For the second consecutive year, Canada is expected to witness more than 400,000 new immigrants, reported CIC News after gathering information from the IRCC. According to official reports, a total of 35,160 new permanent residents have been added in the month of January 2022.
This year, Canada had targeted 432,000 new immigrants according to the Immigration Levels Plan (ILP) 2022-24, announced in February. Bringing in 405,000 new immigrants in 2021, breaking their record after a century. With this new target, Canada aims to break their record again one year later.
As per official data, 65% of the total new permanent residents were classed under the economic class in January this year, which is higher than the 56% target that had been set in the ILP. Meanwhile, 20% of the applicants got residence under the family class, while the rest landed under the humanitarian class, both of which were lower than the targetted division, i.e. 24% and 20% respectively.
Also Read: Canada Records Around 40,000 New Permanent Residents in July
The popular immigration programmes in Canada that had been responsible for the impressive numbers include the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Programme (TR2PR), the Provincial Nominee Programme (PNP) and the Federal Skilled Worker Programme (FSWP). According to official data, Canada was able to land 7,700 immigrants through the CEC programme, meanwhile, they landed 7,000 immigrants through the TR2PR programme. The data further revealed that the PNP and FSWP were the next leading programme, with each bringing in about 4,200 and 2,600 immigrants, respectively.
However, with the pandemic halting international travels, Canada was forced to make changes to its immigration policies to help achieve its immigration levels. Therefore, while the FSWP has been the leading economic class immigration programme since its inception in 1967, the via application processing has been reduced, to help transition more international students, temporary workers and other temporary residents to permanent residents, in a bid to reach its immigration targets.
In recent months, the IRCC seems to have resumed processing more FSWP applications, with data revealing more than 9,000 FSWP applicants having been processed between mid-December and February-end, compared to the 600 applications being processed for a large portion of 2021. CIC suggests that the IRCC seems to be normalising its operations to bring balance between processing immigration applications submitted, both within and outside the country.
Also Read: Unemployment Rate in Canada Falls Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
The CIC further reported that the January 2022 immigration figures also point towards possible higher immigration figures in the warmer months of the country. Stating that the country witnesses lower figures due to the cold and festive seasons, Q2 and Q3 are likely to bring about higher immigration landings. CIC News also highlighted the in-Canada permanent residence applications, i.e. the TR2PR programme, which are yet to be processed.
Nevertheless, the future of Canadas immigration levels seems to be promising due to its heavy investment in modernising its application processing systems and relaxations of COVID-19 related travel restrictions.
Source: CIC News
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