Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 will be announced with a significant update by the Canadian government next month.
The plan will reveal the government’s target for this as well as the upcoming two years. They will also release how many newcomers will be boarded in three years. Such a major announcement was made in October 2020. They had announced the target of onboarding 400,000 newcomers every year. This is 40,000 extra than their previous annual goals.
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) states that the authorities should make this announcement by 1st November. This is the time when parliament sits. If parliament, due to any reason, has not sat, then the announcement should be made within a month of their reconvention.
Due to elections last year, the parliament was dissolved; hence the announcement couldn’t be made. After the election, a new session was started on 22nd November.
Parliament will be reconvened on 31st January. That implies that the immigration department will have to make the announcement latest by 11th February. They usually make the announcement on the deadline itself. However, if it falls during a weekend, sometimes they may do it earlier as well. So that means that the announcement could be made before the 11th as the deadline is on a Friday.
Unless the government decides to hold another election, the immigration department should tabulate the plans for 2023-25 this year only and should be announced by 1st November as usual.
In the current plan of 2021-23, the immigration department was able to achieve the goal of having 401,000 newcomers boarded last year (the highest in Canadian history). They are skimming to achieve the goal of 411,000 this year.
Around 241,500 Economic class applicants may get the invite this year under the Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program, Quebec’s programs, and other similar programs. This is a huge share as this accounts for 59% of the overall target.
Another 103,500 family class applicants may get the invite under the Spouses, Partners, and Children Program and the Parents and Grandparents Program.
Refugee, humanitarian and compassionate grounds will be pursued to onboard the remaining of the applicants. That accounts for 15% or 66,000 newcomers.
Since the mid-1990s, when the Government of Canada opted to concentrate entry on economic class newcomers to assist alleviate the economic and fiscal issues posed by Canada’s aging population and declining birth rate, these proportions have remained stable. These shares are expected to be preserved in this year’s projections.
However, the total number of migrants that Canada decides to pursue in the years ahead may alter. The government may be satisfied with its bigger goals. They may try and stick with them. This would entail merely maintaining a gradual increase in annual intakes now that the base number of immigrants has surpassed 400,000. Up to 2016, the benchmark was approximately 250,000 immigrants per year. Also, the immigration department may prefer to avoid major hikes in order to focus on lowering its backlog, which presently stands at 1.8 million applicants.
Fraser has stated that, based on stakeholder expectations, he is ready to increase the aim even higher. He mentioned that he would listen to local institutions and businesses to decide if they want to bear more foreigners.
Some may argue that current goals are already elevated enough. The country should put a finish to any further additions for various reasons. Backlogs need to be lowered, housing issues may arise, and according to the past events, permitting newcomers during economic burns has wounded arrivals’ employment prospects.
Supporters of higher levels, on the other hand, may claim that greater levels are necessary to promote Canada’s post-pandemic financial and budgetary recovery, as well as to alleviate labour shortages. Also, they may help IRCC eliminate its backlogs faster. Furthermore, in order to meet the country’s aim of resettling 40,000 Afghan refugees, greater goals may be required.
We may get better clarity on the matter real soon as the deadline is approaching for the announcement.
