Canada to meet immigration target 401,000 in 2021 says immigration minister

Canada is right on track to fulfill its immigration targets of 2021 says immigration minister Marco Mandicino in an interview with Bloomberg. According to him, the target of accepting 401,000 for this year seems to be completed courtesy current pace of immigrant intakes.

With a 10% increase over the same period last year, Canada only in January 2021, added 26,600 permanent residents said Mendicino during his video interview on 24 February. The government is already 40% ahead of its immigration targets so far. It has already issued 37,986 invitations to apply in the first 2 months of 2021 so far.

Canada plans to accept 401,000 new immigrants from around the world in 2021. Almost 60 percent would be accepted through economy class, 25% through family class, and 16% through refugees and humanitarian class. 

The Canadian government is targeting to welcome about 108,500 new candidates through Express Entry-managed programs, according to the new immigration policy. Furthermore, the next year that targets will increase to 110,500, and then to 113,750 in 2023.

The country could barely fulfill its targets of last year where only 184,370 immigrants could be welcomed against the planned 341,175 amid travel restrictions. This is why Canada is now focusing more and more on temporary foreign workers and international students. As they are already in-country, Canada can utilize their labor market experience to give them permanent residencies through “Express Entry” and “Provincial Nominee Program” routes. The proof is, on 23 February issued 27,332 invitations to apply under “Express Entry Canada Experience Class” in a single draw. This was the sixth draw of this year. According to cicnews.com, the immigration department confirmed that each and every candidate in the pool for this draw was invited to apply for permanent residency.

Canada extends travel restrictions till 21 April 2021 for all international travelers. Whereas U.S. travelers will face restrictions till 21 March 2021.

There is no doubt that Canada has been hit badly by travel restrictions and pandemic. More than 850,000 jobs have been lost during the pandemic, pushing up the unemployment rate to more than 9%. But government and IRCC and willing to make the immigration target meet. In October last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “To rebuild a stronger economy, we need to have enough workers to maintain supply chains, allow businesses to expand and create more jobs for Canadians”. The immigration minister Marco Mandicino says that the country has a large skills gap and that the new permanent residents are necessary to fill those holes.

How Canada will achieve its immigration targets mainly depends on what it has done so far to do this. The best example is the number of “Express Entry Draws” which are being held at a normal rate as ever (about twice a month). From November 2020 to December 2020, Canada continuously held 4 draws with a maximum 5,000 number of invitations to apply. The history-making record came on the front when Canada invited 27,332 candidates to apply for PR on 13 February 2021 under the CEC stream. The efforts continue as foreign students have also been entertained (Alberta started an open work permit program for graduates) in terms of extending their stays in Canada. A new program has also been set up for the farmers to own farms in Canada. New Brunswick province is also still holding online immigration events for candidates around the world. International students have been allowed to travel to Canada if their DLI fulfills the required SOPs. Parents and grandparents category for sponsorship and visa was held too.

Canada is also working more and more on temporary immigrants in the country. The reason is they can settle easily than others coming from abroad. The latest draw of 13 February saw 27,332 candidates be invited to apply for PR under Canada Experience Class. Out of all these, almost 90% of candidates are already in Canada on temporary visa status.