A great opportunity as Canada releases its Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025

Amongst the many countries, it is commendable that the Canadian economy has been able to experience the fastest recovery from COVID-19. But there is also a growing concern about critical labor shortages which has started causing great uncertainty for Canadian businesses. To add to this is yet another concern with the aging population of the country with a worker-to-retiree ratio which is expected to shift from 7 to 1 50 years ago to 2 to 1 by 2035.

With these critical concerns in mind the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, released Canada’s 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan. The Immigration Levels Plan strategizes to help businesses find workers and also to attract many with the key skills that are required in critical sectors—including health care, skilled trades, manufacturing, and technology.

The country had welcomed over 405000 newcomers to the country which was the highest Canada had ever welcomed in a single year. The good news is that Canada continues to keep this ambition going and has set up new targets for the coming year. According to the New Immigration Levels Plan 2023 – 2025, Canada will welcome 4,65000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025. With this big announcement, the country strategizes to focus on tackling the many social and economic challenges in the coming decade. The plan also focuses on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.

Let’s have a quick look at the key takeaways from the new levels plan:

1. The new Immigration Level Plan has a long-term focus on the economic growth of Canada with just over 60% of admissions in the economic class by the year 2025.
2. The shortage of labour is a growing concern, in particular, in the local or rural areas. Hence the program will see increases that are targeted to local labour market requirements through the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot.
3. The new plan will be using the new features in the Express Entry System that will help in welcoming newcomers with the required skills and qualifications in sectors facing acute labour shortages such as health care, manufacturing, building trades, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
4. The plan also aims to reunite more families at a faster pace.
5. It will also contain adequate support for global crises by providing a safe haven to those facing persecution, including by expanding the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot.
6. It will ensure that at least 4.4% of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone.

The New Immigration Levels Plan also aims to focus on regional immigration thereby trying to build on the ongoing work to strengthen the Canada Immigration system. It will help spread the benefits of immigration to various communities across the country, which will also include supporting Francophone communities outside of Quebec. 

Final Thoughts:

It is a huge opportunity for many who wish to migrate to Canada. Immigration accounts for almost 100% of Canada’s labor force growth, and, by 2032, it’s projected to account for 100% of Canada’s population growth. With the country currently facing a huge labor shortage and the growing population of people retiring, this 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan sees immigration as the best strategy to help businesses find adequate workers.

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