On 1st November 2022, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship, released Canada’s 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan.

This is what the minister had to say when announcing the plan – “Last year, we welcomed the most newcomers in a single year in our history. This year’s immigration levels plan will help businesses find the workers they need, set Canada on a path that will contribute to our long-term success, and allow us to make good on key commitments to vulnerable people fleeing violence, war, and persecution.”

The immigration levels plan aims to manage the social and economic challenges Canada will face in the decades ahead. It embraces immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers and to attract the skills required in key sectors—including health care, skilled trades, manufacturing, and technology. The plan also brings an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.

Highlights of the levels plan include –

• a long-term focus on economic growth, with just over 60% of admissions in the economic class by 2025
• using new features in the Express Entry system to welcome newcomers with the required skills and qualifications in sectors facing acute labor shortages such as health care, manufacturing, building trades, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math)
• increases in regional programs to address targeted local labor market needs, through the PNP, the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP), and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP)
• reuniting more families faster
• ensuring that at least 4.4% of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone
• support for global crises by providing a safe haven to those facing persecution, including by expanding the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot

Whereas Canada welcomed 405,000 new immigrants in 2021 and is looking to welcome 432,000 immigrants in 2022, the released immigration levels plan acts as a guide for the number of immigrants Canada aims to welcome each of the following years:

• 2023 – 465,000 new immigrants
• 2024 – 485,000 new immigrants
• 2025 – 500,000 new immigrants

Within the plan, the targets for Express Entry landings (principal applicants, spouses, and dependents) will rise as follows:

• 82,880 in 2023
• 109,020 in 2024
• 114,000 in 2025

Targets for PNP will also increase to:

• 105,500  in 2023
• 110,000 in 2024
• 117,500 in 2025

Targets for the Parents and Grandparents Program

Canada will continue to look to welcome new immigrants under the Spouses, Partners and Children program.

• 28,500 in 2023
• 34,000 in 2024
• 36,000 in 2025.

Refugee and humanitarian class targets will decline.

Canada currently faces a labor shortage of nearly one million job vacancies. Labor shortages are further impacted by Canada’s low birth rate of 1.4 children per woman, one of the lowest globally. Due to the slow natural increase in the population, immigration will soon be the only way that Canada’s population and labor force will be able to grow. Newcomers are also needed to maintain a strong tax base, which is a key factor in Canada’s efforts to provide essential services such as education and healthcare.

Also, Canada has one of the world’s oldest populations. Approximately nine million people, or nearly a quarter of Canada’s population, will reach retirement age by 2030. This will create an urgent shortage of workers throughout all sectors of the economy.

These have been the driving factors in the country’s growing immigration targets.

Contact us to know if you are eligible for any of Canada’s immigration programs & how you can apply.