Note: This publication was updated in July, 2025: Recent Evolution of Canadian Immigration Policy
Under Section 94 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into effect 28 June 2002, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is required to table an annual report to Parliament on the immigration initiatives and actions of the previous year. The report to Parliament must also set the department’s targets for the number of immigrants to be admitted to Canada for the following year. These targets are known as the immigration levels plan, and in 2017, with the intention of developing a long-term vision for immigration, a multi-year approach was adopted. Three-year plans are now presented, each containing a targeted number of permanent resident admissions for each of the three years; the targets for the second and third years are forecasts and can be adjusted in the plan submitted the following year when the next Report to Parliament is submitted.
The 2024–2026 Immigration Levels Plan sets a target of 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, 500,000 in 2025, and another 500,000 in 2026. Not only are these the highest planned levels of admissions in recent Canadian history, but they are also almost double the targets established one decade ago.
The overall admissions target is broken down by immigration category. The economic class accounts for the largest segment at around 60% of overall permanent resident admissions each year. The remaining 40% consists of family class and refugee class immigrants, and others admitted under humanitarian programs.
A number of factors are taken into consideration when developing immigration levels plans. These include:
- the Government of Canada’s priorities and objectives as set out in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and international commitments;
- the capacity to integrate newcomers into the Canadian economy and regions across Canada;
- labour shortages;
- input from stakeholders; and
- provincial immigration interests.
The capacity to process applications in a timely manner at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and its partner departments (in particular, Employment and Social Development Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency) is another important factor.
While the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan has not yet been released, it is expected to reflect the government’s priorities, which include upholding its Policy on Francophone Immigration, expanding and making permanent the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot to resettle refugees through economic immigration, and targeting local labour market needs by advancing the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot.
Figure 1 below shows the number of permanent residents admitted to Canada by immigration category from 2012 to 2022.
Figure 1: Number of Permanent Residents Admitted to Canada, by Immigration Category, from 2012 to 2022
Source: Figure prepared by the Library of Parliament using data obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Facts and Figures 2017: Immigration Overview – Permanent Residents; and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Annual Reports to Parliament on Immigration, 2019–2023.
Economic Class
As Figure 1 shows, despite a decline in all immigration streams because of the COVID‑19 pandemic in 2020, more people were selected year after year for their ability to contribute to the Canadian economy.
Although levels of economic immigration have risen steadily for more than a decade, the profile of immigrants in this class was also reviewed to reflect changes made to specific programs. The federal government creates and discontinues pilots and classes within the economic stream depending on many factors, in particular, the success of a pilot and what becomes of the participants.
Research showing the impact on successful economic outcomes of knowing at least one official language and having work experience in Canada prompted the federal government to create the Canadian Experience Class in 2008 and to revise the eligibility criteria for the Federal Skilled Worker Program in 2012.
Various factors, including positive outcomes for immigrants nominated by provinces, led to a substantial expansion of these programs. For instance, in 2015, the federal government introduced a new economic class application process called Express Entry (under which Canadian Experience Class and the Federal Skilled Worker Program are still programs), which placed greater emphasis on official languages, job offers and provincial nominations. Express Entry applicants who have a job offer or a validated provincial nomination have a significant advantage when it comes to being selected. Since its creation 10 years ago, Express Entry has increased the weighted value of key attributes that support economic priorities, such as specific work experience or knowledge of French. A new process was also introduced in 2023 to welcome skilled newcomers with work experience in priority jobs, such as healthcare workers and tradespersons, among others.
The chart in Figure 2 illustrates the changes in the composition of programs in the economic class of immigrants between 2013 and 2022.
Figure 2: Number of Permanent Residents Admitted to Canada by Economic Immigration Program, in 2013 and in 2022
Source: Figure prepared by the Library of Parliament using data obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2014 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration; and Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, 2023 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration.
Family Class
Family reunification is a cornerstone of Canada’s immigration policy. It allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor spouses, common-law partners, conjugal partners and children (considered a priority stream), as well as parents and grandparents. Including accompanying family members admitted under another class (for example, economic immigration or refugee), the broader family class of immigration accounts for roughly 60% of all applications for permanent residence.
Recent changes to family reunification policies include priority processing for family members of Canadians and permanent residents affected by the fall of the government in Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflicts in Gaza and in Sudan, as well as changes to the temporary super visa that parents and grandparents can apply for to visit their family in Canada for up to five consecutive years instead of two. A total of 48,944 super visas were issued in 2022.
Figure 3 shows the number of people arriving in Canada as part of the family class, by sub-category, from 2013 to 2022.
Figure 3: Number of People Arriving in Canada as Part of the Family Class, by Sub-category, from 2013 to 2022
Note: The “Others” category includes orphaned dependant children (orphaned brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren) and other relatives.
Source: Figure prepared by the Library of Parliament using data obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Facts and Figures 2017: Immigration Overview – Permanent Residents; and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Annual Reports to Parliament on Immigration, 2019–2023.
Refugee Class
Given Canada’s international commitments to protect and resettle refugees, one objective of its immigration policy is to offer refugee protection to people who have a well-founded fear of persecution and to people whose life or safety is in danger. Some people receive a recommendation for resettlement as refugees in Canada while they are abroad (under the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, the Government Assisted Refugee Program or the Blended Visa Office-Referred Program), whereas others make their claim for refugee protection in person at the border or at an inland office within Canada. The decision to grant protection to refugee claimants in Canada is made using the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s refugee determination system.
In March 2023, the governments of Canada and the United States (U.S.) announced the expansion of the Safe Third Country Agreement, making it applicable to the entire Canada–U.S. border – not only official ports of entry – to prevent refugee claimants from crossing in between official ports of entry, including at Roxham Road. Four types of exceptions are possible: for family members of people in Canada with status (study permit, permanent residence, citizenship, etc.), for unaccompanied minors, for holders of admission documents issued by Canada and for the public interest.
Figure 4 below shows the number of people arriving in Canada as part of the refugee class, by sub-category, in 2013 and in 2022.
Figure 4: Number of People Arriving in Canada as Part of the Refugee Class by Sub‑category, in 2013 and in 2022
Temporary Residents
Over the last decade, Canada substantially increased the number of temporary residents it admitted, as shown in Figure 5 below. While the temporary resident programs, whether for international students or various streams of foreign workers, have historically been demand- driven, meaning that the government processes applications as they are received rather than planning to admit a given number of temporary residents into the country, in January 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced a two-year intake cap on international student permit applications.
Among a series of measures announced in March 2024, was the decision to include admission targets for temporary residents from 2025 to 2027 in the next immigration levels plan, which will be presented in November 2024. In the next three years, the government plans to reduce the proportion of the Canadian population represented by temporary residents from 6.2% to 5%.
Also in March 2024, the government announced that programs allowing temporary workers to enter Canada, such as the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, will be reviewed to better align them with labour market needs and mitigate the risk of abuse in the system.
As part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, workers are permitted to come to Canada only if the employer can demonstrate that no Canadian, permanent resident, or as of May 2024, refugee claimant in Canada with a work permit is willing or able to do the job.
The International Mobility Program allows employers to hire workers without conducting a labour market impact assessment. It covers workers on reciprocal exchanges, the Working Holiday program, intra-company transfers and other programs that are intended to encourage shared benefits for Canadians and for Canada.
Figure 5: Number of Temporary Residents Who Hold a Work or Study Permit Admitted into Canada, from 2014 to 2022
Source: Figure prepared by the Library of Parliament using data obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2015 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2018 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration; and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2023 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration.
The clear upward trend in the number of temporary residents is driven by policies that have been in effect for many years. In fact, successive governments have long considered international students and temporary foreign workers as potential sources of permanent residents through a de facto two-step immigration process in which temporary programs constitute a gateway to permanent residence and in which a person’s studies or work experience in Canada gives them priority standing.
In 2023, out of a total of 437,539 new permanent residents, almost 125,000 arrived in Canada first as temporary residents. In 2014, 49,422 people out of 250,636 admitted as permanent residents previously had a study or work permit.
One temporary public policy that contributed to increasing the number of temporary residents in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic was the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway, which included a French-language stream. More than 106,000 applications were submitted as part of this program. Through this pathway, some 24,000 permanent residents were admitted in 2021 and 39,000 were admitted in 2022.
Related Resources
Béchard, Julie, and Robert Mason. Refugee Protection in Canada. Publication no. 2020‑50‑E. Library of Parliament, 7 July 2020.
Brosseau, Laurence, Camille De La Durantaye-Guillard and Sandra Elgersma. Immigration Policy Primer. Publication no. 2020-05-E. Library of Parliament, 2 November 2023.
Coleman, Lara. Resettling Refugees: Canada’s Humanitarian Commitments. Publication no. 2020-74-E. Library of Parliament, 26 November 2020.
Kachulis, Eleni, and Mayra Perez-Leclerc. Temporary Foreign Workers in Canada. Publication no. 2019-36-E. Library of Parliament, 16 April 2020.
By Andrea Garland, Library of Parliament