Immigration to Canada in 2026: Overview

On This Page, You Will Find:

• What changed in Canada’s immigration system for 2026
• The 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan in numbers
• Economic immigration and why its share is rising
• How Express Entry works, the 2026 categories and the November 3 CRS changes
• Provincial Nominee Programs and Quebec’s separate system
• Family sponsorship and the parents and grandparents pause
• Business immigration during the transition
• Temporary residence: work permits and the student cap
• Government fees, funds and timing
• Frequently asked questions

Canada’s immigration system entered 2026 in a deliberate holding pattern. After several years of rapid growth followed by a sharp correction, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has settled on a flat permanent residence target and a shrinking temporary resident intake.

The governing document is the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, tabled on November 4, 2025. It fixes permanent resident admissions at 380,000 a year for three consecutive years and pushes the economic share of those admissions to 64% by 2027. Its successor, the 2027-2029 Immigration Levels Plan, was tabled with Budget 2026 on November 5, 2026. It keeps permanent resident admissions at 380,000 and new temporary resident arrivals at 370,000 in each of 2027, 2028 and 2029. Category-level targets for those years have not yet been published, so the 2026-2028 plan remains the most detailed guide to how admissions are allocated.

For applicants, the practical effect is a smaller, more selective system. Fewer temporary permits are being issued, more permanent residence spaces are going to people already working or studying in Canada, and selection is increasingly tied to named occupations and, from November 3, 2026, to work in high-wage occupations rather than general points scores.

What Changed for 2026

Four shifts define the year. First, permanent residence stopped falling and stabilised. Second, temporary arrivals kept dropping. Third, federal business immigration closed to new applicants pending a replacement program. Fourth, Express Entry is being refocused on high-wage occupations, with job offer points returning on November 3, 2026.

• Permanent resident admissions are set at 380,000 for 2026, 2027 and 2028, with an operating range of 350,000 to 420,000.
• New temporary resident arrivals are targeted at 385,000 in 2026, falling to 370,000 in each of 2027 and 2028.
• The government is targeting a temporary population below 5% of Canada’s total population by the end of 2027.
• The Start-up Visa Program stopped accepting commitment certificates after December 31, 2025, and closed entirely on June 30, 2026, the last day for applicants holding a valid 2025 commitment certificate to apply. The Self-Employed Persons Program remains paused until further notice.
• Intake of new Parents and Grandparents Program sponsorship applications was paused on July 15, 2026.
• On October 16, 2026, IRCC announced a new Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Labour Market Integration factor, effective November 3, 2026. It brings back points for qualifying job offers, no longer requires a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for those offers, and adds points for experience in high-wage occupations.

The 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan

The Levels Plan is the single most useful document for anyone judging their odds. It sets both the overall ceiling and the allocation between programs.

For 2026, the permanent resident breakdown is as follows:

• Total economic: 239,800, of which Federal High Skilled (Express Entry) accounts for 109,000 and the Provincial Nominee Program 91,500
• Total family: 84,000, split between 69,000 for spouses, partners and children and 15,000 for parents and grandparents
• Refugees and protected persons: 49,300
• Humanitarian and compassionate and other: 6,900
• Federal business: 500
• Atlantic Immigration Program: 4,000
• Federal economic pilots, including caregivers, Agri-Food and the community immigration pilots: 8,175

Two one-time initiatives sit outside those totals. IRCC will process permanent residence for up to 115,000 protected persons already in Canada over 2026 and 2027, including 46,000 planned for 2026, and will accelerate permanent residence for up to 33,000 in-Canada workers, with at least 20,000 planned for 2026. The workers initiative focuses on people who have lived in smaller communities for at least two years and applied through programs such as the PNP, the Atlantic Immigration Program or the rural and francophone community pilots.

Francophone immigration outside Quebec is targeted at 9% of admissions in 2026, rising to 10.5% by 2028, with a stated goal of 12% by 2029.

Immigrate to Canada: Economic Class

Economic Immigration Takes a Larger Share

The economic category is the clear priority. It represents the largest block of admissions in every year of the plan and reaches 64% of the total in 2027 and 2028.

Within that block, IRCC increased allocations for both Federal High Skilled and the Provincial Nominee Program, framing the increase around labour gaps and nation-building projects. Federal High Skilled rises to 111,000 in 2027 and 2028; the Provincial Nominee Program rises to 92,500. These 2027 and 2028 figures are notional and may be adjusted in the 2027-2029 plan.

Quebec’s economic targets are not set federally. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, the province selects its own economic immigrants and publishes separate numbers.

How Express Entry Works in 2026

Express Entry remains the federal application management system for three programs: the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class. A portion of Provincial Nominee Program candidates is also managed through it.

Candidates create a profile, enter a pool, and are ranked by the Comprehensive Ranking System. IRCC then runs rounds of invitations. Successful candidates have 60 days to submit a full permanent residence application.

On February 18, 2026, the Minister announced the year’s category-based selection categories. Four are new:

• Researchers with Canadian work experience
• Senior managers with Canadian work experience
• Transport occupations, including air pilots, aircraft mechanics and inspectors
• Skilled military recruits accepted by the Canadian Armed Forces

A category for physicians with Canadian work experience was announced in December 2025. Categories carried over from 2025 include French-language proficiency, healthcare and social services occupations, science, technology, engineering and math occupations, trade occupations and education occupations.

Category-based rounds require at least 12 months of full-time work experience in a single listed occupation within the past three years. For the physicians, senior managers and researchers categories, that experience must have been gained in Canada.

Express Entry Changes from November 3, 2026

On October 16, 2026, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced the largest change to CRS scoring since job offer points were removed in March 2025. From November 3, 2026, a new Labour Market Integration factor awards points for either Canadian work experience or a qualifying job offer in a high-wage occupation, whichever is higher. The two are never combined. The factor is worth up to 150 points for candidates without a spouse or partner, and up to 140 points for those with an accompanying spouse or partner.

• Canadian work experience: the existing points for years of Canadian experience continue, plus 70, 40 or 20 extra points for at least 12 months of experience in occupations whose median wage is at least 2, 1.5 or 1.3 times the average median wage in Canada.
• Job offers: a qualifying offer in a high-wage occupation earns 100, 70 or 50 points depending on the occupation’s wage level. Offers in other occupations earn no CRS points.
• No LMIA needed: an LMIA is no longer required for a job offer to earn CRS points or to support Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades eligibility, and having one gives no extra advantage.
• Occupation, not salary: “high-wage” is based on the national median wage of the occupation (NOC), not on what an individual candidate is paid. IRCC publishes the list of qualifying occupations.

Scores in the pool are being recalculated automatically; candidates who wanted job offer points had to update their profiles before November 3. IRCC says recalculation may take up to two weeks, and invitation rounds are paused during that time. Cut-off scores after the restart will not be comparable with earlier 2026 draws. The last rounds before the pause were held in late October: a Provincial Nominee Program draw on October 26 (792 invitations, minimum CRS 761), a French-language draw on October 27 (5,000 invitations, minimum CRS 407) and a transport occupations draw on October 28 (150 invitations, minimum CRS 477). Higher scores do not guarantee an invitation.

Read our news coverage of the new Express Entry changes, IRCC’s What has changed in Express Entry page, and our CRS guide for the full points breakdown.

Provincial Nominee Programs and Quebec

Provincial and territorial programs are the second-largest economic channel, with 91,500 admissions planned for 2026. Each province runs its own streams and its own draws, generally aligned to local labour shortages.

Most Provincial Nominee Programs follow a two-step process. A province nominates the candidate; the candidate then applies to IRCC for permanent residence. A nomination through an Express Entry-aligned stream adds 600 CRS points.

Quebec operates separately. It selects skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors under its own criteria, issues a Quebec Selection Certificate, and only then does the applicant apply federally. French-language ability weighs heavily in Quebec selection.

Immigrate to Canada: Family Class

Family Sponsorship

Family reunification accounts for 84,000 admissions in 2026, or roughly 22% of the total. Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor a spouse or common-law partner, dependent children and, in defined circumstances, other relatives.

The picture changed for parents and grandparents. IRCC paused intake of new interest-to-sponsor forms and new applications on July 15, 2026, while continuing to process the existing inventory toward the 15,000 admissions planned for the year. The super visa remains available for extended visits.

Details on eligibility, undertakings and income thresholds are set out in our family sponsorship overview.

Business Immigration in Transition

Federal business immigration is closed to new applicants. IRCC stopped accepting Start-Up Visa commitment certificates from designated organizations after December 31, 2025. Applicants who already held a valid 2025 commitment certificate had until June 30, 2026 to apply, and that window has now closed: the program has been paused since June 30, 2026, and IRCC is only processing applications received before that date. The Self-Employed Persons Program remains paused.

IRCC’s 2026-27 Departmental Plan says the department will create a new, high-impact Start-up Visa pilot focused on elite entrepreneurs to replace the existing program. As of mid-October 2026, no eligibility criteria or intake date have been published. The Levels Plan allots only 500 federal business admissions per year in the meantime, reflecting inventory processing rather than new intake.

Provincial entrepreneur streams and Quebec’s business programs operate under separate rules and are not affected by the federal pauses.

Temporary Residence: Work and Study

Temporary programs are being deliberately reduced. The 2026 arrivals target of 385,000 splits into 230,000 workers and 155,000 students.

Within the worker figure, the International Mobility Program is allocated 170,000 and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program 60,000, the latter falling to 50,000 in 2027. Post-graduation work permits are treated as a change of status rather than a new arrival and sit outside the targets. An LMIA is still required for most Temporary Foreign Worker Program work permits; the November 2026 change removes the LMIA requirement only for Express Entry job offer points and FSW/FSTP eligibility.

On the study side, IRCC expects to issue up to 408,000 study permits in 2026, including 155,000 to new arrivals and 253,000 extensions. That is 7% below the 2025 issuance target and 16% below 2024. A total of 309,670 application spaces are available under the cap, distributed to provinces and territories.

From January 1, 2026, master’s and doctoral students at public designated learning institutions no longer need a provincial or territorial attestation letter. Primary and secondary students, certain priority groups, and existing permit holders extending at the same institution and level are also exempt. Our study permit guide sets out the current documentary requirements.

Fees, Funds and Timing

Permanent residence fees rose on April 30, 2026. Applications received on or after that date pay the new amounts, and anyone who deferred the right of permanent residence fee pays the new amount when it is requested.

• Right of permanent residence fee: $600, up from $575
• Federal High Skilled, Provincial Nominee Program, Quebec Skilled Workers, Atlantic Immigration Class and most economic pilots: $990 for the principal applicant and $270 per accompanying dependent child
• Business programs: $1,895 for the principal applicant
• Sponsored principal applicant under family class: $570, plus a $90 sponsorship fee

Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades applicants must also show settlement funds. Under the amounts in effect since July 7, 2025, a single applicant needs $15,263, rising to $28,362 for a family of four. IRCC updates these amounts each year, so check the current table before you submit your profile. Canadian Experience Class applicants, and those with a valid job offer and authorization to work in Canada, are exempt.

Current fee tables are mirrored on our immigration fee schedule page, and our processing times guide tracks IRCC’s published estimates, which change frequently.

Frequently Asked Questions