Key facts
- IRCC said the one-year measure adds up to 200,000 permanent residence slots outside standard immigration caps.
- The intake is split evenly: up to 100,000 spots for a worker cohort and up to 100,000 for a humanitarian cohort.
- The humanitarian stream covers Hong Kong Lifeboat Scheme applicants and the Ukraine Family Reunification Pathway.
- Canada maintained an annual target of roughly 380,000 new permanent residents and capped new temporary residents at 370,000 per year.
- IRCC said the arrangement is not a new immigration pathway and will not permanently raise annual immigration targets.
Canada's Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced on November 5 a one-year measure to add up to 200,000 permanent residence slots outside standard immigration caps, as part of its 2027-2029 Immigration Levels Plan. The plan maintains an annual target of roughly 380,000 new permanent residents and caps new temporary resident arrivals at 370,000 per year.
The additional slots are split evenly: up to 100,000 for a worker cohort and up to 100,000 for a humanitarian cohort. The humanitarian stream covers applicants under the Hong Kong Lifeboat Scheme and the Ukraine Family Reunification Pathway, and IRCC aims to finalize all remaining applications under the Hong Kong permanent residence pathway, which closed to new applicants on August 31, within 2027.
IRCC said the temporary arrangement does not constitute a new immigration pathway and will not result in a permanent increase to annual immigration targets. Advocates and immigration experts said on November 7 that the goal of clearing the backlog is encouraging but questioned whether it can be achieved by 2027.