Between 2022 and 2024, Canada is on course to welcome a record number of new immigrants. Despite the pandemic, Canada established a new high in 2021, with over 405,000 new permanent residents. Canada just revealed a revised objective of over 431,000 immigrants in 2022, with even larger numbers in 2023 and 2024.

The Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Immigration Levels Plan is used as a guideline to establish the overall number of permanent residents Canada will strive to welcome in a particular year. It also specifies which immigration categories permanent residents will be accepted into.

Since the late 1980s, Canada has welcomed more than 200,000 immigrants per year, with the number increasing to over 300,000 prior to the pandemic. Since 2021, this objective has risen to over 400,000 every year, or around 1.1 percent of Canada's population.

Canada is now witnessing record low unemployment rates. According to the most recent Statistics Canada figures, the current unemployment rate is 5.2 percent, the lowest since records began in the 1970s.

Canada's population is ageing, and the birth rate is insufficient to replace the nine million employees who will reach retirement age by 2030. With an average of roughly 1.5 children per woman, Canada has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.

Since there are fewer Canadian-born citizens, Canada relies on immigrants to work and pay taxes to support an ageing population. According to the 2022 federal budget, healthcare spending is expected to climb dramatically over the next few years, reaching an anticipated $56 billion in 2027. Immigration is critical to ensuring that Canada has a thriving economy as well as effective social services and healthcare that everyone, including permanent residents, benefits from.

IRCC analyses data such as demographics, economic and labour force indicators, integration capability, worldwide circumstances, and processing capacity to keep up with the labour market's ever-changing demands and reduce the workforce gap. The objective is to develop a strategy that strengthens Canada's economy, reunites families, and offers humanitarian aid. The Immigration Levels Plan is based on achieving this.

Economic class immigration will account for 50-58% of Canada's yearly immigration objective during the next three years. Over 240,000 additional permanent residents will arrive each year, with a target of 267,750 skilled workers entering by 2024.

The Immigration Levels Plan is generally issued once a year, but 2022 is an exception, with two plans released owing to a delay induced by the most recent federal election. The new Immigration Levels Plan for 2023-2025 will be released by IRCC on November 1st of this year.