CANADA’S TARGET: OVER 1.2 MILLION IMMIGRANTS BY 2023

On October 30, 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s Minister, the Honorable Marco Mendicino announced that Canada plans on welcoming over 1.2 million new immigrants over the next three-year period. The breakdown to fulfill this plan is as follows: 401,000 new permanent residents in 2021; 411,000 in 2022; and 421,000 in 2023. This target is only for permanent residents, and not temporary entries to Canada. While we wait for the 2020 statistics to be released, in 2019, 341,180 permanent residents were admitted to Canada; 74,586 individuals transitioned from temporary to permanent residents; and over 5 million travel documents to visitors, workers and students were issued. The major push for increased immigration comes from a shortage in the Canadian labour market and to boost the Canadian economy.

While Canada has always had a well recognized immigration system globally, COVID-19 has further exhibited the need for and value obtained from immigrants. “Immigrants are critical to our healthcare sector and represent one in four working in our hospitals and long-term care homes…Whether they’ve been taking care of our most vulnerable, or putting food on our tables, newcomers have played an outsized role in our response to COVID-19” Mendicino said on Friday.

What this means for you?

Of the 401,000 spots provided for the 2021 quota, it seems that over 100,000 spots have been reserved for the family class; over 232,000 spots have been reserved for immigration through the economic programs; over 5,000 spots have been reserved for humanitarian and compassionate considerations; and over 59,000 spots have been reserved for refugees and other protected persons.

The numbers above indicate that if you are interested in immigrating to Canada, under any program/stream, this might be an advantageous time for your application.

For further information regarding coming to Canada on a temporary or permanent basis, please contact pinaz@prmlaw.ca.