According to the latest IRCC figures, Canada welcomed 35,260 new permanent residents in January 2022. The numbers, obtained by CIC News through an information request to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), reveal that Canada is off to a good start as it prepares to welcome over 400,000 new immigrants for the second year in a row.
According to the updated Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024, Canada expects around 432,000 additional immigrant arrivals this year. This would be the highest number ever recorded. Last year, Canada received over 405,000 newcomers, the majority of them were temporary residents who were converted to permanent residents. With almost 400,000 immigrants entering this year, Canada had a record-breaking year.
In January, the economic class contributed for 65 percent of new permanent residence arrivals, substantially above the levels plan’s target of 56 percent. The family class accounted for 20% of the population, which is less than the plan’s target of 24 percent. The remaining 15% of landings were in the refugee and humanitarian category, falling shy of the 20% target.
The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) remained the most popular program, with around 7,700 new economic class immigrants. Last year, the IRCC relied heavily on the CEC to reach its immigration targets, accounting for over one-third of all new admissions. TR2PR is a program that permits temporary residents to become permanent residents.
The Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident (“TR2PR”) Program, which was offered to foreign graduates and vital personnel between May and November 2021, was the second most popular economic class admissions program, with approximately 7,000 immigrants entering in January. The Provincial Nominee Program came in third in the economic category, with 4,200 immigrants coming, followed by the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), which had around 2,600 arrivals.
According to IRCC data, the department is processing FSWP applications at a faster rate than before. This is significant since, between 1967 to the outbreak of the pandemic, the FSWP was Canada’s most popular economic-class immigration program.
