Last Updated on March 20, 2018

 

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November 1, 2017 – Ottawa plans to welcome 980,000 new immigrants over the next three years under an ambitious three-year immigration plan announced by the federal government on Nov. 1. Annual immigration levels could rise to as high as 360,000 by 2020 under the multi-year plan. This would be first time in more than a century that our immigration rate is 1% of our population.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen described the announcement as ‘historic’, as the government outlines its plan for the next three years, featuring managed increases across all categories.

In 2018, the immigration target will rise to 310,000, from the current 300,000 set for 2017. This target could rise to as much as 330,000 under the latest announcement. In 2019, the target will be 330,000, with an upper limit of 350,000 new immigrants. In 2020, the target figure will be 340,000, and the upper limit 360,000.

The latest plan will drive up immigration numbers to historic levels as the government pushes the annual number of newcomers towards 1 per cent of Canada’s population a target first used by the Liberals in the early 1990’s. The current levels of 300,000 correspond into an immigration rate near .82 per cent.

Watch Our Latest Video “Canada’s 2018 – 2020 Annual Immigration Levels”:

The managed increases are designed to allow Canada’s integration capacity to grow with the number of new immigrants being welcomed.

Immigration category	Category	2018 – Target	2019 – Target	2020 – Target
Economic	Federal High Skilled	74,900	81,400	85,800
	Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program	1,000	2,000	4,000
	Caregivers	17,000	14,000	5,000
	Federal Business	700	700	700
	Provincial Nominee Program	55,000	61,000	67,800
	Quebec Skilled Workers and Business	28,900	32,500	32,500
	Total Economic	177,500	191,600	195,800
Family	Spouses, Partners, and Children	66,000	68,000	70,000
	Parents and Grandparents	20,000	20,500	21,000
	Total Family	86,000	88,500	91,000
Refugees and Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada & Dependents Abroad	16,000	16,500	17,000
	Resettled Refugees – Government Assisted	7,500	8,500	10,000
	Resettled Refugees – Blended Visa Office Referred	1,500	1,650	1,700
	Resettled Refugees – Privately Sponsored	18,000	19,000	20,000
	Total Refugees and Protected Persons	43,000	45,650	48,700
Humanitarian and Other	Total Humanitarian & Other	3,500	4,250	4,500
Overall Planned Permanent Admissions		310,000	330,000	340,000

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Canada Immigration Plan: Upper Limits

Immigration category	Category	2018 – High	2019 – High	2020 – High
Economic	Federal High Skilled	78,200	83,000	88,000
	Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program	2,000	4,000	4,000
	Caregivers	20,000	15,500	7,000
	Federal Business	1,000	1,500	1,500
	Provincial Nominee Program	57,400	63,500	68,500
	Quebec Skilled Workers and Business	29,900	33,500	33,500
	Total Economic	188,500	201,000	202,500
Family	Spouses, Partners, and Children	68,000	70,000	74,000
	Parents and Grandparents	21,000	21,000	22,000
	Total Family	89,000	91,000	96,000
Refugees and Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada & Dependents Abroad	17,000	20,000	20,000
	Resettled Refugees – Government Assisted	8,000	9,000	10,500
	Resettled Refugees – Blended Visa Office Referred	3,000	3,000	3,000
	Resettled Refugees – Privately Sponsored	20,000	21,000	23,000
	Total Refugees and Protected Persons	48,000	53,000	56,500
Humanitarian and Other	Total Humanitarian & Other	4,500	5,000	5,000
Overall Planned Permanent Admissions		330,000	350,000	360,000

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Canada Immigration Plan: Lower Limits

Immigration category	Category	2018 – Low	2019 – Low	2020 – Low
Economic	Federal High Skilled	72,700	76,000	81,000
	Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program	500	1,000	2,000
	Caregivers	15,000	9,500	4,000
	Federal Business	500	500	500
	Provincial Nominee Program	53,000	57,000	62,000
	Quebec Skilled Workers and Business	27,900	31,500	31,500
	Total Economic	169,600	175,500	181,000
Family	Spouses, Partners, and Children	64,000	64,000	64,000
	Parents and Grandparents	17,000	18,000	18,000
	Total Family	81,000	82,000	82,000
Refugees and Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada & Dependents Abroad	13,500	14,000	16,000
	Resettled Refugees – Government Assisted	6,000	7,000	8,500
	Resettled Refugees – Blended Visa Office Referred	1,000	1,000	1,000
	Resettled Refugees – Privately Sponsored	16,000	17,000	18,000
	Total Refugees and Protected Persons	36,500	39,000	43,500
Humanitarian and Other	Total Humanitarian & Other	2,900	3,500	3,500
Overall Planned Permanent Admissions		290,000	300,000	310,000

When the Liberal government came to power in 2015, annual immigration levels were in the region of 260,000. In 2016, they increased the annual level to 300,000, including an influx of Syrian refugees as part of a campaign promise. In 2017, the government established 300,000 as the new normal for annual immigration numbers, a figure they now plan to build upon over the next three years.

Canada’s plan to welcome 980,000 new immigrants over the next three years, is groundbreaking. In doing so, by the end of his first term, the Liberals will cement themselves as the first in modernity to implement annual immigration levels near 350,000, representing one per cent of our population.

The Winner: Economic Immigration

Economic immigrants will make up the vast majority of newcomers under the government’s plan. These include Federal High Skilled immigrants accepted under the Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience Class.

Other categories include the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, Caregivers, the Federal Business class, Provincial Nominees and Quebec Skilled Worker and Business classes.

The government plan will see a target of 177,500 new immigrants arriving in 2018, with an upper limit of 188,500. In 2019, the target will rise to 191,500, but numbers could go as high as 201,000. The government’s target for 2020 is 195,800 new economic immigrants, with an upper limit of 202,500.

Considering the overall target was 260,000 in 2015, the significance of the proposed increase is clear.

Family Immigration

The Liberals promised to increase family reunification through immigration, and the new immigration plan could see up to 96,000 spouses, partners, children, parents and grandparents admitted by 2020.

The target for 2018 is 86,000, with an upper limit of 89,000. In 2019, the government plans to welcome 88,500 family class immigrants, with an upper limit of 91,000. In 2020, meanwhile, the target will rise to 91,000, and the upper limit 96,000. For comparison purposes, the target under the family category was 60,000 in 2015.

Refugee Immigration

Canada prides itself on helping those most in needs, as it has done so recently with Syrians affected by the country’s civil war and Yazidis from Iraq who faced persecution at the hands of extremists.

The new immigration plan features room for a possible 56,500 refugees under all categories by 2020. This includes a possible 23,000 privately-sponsored refugees, under a program Canada has exported all over the world.

The 2018 refugee target is 43,000, with an upper limit of 48,000. In 2019, the plan is to welcome 45,650 new refugees, with an upper target of 53,000. In 2020, the target number rises to 48,700, with an upper limit of 56,500.

Managed Increases

While there were calls from certain interest groups for the immigration target to rise to an much as 450,000, the government has been wise to keep the increases manageable and targeted.

The minister emphasized the need to expand efforts to integrate increased numbers of new immigrants, and said there was a critical need to ensure the Canadian economy was able to absorb the number of immigrants welcomed.

Canada stands out among all welcoming countries that invest in robust immigration programs by allocating significant amounts of expenditure on settlement services. The numbers are being increased to record modern-era levels that allows Canada’s integration capacity to grow alongside the numbers of new immigrants.

Long term growth fueled by increasing number of temporary residents

The latest policy initiatives to a large extent, are supported by the growing number of temporary residents currently residing in Canada. Close to 1 Million individuals reside temporarily in Canada under a study or work visa. This pool represents a growing number of potential immigrants who have the strongest ties to Canada, and who in-turn, have the highest chances to successfully integrate. This raises the likelihood of positive economic outcomes from Canada’s planned immigration policies.

The projected annual levels announcement is not without disappointment. Most noteworthy is the continued low projections for business immigrants. The current government appears to have no appetite for improving federal business immigration streams. Existing pathways to Canada for business investors primarily include the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program, which remains the largest driver of business immigrants to Canada, provincial entrepreneur programs and federal programs including the startup visa program. The latter program continues to receive lower levels of interest.

Another disappointment, although not unexpected, is the precipitous decline in the number of caregivers who will receive permanent residence. The program, which previously gave a conditional pathway to permanent residence for caregivers, was abolished in 2015. The large inventory of pending applicants awaiting completion of their applications is gradually declining. This explains the drop in annual levels under the three-year plan. It is clear that caregivers are no longer a priority for the Liberals the way they were under the previous Conservative government.

Comparison: 2016 and 2017 Immigration Targets

Immigration Category	Category	2016 target	2017 target
Economic	Federal Economic- High Skilled	58,400	73,700
	Federal Economic- Caregivers	22,000	18,000
	Federal Economic- Business	800	500
	Provincial Nominee Program	47,800	51,000
	Quebec Skilled Worker	26,200	29,300
	Economic Total	160,400	172,500
Family	Spouses, Partners & Children	60,000	64,000
	Parents & Grandparents	20,000	20,000
	Family Total	80,000	84,000
Refugees & Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada & dependants in abroad	10,000	15,000
	Resettled Refugees	44,800	25,000
	Government-Assisted Refugees	24,600	7,500
	Blended Visa Office-Referred	2,400	1,500
	Privately Sponsored Refugees	17,800	16,000
	Refugees & Protected Persons Total	55,800	40,000
Humanitarian and Other	Humanitarian and Other	3,600	3,500
Overall Total		300,000	300,000

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