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A new report from the IRCC, “An Immigration System for Canada’s Future” has a lot of great information and ideas. Upcoming changes will give you a clearer picture of what to expect from the government’s immigration levels plan for the years 2024 to 2026.
A few key changes:
* No new hiring of IRCC staff instead they will depend more on automation and technological support to handle the higher number of immigration applications.
* More streamlined LMIA processing for the ‘Recognized Employer Pilot’. This means less government processing work for trusted employers who want to hire foreign workers.
* Increased scrutiny in verifying education institutions and Letters of Acceptance. This is the result of the recent fraud cases involving Indian international students.
* Establishment of a new Chief International Talent Officer position. The goal for this position is to help identify and manage the demand for labour and talent in Canada – whether this falls under Service Canada or IRCC remains to be seen.
* Increased focus on aligning skilled international students with the labour shortage. This could lead to higher priorities in the next two years for study permits and PGWP extensions based on in-demand subjects.
* Permanent status for the Rural Northern Immigration Pilot Program. This is some of the best news. This program is a hidden gem! It’s one of those under-rated and under-represented programs that is a direct PR program from overseas – similar to the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) which is now quite popular and originally started as a pilot as well.
* Potential new opportunities for home builders and investment equity firms. The plan intends to “Explore options to leverage the investment of those coming to Canada in order to support more affordable housing…” Many other countries have been leveraging foreign investors and immigrant funds to help build and facilitate infrastructure projects in the country. Hopefully, Canadian policy makers won’t make it overly difficult and complicated and doom the idea to failure before it actually gets started.
If you’re interested in immigrating to Canada for Studies, Sponsorship, or Business, get a FREE email assessment with one of our licensed immigration consultants, we have successfully helped applicants from over 49 different countries! Fill out our form, click here.
Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan is basically a continuation of the same steady progression. In 2023 the target for permanent residents was 465,000. The target level for 2024 is 485,000 and 500,000 each year for 2025 and 2026. Here are some of the areas that will see changes and/or increased focus in the next three years:
* Priority sectors for the labour crunch are now identified as STEM-related occupations such as Health, Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics as well as trades, transportation, and agriculture.
We will have to see if IRCC will update their internal work permit priority processing occupations for 2024 based on these new plans.
* Startup Visa target levels are unchanged. They are in line with the previous targets of 6,000 new permanent residencies processed through the SUV Business program each year. (Don’t forget that these targets are combined with the Federal Self-Employed PR program, which has an approx. 4-year processing time now.)
The IRCC claims that they want to continue to improve the Start-Up Visa Program: “including prioritizing applications that are supported by venture capital, angel investor groups, and business incubators and have capital committed, along with applications that are supported by business incubators that are members of Canada’s Tech Network.” However, details on the implementation of this new plan do not seem to be worked out yet.
* Express Entry target levels have been increased slightly for 2024, 2025, and 2026 - up by 3,500 annually which includes FSW, FST, and CEC categories.
* Economic Pilot levels have been dropped slightly. The RNIP, mentioned above, will become a permanent program next year and have its own allocation, thus slightly pulling from the numbers here.
* The Atlantic Immigration Program has seen a huge drop in its target levels by 70% which is not good news for applicants looking to the AIP for the Canadian permanent residency path.
* Provincial Nominee Programs have been slightly adjusted upwards towards 120,000 per year for all territories and provinces except Quebec.
* Family sponsorship categories, including parents, grandparents, spousal, and common-law sponsorship cases increased to 2,000 annually.
* Absolutely no significant changes to the H&C and Refugee targets.
* Higher targets for French-speaking permanent residents outside of Quebec. This target number was at 19,900 and has increased by 58% to 31,150 in 2025 and by 81% for 2026 (36,000 per year).
The Francophone strategy for outside Quebec is real and in full force. If you know French or are studying French, you have much better options to apply for your PR in Canada or come and work or study here. Now that Quebec is closing its borders by increasing costs for international students, it looks like the rest of Canada will capitalize on this.
If you’re interested in immigrating to Canada for Studies, Sponsorship, or Business, get a FREE email assessment with one of our licensed immigration consultants, we have successfully helped applicants from over 49 different countries! Fill out our form, click here.
The new plan has some exciting forecasts and ideas. Whether they will become concrete reality remains to be seen. But if you’re considering immigration to Canada, knowing where your best odds are can help you make the right choice for your path.
If you’re thinking about immigrating whether permanently or temporarily - you’re at the right place! Our team speaks over +9 languages, and we help applicants from over 50 different countries during their immigration process. Get a free email assessment, click here.
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