Analysis: This is the first Immigration Levels Plan announcement since October of 2020. The information is expected to be made on February 11, 2022.
The Canadian government will announce an updated major by February when its Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024.
The announcement will include Canada’s immigration goals for the year ahead and the following two years, in addition to the number of immigrants Canada would like to welcome through its diverse economic family, humanitarian, and classes. It is the first announcement since Canada’s surprise announcement in October 2020. It will intend to receive more than 400 000 new immigrants each year in the future, or approximately 40,000 moreover its previous target.
In Canada’s primary immigration law that governs immigration, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), The federal government is required to announce November 1 of every year if Parliament is in session. If Parliament isn’t sitting, the announcement must be reported within 30 sitting days after the next Parliament’s meeting.
The announcement typically occurs around the 1st day of November every year. However, this did not happen in 2021 because the Canadian government disbanded Parliament because of its election in September. After the election, the new session of Parliament started on November 22.
The Parliament sat for 20 consecutive days before taking a vacation break. The next session will be on January 31, which means that immigration Minister Sean Fraser must announce the new levels plan by February 11 on Friday. The Canadian government has always made announcements by the deadline but has not made it public earlier unless the deadline falls on the weekend. If this continues to be the scenario this year, the announcement is expected to be made in the second week of February 7.
It is worth noting this: the Canadian government will likely present an additional levels plan on November 1. It is expected that the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025 will be the regular announcement that will proceed according to plan, except for the improbable scenario that the Canadian government chooses to organize another election the next time in a row this year.
In the present Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) expects to welcome 411,000 permanent citizens in Canada next year. By 2021 IRCC has achieved its goal of welcoming 401,000 immigrants. This is the highest number of immigrants in Canadian history. IRCC reached its destination in the last year despite the difficult situation of the pandemic by focusing on the transition of temporary residents who are currently within Canada to permanent residency.
The current strategy aims to accept 241,500 economically-minded people in Canada this year via programs like Express Entry and Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program, and Quebec’s programs and ways. This amounts to 59 % of Canada’s goal to welcome immigrants.
IRCC is hoping to receive the family of 103,500 immigrants under the Spouses, Children, Partners Program and the Parents and Grandparents Program. This represents 26 percent of the IRCC’s target for immigration.
The remaining 66,000, which is 15 percent of the target for newcomers, will be welcomed into Canada for refugee, humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
These ratios have been in place since the mid-90s. The Canadian government decided to concentrate admissions to upper-class admissions to ease the fiscal and economic problems due to Canada’s aging population and the low birth rate. The following year’s plans are expected to remain close to the proportions.
However, what is likely to alter will be the number of immigrants Canada chooses to focus on in the next few years. On one side, it is possible that the Canadian government might be satisfied with their current goals and decide to maintain the recent numbers. Increasing the annual admissions would be a matter, even though the base is now more than 400,000. In contrast, the baseline was around 250,000 people per year up to 2016. Another factor to consider is that the Canadian government could avoid significant growth to tackle its backlog, which is currently at 1.8 million temporary and permanent residents waiting.
On the other hand, Fraser has shown that he is open to expanding the goals even more based on stakeholders’ feedback. The minister said he’d be listening to organizations and employers to find out if they desire to accept more immigrants.
It is possible to claim that Canada’s targets for immigration are already relatively high and that the government needs to slow down increasing the number of immigrants for a variety of reasons. Backlogs must be controlled, and communities across Canada have had problems with housing affordability in the past. Historically, accepting immigrants during times of economic recession has affected the outcomes of labor force newcomers.
However, supporters of higher levels might claim that Canada requires higher levels to aid in its post-pandemic economic and fiscal recovery and that more foreigners will help alleviate the labor shortages. It is also possible to be justified because they could permit IRCC to cut back its backlog quicker. Additionally, more significant targets might be needed to meet the government’s goal of settling the 40,000 Afghan refugees.
