Canada Set to Welcome A Record Number of People

Canada's Immigration Levels Plan 2022 - 2024

This week, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada released the Immigration Levels Plan for 2022 to 2024. The goal is to welcome over 1.3million new permanent residents over the next three years. This plan guides Canada’s immigration system. It outlines the number of immigrants Canada will look to welcome under its various federal, provincial, and territorial programs.

According to the IRCC, in order to ensure Canada has the workers it needs to support a strong economy into the future, the nation plans to welcome permanent residents, with these target levels:

• 431,645 permanent residents in 2022
• 447,055 permanent residents in 2023
• 451,000 permanent residents in 2024 (about 1% of the Canadian population)

In 2021, Canada welcomed over 400,000 permanent residents in what was a record-breaking year.

Provincial Nomination Programs will be the main focus for this year and the next two years. The target is increasing over the next two years. Every province has been requesting more numbers to help them with economic growth.

The target numbers for the Federal High Skilled categories (Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Worker, and Federal Trade Worker) for 2022 and 2023 were halved compared to the previous targets released. This is due to the backlog in processing current applications. The government has announced a budget of $85 million to address this issue and is looking to add an additional 500 processing staff. The IRCC is aiming to be back to normal capacity of 111,500 in 2024.

Federal Economic Public Policies - TR to PR pathway application backlog: The IRCC is aiming to complete these 90,000 applications by end of 2023. This was not accounted for in the previous immigration levels plan and as such is part of the reason why the Federal High Skills category is now reduced.

IRCC and the provinces and territories will then adjust their operations based on the plan to ensure they are able to attract, settle, integrate and retain the targeted levels of newcomers set to arrive.

Canada removes molecular COVID-19 test requirement for fully vaccinated travelers

On February 16, the Government of Canada announced a series of adjustments to current border measures, representing the beginning of a phased easing of travel restrictions.

Key things to note:

• Fully vaccinated travelers will be able to enter Canada with a pre-arrival antigen test.
• Unvaccinated children travelers will no longer have to isolate for 14 days, and international flights to all Canadian airports will resume starting February 28.
• Also, if fully vaccinated travelers are selected for a random on-arrival test, they will no longer have to quarantine while waiting on results.?
• The antigen test must be approved by the country they are coming from, taken no more than 24 hours before arriving at the border, or their scheduled flight. Travelers can still use PCR test within 72 hours before arrival.
• Please note that unvaccinated travelers cannot enter Canada at this time unless they are exempted.

Now let's dive into the recent immigration draws:

Nova Scotia

• February 8: Nova Scotia periodically invites Express Entry candidates in targeted occupations to apply for a nomination under its Provincial Nominee Program. In this draw, the province invited nurses eligible for Nova Scotia's Labour Market Stream. To get a nomination, candidates need to have a primary occupation as a registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse. Invited candidates will be considered PNP candidates in the Express Entry system, which will allow them to apply for permanent residence.

Ontario

• February 9: Just a day after its draw on February 8, inviting 622 candidates, Ontario held another provincial nomination inviting 749 through the Foreign Worker Stream and the In-Demand Skills stream. In the Foreign Worker Stream, 476 invitations were issued to trades occupations candidates with a minimum score of 24, and 166 candidates were invited to a general draw. There were 107 invited to the In-Demand Skills draw.

Manitoba

• February 10: The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program invited 273 candidates across three Provincial Nominee Programs. The first program is for Skilled Workers in Manitoba and 202 invitations were issued with a minimum score of 615. Skilled Workers overseas are the second program and there were 31 invitations with a minimum score of 705. Finally, the province gave out 40 invitations to the International Education Stream with no score requirement.?

British Columbia

• February 15th: British Columbia held a draw inviting 140 candidates who fall under the Skilled Immigration (SI) and Express Entry BC (EEBC) streams, which all target Skilled Workers and International Graduates separately. The minimum score for this provincial nomination is 85 for both streams.

Congrats to all invited candidates!

What are your thoughts on these immigration targets?

About Kay Wilson

Kay is a Canadian Immigration Consultant and Foreign Worker Recruiter who helps people from over 30 different countries live, work, and study in Canada. She is a licensed member in good standing with the College of Citizenship and Immigration Consultants (CICC) and the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants.

Find out your options for moving to Canada and the best route possible for you by completing our pre-assessment. Schedule a one of one virtual consultation meeting with Kay for personalized guidance and support with your immigration process.