Federal Immigration Minister John McCallum announced Canada’s immigration levels for 2016.  The planned intake released in the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, indicates levels ranging between 280,000 – 305,000 covering Family Class, Economic Class, Refugees and Humanitarian persons, represents the highest immigration levels in modern times.

The outlook represents a major shift in government policy from the previous government with plans to increase the numbers of refugees and protected persons and slightly decrease economic class immigrants from 2015 levels but the latter remain consistent with the range of numbers seen in recent years.

The planned 2016 levels:

Economic Class: 151,200 – 162,400

This includes immigrants selected under a number of programs including federal skilled workers, skilled trades and the Canadian experience class (applying under the express entry system), federal business programs, provincial nominees and Quebec.

Family Class: 75,000 – 82,000

This includes spouses, partners, children, parents and grandparents.

Refugees: 51,000 – 57,000

This includes government and privately sponsored refugees.

Humanitarian: 2800 – 3600

Analysis

Immigration Category	Category	Low	High	Target
Economic	Federal Economic- High Skilled	54,000	59,000	58,400
	Federal Economic- Caregivers	20,000	22,000	22,000
	Federal Economic- Business	500	900	800
	Provincial Nominee Program	46,000	48,000	47,800
	Quebec Skilled Worker	25,500	27,000	26,200
	Quebec Business	5,2000	5, 500	5,400
	Economic Total	151,200	162,400	160,400
Family	Spouses, Partners & Children	57,000	62,000	60,000
	Parents & GrandParents	18,000	20,000	20,000
	Family Total	75,000	82,000	80,000
Refugees & Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada & dependants in abroad	10,000	11,000	10,000
	Resettled Refugees	41,000	46,000	44,800
	Government-Assisted Refugees	24,000	25,000	24,600
	Blended Visa Office-Referred	2,000	3,000	2,400
	Privately Sponsored Refugees	15,000	18,000	17,800
	Refugees & Protected Persons Total	51,000	57,000	55,800
Humanitarian and Other	Humanitarian and Other	2,800	3,600	3,600
Overall Total		280,000	305,000	300,000

Within the Economic Class target of 160,600 admissions, a target of 58,400 of high skilled applicants is forecast.  However within this group, the breakdown of levels’ targets for federal skilled workers, skilled trades and the Canadian experience class have not been provided.  The department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada confirms approximately half of admissions from this group in 2016 are expected to come from Express Entry, while the remainder of admissions will include applications on inventory who applied prior to the launch of Express Entry on January 1, 2015.

Additionally, a target of 22,000 caregivers under three streams (the Live-in Caregiver Program, the High Medical Needs pathway and the Caring for Children pathway) 800 business admissions primarily under three programs (Self-Employed Persons, Start-up Visa Program and Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Program), 47,800 provincial nominees, 26,200 Quebec skilled workers and 5,400 Quebec business applicants is planned for 2016.

In the family class, the department forecasts a total of 80,000 newcomers, including 60,000 spouses, partners and children and 20,000 parents and grandparents.

Refugees and protected persons has become a major priority at this early stage of the Liberal government’s mandate delivering on its election promises.  A target of55,800 resettled refugees including government-assisted, visa office referred and privately sponsored refugee admissions is forecast.

International students represent an important component of the economic class and Minister McCallum confirmed the department is currently working on reforms to the express entry system that will make it easier for foreign student graduates to qualify for permanent residence under express entry. The government also confirmed its commitment to reduce application processing times especially under family sponsorship which currently has a backlog of more than 12,000 pending applications.

Annual immigration levels for 2016 were originally scheduled to be tabled in Parliament last November 1st but was delayed by the October federal elections.  The new federal government is currently consulting with the provinces in advance of the 2017 immigration levels.

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