Is Canada really Targeting over 400,000 Immigrants per year?

Highlights of the Canadian immigration Plan, during COVID-19:

• Increase in a number of new admissions over the years 2021-2023 to make up for the shortfall of 2020 immigration.
• Economic growth focus, where about 60 per cent of the immigrants will come from the Economic Class.
• A focus on the community-driven and innovative approach for addressing the demographic and the labour needs of the country.

• IRCC’s new target of building its capacity with bulk applications and including more digitization to the immigration system to mitigate the negative effect of COVID-19 on the application processing.

• additional points for French-speaking candidates under Express Entry, to promote the growth of Francophone communities outside of Quebec.
• Admitting up to five hundred refugees in the next two years through the ‘Economic Mobility Pathways Project’.
• a pathway to permanent residency for eligible asylum claimants who were working on the front lines of the pandemic between March 13 and August 14, 2020, providing direct care to patients in health-care institutions.

Good News coming from IRCC where it declared its Immigration Level Plan. According to the plan Canada is aiming to welcome 401,000 immigrants in 2021, 411,000 in 2022 and 421,000 in 2023, setting a new record of highest level of immigration by any country in the history.

This 2021-2023 Immigration Level Plan will welcome approximately 60% of all the immigrants through the economic class program which includes Express Entry and the Provincial Nominee Program.

The Immigration Levels Plan is the most significant announcement made by Canadian Government every year. It defines the number of  new permanent residents it will welcome over the coming years under its various categories. The main categories under which IRCC welcomes new immigrants are Economic, Family, Refugee and Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds.

Earlier in 2020, in March the federal government has announced that Canada would welcome over 1 million immigrants between 2020 and 2022. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, Canada had to close down its borders. Therefore, because of the same reason Canada fell short of its predicted number, and it is around 341,000 less immigrants to what it was planned.

Canada has the most ambitious immigration plan in history and even during the pandemic, it has been holding Express Entry draws and PNP’s  even during the global pandemic.

Thus, to fulfil the planned immigration, To compensate for the fall of immigration this year, Canada has set the most ambitious immigration levels plan in its history.

Why is Canada maintaining High Immigration:

To combat the negative effect of the economic and fiscal impacts due to the aging population and low birth rate, Canada has made its Immigration plan strong to build its economy stronger.

Also, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, Mr. Marco Mendicino mentioned that this plan of 2021-2023 will target the economy recovery from COVID19 and drive growth in future and also help middle class Canadians get good jobs.

Canada has had a higher per capita intake in the past, where it welcomed one percent or more of its population in the form of immigrants.  The contribution of the immigrants even during the pandemic has been noteworthy, where they have contributed to all the sectors and communities of the economy. Even the health-care system of Canada relies on the immigrants. Various industries like IT companies and farming industry also depend quite a lot on the new immigrants for the supply chains, business expansion and creating new jobs.

The table below represents the immigration trend of Canada over the years i.e. from 1860-2019. It is all set to welcome approximately 3.5 million people in this decade which is much higher than what it was between 2010-2019.

Immigrant Category
Target	Low Range	High   Range	Target	Low Range	High Range	Target	Low Range	High Range
	Overall Planned Permanent Resident Admissions	401,000	300,000	410,000	411,000	320,000	420,000	421,000	330,000	430,000
Economic	Federal High Skilled	108,500	81,000	110,250	110,500	96,250	112,900	113,750	100,000	114,500
Federal Business	1,000	400	1,250	1,000	250	1,250	1,000	500	1,250

The 2021–2023 Immigration Levels Plan will help cement Canada’s place among the world’s top destinations for talent, creating a strong foundation for economic growth while reuniting family members with their loved ones and fulfilling Canada’s humanitarian commitments.