Canada is dead set on reaching or exceeding its target of welcoming 1, 3 million migrants and announced that the higher than normal immigration cap will continue into 2021 - a year beyond the original date of 2020.

Late last year Canada announced that multi-year immigration level plans will be deployed from 2018 to 2020 in a bid to attract at least 1.3 million new permanent residents.  The extension of this plan should facilitate the entry of more than the target.

Canada is a vast first world country and world leader and if it wants to keep its strong hold aggressive immigration is the only way.  The country’s natural population growth is near negative which spells very bad things for the strong Canadian dollar economy.

Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, said in his most recent report on the progress of the plan that “Growing immigration levels, particularly in the Economic Class, will help us [Canada] sustain our labour force, support economic growth and spur innovation.”

The revised plan, which will include 2021, calls for gradually increasing admissions targets each year, from 310,000 new permanent residents in 2018 to 350,000 in 2021. The targets for 2019 and 2020, originally set at 330,000 and 340,000, respectively, have now been increased to 330,800 and 341,000.

“Under this plan, Canada will welcome more talented workers with the skills and expertise our economy needs, reunite more family members and accommodate more refugees looking to start new lives,” Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, said in his introduction to the report.

More focus will be placed on Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Programs

The economic immigration programs managed by the federal Express Entry economic system and Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) will continue to play important roles under the extended plan.

Of the 1.3 million new permanent residents that Canada is planning for by the end of 2021, nearly a quarter, 331,000, are projected to come through the three economic immigration classes (Federal Skilled Worker, Federal Skilled Trades and Canadian Experience) managed by the Express Entry system.

PNPs alone will be responsible for as much as 20% of the 1.3 million 2020 admissions target.

Hussen highlighted the role of PNPs in IRCC’s extended immigration levels plan, noting that it was “developed in close consultation with provinces and territories, allowing them to bring in more people through their provincial nominee programs.”

Economic immigration programs as a whole will be responsible for the majority of newcomers between 2018 and 2021, with around 60 per cent of the 1.3 million new permanent residents arriving through one of Canada’s Economic Class programs.

Potential Family Class admissions expanded

The extended immigration levels plan also reflects the federal government’s stated commitments to family reunification.

The IRCC is expanding the range of potential admissions through its spouses, partners, and children sponsorship category while maintaining its target for 2018 through 2020. The target for 2021 through this category is 70,000.

IRCC also expanded the range of potential admissions through its Parents and Grandparents sponsorship program but will maintain its established targets for 2019 and 2020 (20,500 and 21,000, respectively). The admissions target for this program in 2021 is set at 21,000.

Source: Press Release Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada