The 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, which outlines Canada’s immigration goals and priorities for the following three years, will be unveiled by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) between now and November 1. Here are the key highlights of Canada’s 2025-2027 immigration level plan.
Canada’s annual aims for the number of admissions of permanent residents are usually determined by the Immigration Levels Plan, which also establishes preliminary targets for the next two years, for a total of three years.
Beyond immigration targets, the plan affects population growth and a number of other sectors, including social services, taxes, housing markets, healthcare, and the expansion of the job market. But this year’s strategy will be very different because, as Immigration Minister Marc Miller stated in March, temporary residents—those with work permits, study permits, and visitor visas—will be included in the plan for the first time.
Over 2.5 million temporary immigrants lived in Canada in 2023, accounting for 6.2% of the country’s total population. Over the next three years, the proposed strategy will gradually reduce this amount to 5%.
Although the exact number of temporary residents that Canada will accept in the future has not yet been decided, the announcements made earlier in the year may provide some insight into the IRCC’s strategy for the following years and how it might affect the Immigration Levels Plan.
IRCC Sets 2023 Study Permit Cap
The IRCC declared in January that it would only process a certain amount of study permits for students from other countries. The government estimated that it would process 606,000 applications for study permits, with a predicted approval rate of 360,000. In comparison to 2023, this indicates a 35% drop in the quantity of permits processed.
The minister had previously stated that she was against setting goals or limits for Canada’s program for overseas students, so her news was unexpected.
The minister stated that in 2023, foreign students made up 42% of Canada’s temporary residents. In September, the minister also disclosed plans to further cut the number of processed permits in 2025 to 437,000. It was noted that this cap would now apply to master’s and PhD students, who had previously been excluded.
IRCC Limits Post-Graduation Work Permits
The IRCC has announced plans to lower the number of Spousal Open Work Permits (SOWPs) and Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs) issued over the next three years in addition to the cap on study permits.
The department has instituted novel qualifying standards for PGWP candidates, mandating that university graduates exhibit a minimum of 7 points on the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB), and college graduates must obtain a score of 5 on the CLB.
The minister predicted last month that over the course of the following three years, there may be 175,000 fewer licenses issued as a result of the modifications to PGWP eligibility.
It is projected that throughout the same time period, the SOWP adjustments will result in an additional decrease of roughly 50,000 temporary residents. International master’s program spouses will no longer be eligible for a SOWP unless their spouse is enrolled in a program that the IRCC has deemed critical or in-demand, or if their spouse’s master’s program lasts 16 months or more. The minister said that although spouses of “highly skilled, specialized workers” will still be able to apply for SOWPs, the new requirements may result in an additional 100,000 fewer open work permits being granted over the course of the next three years.
In total, this indicates that over the next three years, the IRCC anticipates issuing 325,000 fewer open work permits.
Closed Work Permits
Employers can now make better use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) according to recent announcements.
Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Official Languages, has proposed a number of modifications to the TFWP’s employer eligibility.
Interestingly, companies can no longer use the TFWP to hire more than 10% of their entire workforce. Furthermore, the two-year maximum employment period for workers hired under the Low-Wage stream has been reduced to one year.
Additionally, firms based in Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) with unemployment rates higher than 6% are not eligible to submit low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) to the IRCC, however there may be certain exceptions. The minister did not give a projection for how these changes will affect the proportion of temporary foreign employees working in Canada.
Concerning Canadian businesses’ “addiction” to the TFWP, Minister Boissonnault has voiced concerns while highlighting the program’s intended usage as a last resort.
Canada’s 2024-2026 Immigration Goals Set
Aiming to bring in 500,000 permanent residents by 2025, the Immigration Levels Plan for 2024–2026 also sets a target for 2026. Numerous routes, such as economic immigration, family class sponsorship, refugee and protected person status, and humanitarian programs, are available for permanent residents to enter Canada.
Regarding the amount of permanent residents that Canada would accept in the upcoming years, Minister Miller recently said that all alternatives are being explored and that any modifications might be “significant.”
One potential change he said was to the “type of immigration Canada is supporting.
Currently, 60% of immigration to Canada consists of economic immigrants, specifically skilled workers who are expected to integrate into the national workforce and contribute to the economy. The minister noted in an interview with CTV news last summer that this level of economic immigration is “unprecedented” compared to many other countries.
What is the source of this information?
Canadians have voiced concerns about the inflow of immigrants and the strain they make on the limited supply of affordable housing, as well as the additional burden they place on an already burdened healthcare system, as the country’s population continues to reach new heights.
The 2023 Environics Institute assessment on Canadian opinions toward immigration focused attention on these two topics, which are expected to be major factors in the next federal election.
According to the research, Canadians’ support for immigration has significantly decreased from 2022. Regarding the anticipated high levels of immigration in the upcoming years, many Canadians expressed uncertainty. Minister Miller stressed that the number of temporary residents, especially international students, needs to be “regulated” to prevent exploitative practices that can target vulnerable newcomers who may fall victim to scams or lack sufficient support upon arriving in Canada, even though few people had issues with immigrants themselves.
Despite these reservations, Miller and Boissonnault continually emphasize the positive cultural effects of immigration, pointing out that it accounts for almost all of Canada’s labor force expansion, and emphasize the need to avoid taking any dramatic action in reaction to these problems.