ARCHIVED - 2025 consultations on immigration levels

Current status: Closed

July 21, 2025 to August 17, 2025

Every year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) engages with a wide range of stakeholders and partners from across the country to help us shape Canada’s next Immigration Levels Plan.

Traditionally, the Immigration Levels Plan focused on how many permanent residents would be admitted to Canada in a given year, and set targets for overall admissions per immigration category. Last year, we expanded that scope by including targets for temporary resident arrivals of students and workers.

Building on last year’s new approach, this year will be guided by the Government of Canada’s commitments to:

• lower the non-permanent resident population to less than 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2027
• stabilize permanent resident admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027
• establish a 12% target for Francophone immigration outside of Quebec by 2029 to promote the vitality of Francophone communities

As part of our whole-of government, whole-of-society approach to immigration, we welcome your views as we prepare for the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan, which will be announced in the fall of 2025.

On this page

• How your views will inform this year’s plan
• Planning Canada’s immigration levels
• How people come to Canada
• Contact us

Planning Canada’s immigration levels

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) requires the minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to table a projection of permanent resident admissions (the Immigration Levels Plan) in Parliament every year. For the first time, the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan also included temporary resident targets, constituting a new holistic approach to managed migration.

This multi-year plan details how many immigrants Canada will welcome:

• as permanent residents under the economic, family, and refugee and humanitarian programs, and
• as temporary residents under the international student and temporary foreign worker programs.

It renews each year on a rolling three-year time frame, setting out firm targets and ranges for the first year, and notional targets and ranges for the second and third years to provide flexibility to adjust to any developments or changes in reality.

The 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan reduced permanent resident targets starting in 2025 and set decreased notional targets for the following two years to achieve well-managed, sustainable growth and economic prosperity for the long term. Specifically, last year’s plan included permanent resident targets of:

• 395,000 in 2025
• 380,000 in 2026
• 365,000 in 2027

In that plan, supporting the Canadian economy continued to be a key priority – with the economic classes representing the largest proportion of admissions each year, reaching approximately 62% by 2027. A greater share of economic admissions were allocated to federal economic programs to attract skilled workers in critical sectors such as health care and trades occupations. There was also an emphasis on facilitating transition to permanent residence for those already in Canada. Support for family reunification continued through the family class programs, which maintained a rate of 22% of overall permanent resident admissions.

Canada’s strong and proud tradition of offering protection to those most in need was evident through the sustained targets for Government-Assisted Refugees, which contributed to the rate of 15% of overall permanent resident admissions for the resettled refugees and protected persons classes.

In line with our Policy on Francophone Immigration, which aims to enhance the long-term vitality and prosperity of Francophone and Acadian minority communities outside Quebec and pave a path toward restoring and increasing their demographic weight, the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan included higher proportions of French-speaking permanent resident targets outside of Quebec. Of the proposed overall permanent resident targets in the plan, the Francophone immigration targets represented:

• 8.5% in 2025
• 9.5% in 2026
• 10% in 2027

The plan committed to reducing the non-permanent resident population to 5% of the total population by the end of 2026 to ensure a well-managed migration system, as well as ease the strain on housing, public infrastructure, and social services.

Targets for new temporary resident arrivals were set at:

• 673,650 in 2025
• 516,600 in 2026
• 543,600 in 2027

These figures represent work and study permits issued to new arrivals to Canada.

The target in 2025 for international students represented 45% of overall new temporary resident arrivals. In 2026 and 2027, international students would make up the majority of temporary resident arrivals at 59% and 56%, while the remainder of the arrivals would be allocated to temporary foreign workers under both the International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

A number of considerations are taken into account when developing the Immigration Levels Plan, including:

• objectives for immigration, as set out in the IRPA
• government priorities and policies (including restoring and increasing the demographic weight of Francophone communities outside Quebec, as well as attracting top talent to help build our economy)
• economic and regional needs across Canada, informed by engagement and close collaboration with the provinces and territories
• international obligations with respect to refugees and offering protection to those in need
• the ability of IRCC and its partner departments to screen and process applications in a timely manner
• the capacity to settle, integrate, and retain newcomers (settlement services, housing accessibility and affordability, public infrastructure, health care services, etc.)

The plan is designed to contribute to a sustainable immigration system that supports diversity and helps build vibrant, dynamic and inclusive communities, while driving economic growth and prosperity, as well as ensuring the safety and security of Canadians.

Taking into account the full scope of both temporary resident arrivals and permanent resident admissions, we are now asking for your feedback to help us shape the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan.

How people come to Canada

There are 2 ways for people to come to Canada. They can come as either:

• temporary residents to visit, study or work in Canada for a limited time, or
• permanent residents to settle in Canada and eventually become eligible for citizenship

Temporary residents

Temporary residents can be visitors travelling to Canada for business or leisure, international students who come to study in Canada for more than 6 months, or foreign nationals who are authorized to work in Canada.

Temporary foreign workers may come to work for a specific employer and fill current skills shortages through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, or via the International Mobility Program to support Canada’s broader economic, cultural or other competitive interests. For the purposes of immigration levels planning, only targets for new arrivals of international students and temporary foreign workers will be included.

Permanent residents

Permanent residence grants many rights and responsibilities, including the right to live, work or study anywhere in Canada. It also grants social benefits, including health care coverage and access to settlement and integration services.

If permanent residents meet the requirements set out in the Citizenship Act – including being physically present in Canada for a defined number of days, demonstrating their knowledge of Canada and one of its official languages, filing income tax returns, and not being subject to prohibitions (such as criminality) – they can also be granted citizenship and become naturalized Canadians.

There are a few different immigration classes and categories of permanent residents to Canada.

Economic immigration

Canada selects economic immigrants (including their immediate family members) for their ability to contribute to the country’s economy. Newcomers work every day to create jobs, care for our loved ones and support local businesses. They enrich and better our communities and allow us to overcome challenges in critical industries and sectors of the economy.

Economic immigrants can come through a variety of programs, including the:

• Federal Skilled Worker Program
• Federal Skilled Trades Program
• Canadian Experience Class

These three federal programs are managed through Express Entry, our online application system for skilled workers, such as those with work experience in managerial, professional and technical or trades occupations.

Skilled workers who want to become permanent residents of Canada and live in Quebec apply through a different process, as the province of Quebec has its own rules for choosing immigrants by virtue of a special agreement on immigration with the Government of Canada.

In addition to these programs, IRCC continues to invest in other economic immigration programs and pilots, such as the:

• Atlantic Immigration Program
• Provincial Nominee Program
• Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot

Building on the success of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, the Rural Community Immigration Pilot was recently launched to continue to support rural and more remote communities by helping local businesses find the workers they need. A Francophone Community Immigration Pilot was also established, which focuses on increasing the number of French-speaking newcomers settling in Francophone minority communities outside of Quebec. This ensures the economic development of Francophone minority communities, while also helping to restore and increase their demographic weight. These pilots provide 18 communities with a permanent residence pathway to attract and retain newcomers who can fill key jobs and who want to live long-term in these areas.

Those who provide home child care or home support are eligible for certain pilot programs or may work temporarily as a caregiver. These initiatives are tailored to attract a broad range of talented people to the country, contribute to the development of communities and fill specific labour market needs.

Canada also has two business immigration programs:

• The Start-up Visa Program attracts immigrant entrepreneurs who have Canadian support to launch and build their start-up company in Canada (outside Quebec).
• The Self-employed Persons Program provides a pathway to permanent residence for those with experience in cultural activities or athletics, though application intake for this program is paused until 2027.

The province of Quebec also has its own rules for selecting business immigrants who wish to settle in Quebec.

Family reunification

Family reunification is an important pillar of Canada’s immigration policy. Through the Family Reunification Program, Canadian citizens and permanent residents are able to sponsor certain categories of family members to immigrate to Canada as permanent residents.

The program allows for the sponsorship of spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners, dependent children (biological or adopted), parents and grandparents, and other relatives in special circumstances, such as orphaned relatives under the age of 18 or a last remaining relative.

The program supports the reunification of separated, pre-existing families, and facilitates family formation. It also interacts with other immigration and refugee programs and complements them.

Refugees, protected persons, and persons in Canada on humanitarian grounds

Canada shows a strong commitment to its humanitarian goals by resettling refugees and recognizing those persons in need of protection by granting them asylum.

Each year, millions of people from around the world are forced to flee their homeland to escape persecution, war or severe human rights abuses. Canada helps those at risk through our resettlement and asylum programs. Learn more about Canada’s refugee system.

Canada’s Refugee Resettlement Program is a long-standing humanitarian tradition, grounded in the 1951 Refugee Convention and the IRPA, to provide protection to those at risk. Upon arrival in Canada, resettled refugees become permanent residents. Resettled refugees can be admitted to Canada via one of the following 3 resettlement programs:

• Government-Assisted Refugees Program
• Privately Sponsored Refugees Program
• Blended Visa Office-Referred Refugees Program

Protected persons in Canada are people who applied for refugee protection status while in Canada and whom the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has determined to be a Convention refugee or in need of protection in Canada.

Some people may also qualify for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Applying for consideration under such grounds is an exceptional measure and requires justification to grant an exemption to an individual who may not be eligible to apply for permanent residence from within Canada through other immigration classes.

Contact us

If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to email our engagement team.