Canadian government aims for 300,000 newcomers

The Canadian government has announced that it will aim to welcome 300,000 immigrants in 2017.

Within this plan, the number of permanent residents selected in economic programmes will increase. The government has announced it will aim to welcome 172,500 economic immigrants next year, compared to its target of 160,600 this year.

Economic Immigrants include applicants and accompanying family members in federal programmes in the Express Entry system; the Provincial Nominee Program; business immigrants; caregivers; and skilled workers and business immigrants selected by Quebec

Maintaining the Canadian Government’s commitment to family reunification, the 2017 plan also sees an increase to family class levels, which will help to reduce processing times and reunite more families. A total of 84,000 family members of Canadian residents will be targeted to join their relatives next year – a 4,000 person increase on this year’s target.

Though planned admissions of resettled refugees will decrease when compared to the extraordinary target in 2016, they will continue to remain among the highest in Canada’s history and will be more than double the target in 2015.

“The 2017 levels plan will put Canada in a strong position for the future and support our overall economic and social development as a country,” explained the country’s Immigration Minister, John McCallum.

Immigration plays an important role in keeping Canada competitive in a global economy. It helps offset the impacts of an aging population and the fact that the number of people in Canada’s labour force will soon be in decline. In fact, it is predicted that immigration will soon account for all net labour force growth as the number of retirements outpaces the number of Canadian youth joining the labour market.

It is for these reasons that the Canadian Government has established 300,000 as a new baseline for permanent resident admissions with the majority of these selected as economic immigrants.

Overall, the plan balances high immigration levels with improvements to the immigration system, including reducing backlogs.

Article published 1st November 2016