was shared with key stakeholders (business representatives, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, multicultural or ethno-cultural associations, municipalities and regional administrations, settlement or resettlement organizations, etc.). A total of 633 stakeholders completed the survey from the 4,780 invited. This number represents a substantial increase from the 2,867 stakeholders organizations invited in 2022.
- Invitations to 286 individuals from First Nations, Métis and Inuit serving and/or representing Indigenous organizations (unfortunately, no responses were received). This is an increase from 80 representatives the previous year. The Department also conducted outreach with National Indigenous Organizations to establish and strengthen a dialogue on immigration levels with them.

2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan

Immigrant Category		Target	Low Range^{Table Footnote 12}	High Range^{Table Footnote 12}	Target	Low Range^{Table Footnote 12}	High Range^{Table Footnote 12}	Target	Low Range^{Table Footnote 12}	High Range^{Table Footnote 12}
Immigrant Category		2024			2025^{Table Footnote 11}			2026^{Table Footnote 11}
	Overall Planned Permanent Resident Admissions	485,000	430,000	532,500	500,000	442,500	550,000	500,000	442,500	550,000
	Overall French-speaking Permanent Resident Admissions outside Quebec^{Table Footnote 1}	26,100	-	-	31,500	-	-	36,000	-	-
Economic	Federal High Skilled^{Table Footnote 2}	110,770	90,000	116,000	117,500	96,500	124,000	117,500	96,500	124,000
	Federal Economic Public Policies^{Table Footnote 3}	-	0	3,000	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Federal Business^{Table Footnote 4}	5,000	3,500	7,000	6,000	4,000	8,000	6,000	4,000	8,000
	Economic Pilots:^{Table Footnote 5} Caregivers^{Table Footnote 6}; Agri-Food Pilot; Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot; Economic Mobility Pathways Project	10,875	6,500	14,500	14,750	9,000	19,750	13,750	9,000	19,750
	Atlantic Immigration Program	6,500	4,000	9,000	8,500	5,000	13,000	8,500	5,000	13,000
	Provincial Nominee Program	110,000	105,500	117,000	120,000	113,000	130,000	120,000	113,000	130,000
	Quebec Skilled Workers and Business^{Table Footnote 7}	To be determined^{Table Footnote 7}			To be determined^{Table Footnote 7}			To be determined^{Table Footnote 7}
	Total Economic	281,135	250,000	305,000	301,250	265,000	326,000	301,250	265,000	326,000
Family	Spouses, Partners and Children	82,000	77,000	88,000	84,000	79,000	90,000	84,000	79,000	90,000
	Parents and Grandparents	32,000	27,000	36,000	34,000	29,000	42,000	34,000	29,000	42,000
	Total Family	114,000	105,000	130,000	118,000	107,000	135,000	118,000	107,000	135,000
Refugees and Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada and Dependents Abroad	27,000	24,000	38,000	29,000	26,000	40,000	29,000	26,000	40,000
	Resettled Refugees – Government Assisted^{Table Footnote 8}	21,115	16,750	26,000	15,250	12,000	17,000	15,250	12,000	17,000
	Resettled Refugees – Privately Sponsored	27,750	20,000	31,000	28,250	23,000	32,000	28,250	23,000	32,000
	Resettled Refugees – Blended Visa Office-Referred	250	-	400	250	-	400	250	-	400
	Total Refugees^{Table Footnote 9} and Protected Persons	76,115	66,000	93,000	72,750	64,000	80,000	72,750	64,000	80,000
Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other	Total Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other^{Table Footnote 10}	13,750	9,000	17,500	8,000	6,500	12,000	8,000	6,500	12,000

Table Footnotes

Table Footnote 1

The Government of Canada set an objective to increase Francophone immigration to reach the following targets for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec: 6% in 2024, 7% in 2025 and 8% in 2026.

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Table Footnote 2

Includes the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class.

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Table Footnote 3

Includes the time-limited temporary public policies for temporary resident to permanent resident pathways, with most admissions anticipated by the end of 2023, however some residual admissions may occur in 2024.

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Table Footnote 4

Includes the Start-up Visa Program and the Self-employed Persons Program.

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Table Footnote 5

Admissions under the Municipal Nominee Program will be included within this category, following program launch.

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Table Footnote 6

Includes admissions in the Home Child-Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot. Applications received under the legacy caregiver pilots and through the interim pathway will be processed to completion. Some admissions in this category are destined for Quebec.

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Table Footnote 7

Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has full responsibility for the selection of immigrants destined to Quebec, with the exception of the family class and protected persons. Quebec also tables its immigration plan at the National Assembly of Quebec on or before November 1 each year (or within 15 days of the resumption of work following an election). Estimated admissions targets for Quebec’s economic programs used to calculate overall economic targets in the federal plan are 37,990 in 2024; 34,500 in 2025; and 35,500 in 2026.

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Table Footnote 8