According to the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the country welcomed a total of 471,550 new permanent residents in 2023. In 2022, the country welcomed 437,600, which means the number this year has significantly increased. IRCC says Canada exceeded its target for the number of permanent residents it’s planning to approve in 2023. In the Immigration Levels Plan for 2023 – 2025, the country only intends to supposedly welcome about 465,000 permanent residents. It was increased because the department also considered candidates from the Provincial Nominee Program along with their spouses, and the Express Entry programs.
The IRCC also published the number of temporary residence applications that were finalized. For Work Permits, there were about 1,646,300 applications finalized which include extensions. When compared to 2022, there was an increase of almost half a million, which is 503,380 applicants. The applications for work permits also include the International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. For the Study Permits, there were about 1,089,600 finalized, including extensions. Compared with 2022, there was an increase of about 171,700 from the 917,900 final decisions. Finally, the IRCC data also shows that there were about 293,000 applicants who became new Canadian citizens between April 1 and December 31, 2023, a significant increase of 13,900 from 2022’s figure of 279,100 applicants.
What Was the Immigration Levels Plan?
Every year, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) releases its Immigration plans for the next three years. The plan targets permanent resident admissions, not temporary residents such as for a study permit.
The figure for the new permanent Canadian residents indicates that the IRCC is on track with its target for 2024, which is 485,000 approved applicants. In 2025 and 2026, the department plans to welcome half a million new permanent residents to the country.
IRCC usually doesn’t limit the number of permanent resident applications for Canada. However, in January 2022, it introduced a cap on the study permits that will be issued in 2024. It plans to only issue about 360,000 new study permits. Additionally, it also plans to limit the study permit applications to only 606,250. Note that there is no cap for study permit renewals though.
