Today, IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) declared that Canada surpassed a record-breaking target for admissions of PRs (permanent residents) in 2022.
IRCC, in a Tweet, stated that the country welcomed more than 437,000 new immigrants last year. This is higher than the target they had set of 431,645 new immigrants and marks a record for permanent residence in Canada in one year. The previous record made was set in 2021 when 405,000 new immigrants landed in Canada.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser stated, “Today marks an important milestone for Canada, setting a new record for newcomers welcomed in a single year. It is a testament to the strength and resilience of our country and its people. Newcomers play an essential role in filling labour shortages, bringing new perspectives and talents to our communities, and enriching our society as a whole. I am excited to see what the future holds and look forward to another historic year in 2023 as we continue to welcome newcomers.”
5.2 million Applications were processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada across all business lines last year. This comprises applications for permanent residence, temporary residence, and citizenship and is double the number of applications processed in 2021.
IRCC recognizes new resources, new technology, modernized processing, and bringing more processes online so applications processed could be increased, and the higher number of admissions. Moreover, the government committed $50 million to IRCC for 2022-2023 in the Fall Economic Statement for addressing the ongoing backlog of applications, which currently stands at 1.09 million applications across every line of business as of November 30, 2022.
Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025
The annual Immigration Levels Plan specifies Canada’s admission targets. The last year’s plan was released in February 2022, which indicated the highest targets for admission ever, until the plan for 2023-2025 was released.
Labour force growth in Canada is about 100% dependent on immigration. There are approximately one million job vacancies in Canada and a shortage of skilled and experienced labour owing to the aging workforce. Immigrants play a very crucial role in Canada’s economy as it is anticipated that 9 million Canadians will reach the retirement age of 65 by 2030.
Canada, to boost the population, has been doing its utmost so the country can welcome a higher number of immigrants in recent years. According to the 2021 census on immigration, 1.3 million new permanent residents arrived in the nation between 2016 and 2021. If we put it in some other way, one out of every four respondents had been or was a permanent resident or landed immigrant in the country. It had been the highest fraction since Confederation and the largest one among G7 countries. It is projected that immigrants will comprise 36% of the country’s population by the year 2036.
Moving forward, the immigration levels plan 2023-2025, which was released last November, has an even more determined target of 500,000 new permanent residents each year by 2025. However, the target is 465,000 for 2023.
