When the Canadian government releases its Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 in February, it will provide a major update to the candidates looking to immigrate.

The government will also announce its plans for new immigrants in Canada throughout the year and over the next two years, as well as the number it intends to admit under its various economic, family, and humanitarian classes. This is the first such statement since Canada announced in October 2020 it will aim to welcome over 400,000 new immigrants each year moving forward, about 40,000 more per year than previously planned.

The federal government must make this announcement by November 1st of each year, when Parliament is sitting, under Canada’s main immigration legislation, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). If Parliament does not sit for more than 30 days, the announcement must be made within 30 sitting days of it reconvening.

Every year, on November 1st, the government reveals the budget in Parliament. This didn’t happen in 2021 because the federal government shut down parliament as a result of the September election. Following the election, a new session of Parliament began on November 22nd.

Before taking a holiday, Parliament sat for 20 days. It will resume on January 31st, which means immigration minister Sean Fraser must make the new levels plan announcement no later than Friday February 11th. In recent years, the Canadian government has issued a statement by the deadline, with only minor exceptions. This year, if this persists, the announcement will probably happen in February 7th week’s second half.

Another notable point is that the federal government of Canada will most likely table a second-level plan by November 1st this year. The Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025, which has been scheduled for announcement every three years, will proceed as planned unless the Canadian government opts to hold an election for the second year in a row.

Under the planned Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023, Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is aiming to admit 411,000 new permanent residents in 2019. IRCC has already met its objective of landing 401,000 immigrants by 2021, which is the greatest number in Canadian history. Amidst the tough pandemic situation, IRCC set the goal last year of moving temporary residents currently living in Canada to permanent residency to help achieve it.

As per the current plan, Canada has set a target of bringing in 241,500 economic class immigrants through programs like Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program, and Quebec’s initiatives. This represents 59% of Canada’s immigration goal.

The IRCC is interested in admitting 103,500 family class immigrants through the Spouses, Partners, and Children Program and the Parents and Grandparents Program. This is 26% of IRCC’s immigration goal.

The remaining 66,000, or 15% of the immigrant target, will be accepted as refugees and on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

The number of people permitted to enter Canada may change, but not the overall quantity of immigrants targeted by Canada in the future years. On the one hand, the Canadian government may be content with their present targets and decide to maintain them as is. This would imply simply maintaining current annual admissions levels now that the baseline has been established at 400,000 immigrants. The number of immigrants was lower in the past, with the goal being around 250,000 per year until 2016. Another factor to consider is that the Canadian government may wish to avoid large increases so that it can focus on reducing its queue of 1.8 million permanent and temporary resident applicants who are waiting to be processed.

On the other hand, Fraser has indicated an openness to raising the goals, even more, depending on stakeholder input. The minister said he would consider input from community organizations and businesses to determine if they want any more immigrants.

Some may claim that Canada’s immigration targets are already high, and the government should put a halt to even higher numbers for a variety of reasons. Backlogs must be addressed, housing affordability problems exist across the country, and welcoming immigrants during economic downturns have historically hurt newcomers’ employment prospects.

Proponents of increased levels might counter that Canada requires more to aid its post-pandemic economic and financial recovery, as well as to alleviate labor shortages. Higher goals might also be acceptable, in part because they may enable IRCC to reduce its backlog more rapidly. In addition, higher targets may be required to meet the government’s aim of settling 40,000 Afghan refugees.

Whatever the case may be, we will not have to guess for long as the February 11 deadline is rapidly approaching.