This is the very first Immigration Levels Plan announcement since October of 2020. The announcement is expected to be made on February 11 2022.
The Canadian government will announce an update major by February, when it will announce it’s Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024.
The announcement will outline Canada’s immigration goals for the year ahead, and for the following two years and the number of immigrants Canada would like to welcome through its diverse economic family, humanitarian, and classes. It is the first time this announcement has been made since Canada announced in October of 2020 that it would intend to receive more than 400 000 new immigrants each year from 2020 onward, which is around 40,000 more over its previous target.
The main law governing immigration in Canada that governs immigration, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) the federal government has to announce the announcement before November 1st of every year, if Parliament is in session. If Parliament is not in session the announcement must be announced within 30 sitting days after the next Parliament’s reconvening.
The announcement is usually made by the 1st of November each year, but this was not the case in 2021 because the Canadian government disbanded Parliament in September due to the election. After the election the new session of Parliament was inaugurated on the 22nd of November.
The Parliament was in session for 20 days before taking a vacation break. The next session will be on January 31st , which means that immigration Minister Sean Fraser must make the announcement of the new levels plan on Friday, February 11, at the time of the. In the past it has been the case that it has been the case that Canadian government has always made the announcement prior to the deadline, but has never made it public earlier, unless the deadline falls on the weekend. If this is the scenario this year and the announcement is expected to be made in the second week of of 7 February.
It is worth noting it is that Canadian government will likely to announce another levels plan before the 1st of November. It is expected that the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025 will be the regular announcement which will proceed according to plan, except for the extremely unlikely scenario that the Canadian government is able to decide to call elections for the 2nd time in a row this year.
In the present Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) expects to welcome 411,000 permanent residences into Canada in the coming year. The year 2021 was the first time that IRCC has achieved their goal of welcoming 401,000 immigrants. This is the most high number ever recorded in Canadian history. IRCC reached its goal in the last year despite the difficult conditions of the pandemic by moving temporary residents living within Canada to permanent residency.
The current plan is to accept 241,500 economically-minded people into Canada this year via the programs of Express Entry as well as The Provincial Nominee Program and Quebec’s programs, and other avenues. This amounts to the 59 percent of the goal for immigration to Canada.
IRCC is hoping to receive the family of 103,500 immigrants under the Spouses Partners, Spouses, and Children Program as well as the Parents and Grandparents Program. It is 26 percent of the IRCC’s goal for immigration.
The remaining 66,000, which is 15% of the target for newcomers will be accepted into Canada on humanitarian, refugee and compassionate grounds.
The proportions have been maintained from the mid-1990s at the time the Canadian administration decided to narrow admissions to those of the upper class to ease the fiscal and economic challenges due to Canada’s ageing population and the low birth rate. The plans for this year are likely to remain close to these percentages.
What could alter but what will not change is the amount of immigrants Canada chooses to focus on in the near future. On one side it is possible that the Canadian government could be content with their ambitious goals and decide to maintain the current numbers. This could mean increasing the annual admissions , even though the average is more than 400,000. In comparison, the baseline had around 250,000 people per year up until the year 2016. Another factor to consider is that the Canadian government might be looking to limit significant increase in immigration so that it can focus on tackling the backlog of applicants that currently have 1.8 million temporary and permanent residents waiting in the line.
On the other hand Fraser has shown an interest in increasing the goals further based on feedback from stakeholders. The minister said he’d be listening to community organizations and employers to determine whether they would like to allow more immigrants.
Some might claim that Canada’s targets for immigration are already quite high and the government must stop pursuing more levels due to a number of reasons. Backlogs have to be controlled and communities across Canada have problems with housing affordability historically, and accepting immigrants during times of economic decline has impacted the employment outcomes of immigrants.
