Canada Cuts Both Temporary and Permanent Immigration in Latest Immigration Levels Plan

In fact, the Immigration Levels Plan offers some good news for those who are already living and working in Canada since Express Entry immigration will not significantly decrease. However, changes to the Provincial Nominee Program numbers do leave us wondering if the federal government is attempting to ‘take back’ immigration (read our op-ed here). 

Key Takeaways

• Express Entry immigration will not significantly decrease from 2024 to 2025, based on the Immigration Levels Planning. 
• A new In-Canada sub- category focuses primarily on Canadian Experience Class candidates.
• Category-based draws are set to change removing some key occupations.
• The Provincial Nominee Program category sees a substantial decrease in allocated targets for permanent residents.
• New temporary resident plan gives us insight into the number of temporary residents we can expect in the next few years – 305,900 students and 367,750 temporary workers in 2025. There are significant reductions in these numbers compared to 2023, with students and IMP workers hit the hardest. 
• These immigration levels will most likely cause a population decline of .2% in 2025 and 2026. 

You can watch Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller announce the changes here.

Watch this reel for a quick summary:

How Many Immigrants Will Canada Welcome?

For the first time, the immigration levels plan includes targets for both permanent residents and temporary residents, such as international students and temporary foreign workers. 

Permanent Resident Admissions Plan

Permanent resident admissions will gradually decrease over the period, from 395,000 in 2025 to 365,000 in 2027, with the majority (62%) focused on economic immigrants.

Here is a breakdown of the 2025- 2027 immigration levels plan for permanent residents: 

Key changes to note here include:

“In-Canada Focus”

The immigration levels plan shows a significant commitment to facilitate the transition of those already in Canada as workers or students to permanent resident status. Under the “in-Canada focus”, 82,980 temporary residents are set to transition to permanent status in 2025, through immigration programs like the Canadian Experience Class, and to some extent the Federal Skilled Workers and Federal Skilled Trades programs. The “in-Canada focus” also includes other regional Immigration pathways, an indication that we may see the TEER 4 and TEER 5 Permanent Pathway Program open in the next year.

Priority Occupations

In 2025, 41,700 permanent residents will arrive under Federal Economic Priorities, the category that houses all program/ general and category-based Express Entry draws. 

A surprising outcome of the plan is the indication of a change in targeted occupations. Although the plan does not commit to changing the categories that make up category-based selection from the Express Entry pool, it does indicate that priority will be given to healthcare occupations, trade occupations, and French-language proficiency.

“Priority will be given to healthcare occupations, trade occupations, and French-language proficiency.”

Growth of the Federal Economic Priorities over the three-year plan is marginal, increasing to 47,800 in 2027.

French First Immigration 

In line with IRCC’s overall goal of welcoming a high portion of French-speaking permanent residents, Overall French-speaking Permanent Resident Admissions outside Quebec targets are set to increase over the next three years, starting at 8.5% for 2025 and increasing to 10% in 2027, in an attempt to improve demographic representation across Canada. 

Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP)

Surprisingly, the target allotted to PNPs has seen a significant decrease compared to the previous year’s plan. With an allocation of 55,000 for 2025 and no projected growth, PNP targets have been slashed by 50% compared to those projected in the 2023 immigration levels plan. 

Although this may be disappointing for many looking for a PNP to get permanent status, many would-be PNP applicants will likely benefit from the In-Canada focus and Federal Economic Priorities targets. 

Temporary Resident Admissions Plan

This year marks the first year that Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan includes targets for temporary residents. This is in response to an announcement from the Canadian government in March 2024 to reduce the number of temporary residents to 5% of Canada’s total population. 

Data from Statistics Canada shows that there were 3 million temporary residents in Canada in Q3 of 2024. However, 5% of Canada’s population (currently 41.7 million) is 2.1 million – so Canada does need to reduce the number of temporary residents to meet these targets. We can see that reflected in the temporary levels targets for 2025-2027. 

Here’s what you should know: 

50% Fewer International Students:

International student levels will decrease significantly. There were 682,889 study permit holders admitted in 2023. The 2025 target will be less than half of that number – at 305,900. 

Temporary Foreign Worker Program Decreases But Remains Steady

Canada plans to bring in 82,000 people through the temporary foreign worker program each year from 2025-2027. This is a decrease of over 50% from 2023 levels, where 184,008 individuals were issued work permits through the TFWP. 

The International Mobility Program Will See A Huge Decrease

The International Mobility Program will also see a significant decrease in 2025. The Immigration Levels Plan sets a target of 285,750 individuals through the IMP, which includes programs that allow employers to hire a temporary worker without a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). International Experience Canada (which includes working holiday permits) and Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPS) fall under this category (see a complete list here).

In 2023, 765,262 work permits were issued via the IMP – so this is an extremely significant reduction of 63%, although we expect a good portion of this decrease to come from recently passed measures to limit access to the Post-Graduation Work Permit and spousal Open Work Permits. 

Why Are Immigration Targets Decreasing?

The decrease in permanent immigration levels follows a series of measures over recent months aimed at curbing temporary immigration, including the International Student Program and Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Minister of Immigration Marc Miller stated that some temporary streams became “overheated”, and now the Government is reportedly planning on reigning in plans to maintain historically high levels of permanent immigration.

The immigration levels plan to be revealed this week will include for the first time targets for temporary immigration, as well as permanent immigration. Temporary and permanent immigration to Canada increased coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic as the Government aimed to alleviate significant labour shortages.

But public support for immigration among Canadians has weakened over the past two years. A recent Environics study showed a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration, with this view strengthening considerably for the second consecutive year.

Is Canada Still Pro-Immigration?

The 2019-2021 Canadian immigration levels plan — the final plan published before the pandemic — set targets of up to 350,000 new permanent residents annually.

So, though Canada is cutting immigration now, the levels expected will in fact be higher than in the years leading up to the pandemic.

This represents an opportunity for people around the world to live and work in Canada. With a population that has crested 41 million people, annual PR admissions of 395,000 in 2025 represents around 1 percent of the existing population. This is broadly in line with historical cross-party consensus in the Canadian political establishment, and among Canadians more generally.

In other words, it’s safe to say that Canada is still a welcoming place for newcomers. Even at these reduced levels, Canada’s immigration policy will likely accept more immigrants than many other countries in the G7. Australia, for instance, welcomed just 212,879 permanent residents in its July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 financial year. 

Moving2Canada will continue to share further insights and developments about the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan. To get all the information you need to plan your move or settlement in Canada, create a free account and sign up for our popular newsletter