Canada has issued its annual immigration report last year. IRCC issues this report every year to the parliament. The Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration provides the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship with the opportunity to inform Parliament and Canadians of key highlights and related information on immigration to Canada. Following are the main number of immigrants that made it to Canada for different categories:

• 30,087 refugees resettled, the highest number of any state worldwide.
• 5,774,342 travel documents were issued to visitors, workers, and students.
• 404,369 temporary work permits were issued under the temporary foreign worker and international mobility programs.
• 74,586 has been the conversions. The individuals transitioned from temporary to permanent residents.
• 341,180 could make it to permanent residency.
• Franco immigration increased as well where about 8,500 French-speaking permanent residents were admitted to Canada outside Quebec with additional support for francophone communities across Canada.
• About 58% of permanent residents admitted under the economic category.

It has been commonly reported that most newcomers to Canada do not arrive as permanent residents but reside in Canada on a temporary basis.  Canada planned for a higher immigration level in 2019. It admitted es more than 1 million newcomers in 2019. Three types of newcomers came to Canada, including students, permanent residents, and work permit holders. Students were in large numbers by making it to more than 400,000. Permanent residents were more than 341,000. An additional 400,000 received work permits.

More than 190,000 immigrants arrived in Canada in 2019 under the economic class. Of these immigrants, only just over 90,000 arrived by express entry. Canada welcomes about 60% of its permanent residents in economic class. This will be the case as well under the 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan.

The PNP program also contributed to the main immigration stream. Almost 71% of immigrants made it through Ontario. The ratio has been 8% for Alberta whereas 17% for British Columbia.

Category wise list of immigrants reaching Canada

There were 68,647 people selected through the Provincial Nominee Program in 2019, the highest number since the program’s launch.

Temporary immigration programs

Under this category, visitors, students, and temporary workers live in Canada. Last year, a total of 5,774,342 travel documents were issued to visitors, workers, and students.

Visitor visa

A total of 4,077,471 eTA (electronic travel authorizations) were issued last year. Whereas 1,696,871 TRVs (temporary resident visas) were issued. Both categories saw a minor decrease compared with 2018.

Temporary foreign workers

More temporary work visas were issued last year which makes it to 98,310  work permits through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and 306,797  under the International Mobility Program.

International students

International students made it to a large number of immigration to Canada where 827,586 international students were issued study permits out of which were 402,427 as new study permits to newcomers from around the world. Almost 11,566 study permit holders were granted permanent residency.

Permanent Immigration Canada statistics

The permanent residency program is considered the backbone of the Canadian immigration system. This allows immigrants to settle in Canada permanently either by direct entry through express entry stream or by conversions from other temporary visa streams. In 2019, Canada achieved its highest level of permanent resident admissions in recent history with 341,180 admissions which have a share of 196,658 admissions under the Economic Class.

Economic immigration share during the past 5 years:

Family reunification

A family member of Canadian nationals or permanent residency holder can come to Canada if their relative in Canada can sponsor them financially. Almost 91,311 individuals could make it under this category with an increase of 7.2% increase.

Parents and Grandparents

last year showed some positive results as far as processing timings are concerned. 80% of applications were decided under 19 months time period. Almost 22,011admissions were made this year.

Refugees admitted

A total of 30,087 refugees were admitted last year under the refugee resettlement category.

New and popular immigration programs that contributed to Canadian immigration in 2019

• Canada wants to ease tensions of one-sided immigration towards densely populated urban areas. This is why IRCC launched the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot in 2019 to support smaller and more remote communities to access the economic benefits of immigration.
• The Department continued to work in partnership with the Atlantic provinces to enhance the effectiveness of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot, an employer- and retention-driven approach to responding to the economic development and labor needs of Atlantic Canada.
• The best option introduced for the temporary workers was the three-year Agri-Food Pilot. It was launched on May 15, 2020, and provides a new pathway to permanent residence for experienced non-seasonal workers in specific agri-food industries and occupations.

Canada announces a new immigration policy for 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Canada will give more than 1.2 Million visas in the next three years.

On October 30, 2020, the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, tabled the 2021‒2023 Immigration Levels Plan that will allow 401,000 immigrants in 2021, 411,000 in 2022 and 421,000 in 2023. 

Read here for complete details of the new immigration policy of Canada.