Hello Community,
First of all, again, big congratulations to every applicant who became PR or who received FD, P1, P2 and ECOPR. Big congratulations to those members here who were finally reunited with their dependents in Canada. Please don’t forget us from your prayers.
Although this forum is basically for issues related to refugees, I think it is useful to share with you this post about the newly announced Canada’s Immigration Level Plan.
All the statistics in this post are for applications outside Quebec. I hope that the federal government will strike a deal with the government of Quebec whether for protected persons or for all the people under this newly announced limited-time initiative as part of the Immigration Level Plan.
Before digging deep in the plan itself, it may be useful to have a quick overview of where the immigration programs have huge backlogs and really long processing wait times. The information here is from IRCC’s estimated processing time:
Economic – Self-employment: 8,000. (Stopped Apr 30, 2024). The processing times is more than 10 years.
Economic – Caregiver: 36,400 applications. The processing time is 76 months.
Economic – Startup Visa: 47,500 applications. (Paused Jan 1, 2026). The processing times is more than 10 years)
Humanitarian – H&C: 58,800. The processing time for new applications is more than 10 years.
Humanitarian – Protected persons: If you remember, back in October 2025, the estimated processing time for new applications was more than 10 years before introducing the one-time initiative.
Hong Kong: 33,000 pending applications. (Closed on Aug 31, 2026). All in Canada. Some of these applicants have been living in Canada since 2021.
The least that can be said is that the above programs are practically speaking dysfunctional. It is unreasonable for an applicant to wait for more than 10 years for processing their application.
In addition, this limited-time initiative includes In-Canada spousal sponsorship applications. Again, as per IRCC’s estimated processing times, under the family sponsorship program we have the following:
Family – Spousal sponsorship (In-Canada): 55,600 applications. The processing time is 26 months.
Family – Spousal sponsorship (Outside-Canada): 65,500 applications. The processing time is 18 months.
By including the In-Canada spousal applications, IRCC is trying to clear this backlog.
Furthermore, even for the economic immigration programs, the government has repeatedly stated that the target is to have 60% of the annual economic immigration target (~240,000) from inside Canada.
For over 18 months, the Canadian government has been trying to bring the immigration system under control. Through these limited-time initiatives in 2026 and 2027, the government is essentially creating a fast-track processing lane to clear out years of built-up backlogs.
The strategy works as a safety valve in three distinct ways:
Zero Infrastructure Pressure: Because every single person in these backlogs – from the Hong Kong stream applicants to the inland spouses – is already living, renting and using healthcare in Canada, processing their PR cards adds zero new residents to the country's infrastructure.
Cleaning the Slate for IRCC: The immigration department (IRCC) has been heavily criticized for massive processing delays. Shifting these 200,000 complex, legacy files into a dedicated "backlog clearance" initiative allows them to empty the queues by the end of 2027.
Restoring Predictability: Once these long-standing backlogs are cleared out of the system, it resets the baseline. This allows the regular, core streams (like standard Express Entry or overseas family sponsorships) to run much faster and stay within their strict 380,000 annual caps moving forward.
It is a one-time paper exercise designed to turn temporary residents into permanent ones, letting Canada manage its population numbers on paper without causing an actual influx of new people at the border.
Through the economic immigration pathways admitting 60% from inside Canada, and through these one-time initiatives in 2026 and 2027, the government is trying to achieve the important objective of bringing temporary residents to 5% of the population.
Furthermore, as part of the efforts to bring the immigration system under control, the government has been active on minimizing the reasons that can cause future bottlenecks.
Asylum: Several substantial changes have been gradually introduced to the asylum program. These have resulted in asylum claims significantly dropping from ~15,000 a month in 2023 and 2024 to ~2,500 in 20206. As per IRB’s most recent statistics, there are ~245,000 pending refugee claims. IRB has been processing on average ~10,000 to 12,000 refugee claims on a monthly basis.
Temporary Residents (Student visas and temporary workers): In 2026, Canada is planning to admit 155,000 as new international students compared to 430,000 new student visas, a drop of ~64%. There were only 22,405 new international students arriving in Canada in the first 6 months of 2026 due to visa refusals and falling application volumes.
As for temporary workers, under the International Mobility Program (IMP), in 2023 there were ~765,000 workers compared to 170,000 in 2026 and 2027 (~76% drop). For Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), there were ~184,000 in 2023 compared to 50,000 in 2026. (~72% drop). In total, new arrivals as temporary workers fell from ~949,000 to 220,000 (~76% drop).
One last point: Although it provides for up to 200,000 new PR's, this may not be even achievable due to several reasons. It is related to the approval of provinces with regard to the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), completion of security screening of all applicants, etc. However, assuming that everything will be alright, there will be 380,000 (as per the regular level plan) + 200,000 (limited-time initiative) + 69,000 protected persons in 2027 (balance of the one-time initiative 115,000) + 15,000 (rural workers - balance of the one-time initiative 33,000) = 664,000 new PR's. Again, these are all already in Canada.
These are some of the important statistics and facts related to the Immigration Level Plan. It is not about being pro-liberal, pro-Carney or pro-immigration. This post tries to present the facts and rationale behind the new plan.
First of all, again, big congratulations to every applicant who became PR or who received FD, P1, P2 and ECOPR. Big congratulations to those members here who were finally reunited with their dependents in Canada. Please don’t forget us from your prayers.
Although this forum is basically for issues related to refugees, I think it is useful to share with you this post about the newly announced Canada’s Immigration Level Plan.
All the statistics in this post are for applications outside Quebec. I hope that the federal government will strike a deal with the government of Quebec whether for protected persons or for all the people under this newly announced limited-time initiative as part of the Immigration Level Plan.
Before digging deep in the plan itself, it may be useful to have a quick overview of where the immigration programs have huge backlogs and really long processing wait times. The information here is from IRCC’s estimated processing time:
Economic – Self-employment: 8,000. (Stopped Apr 30, 2024). The processing times is more than 10 years.
Economic – Caregiver: 36,400 applications. The processing time is 76 months.
Economic – Startup Visa: 47,500 applications. (Paused Jan 1, 2026). The processing times is more than 10 years)
Humanitarian – H&C: 58,800. The processing time for new applications is more than 10 years.
Humanitarian – Protected persons: If you remember, back in October 2025, the estimated processing time for new applications was more than 10 years before introducing the one-time initiative.
Hong Kong: 33,000 pending applications. (Closed on Aug 31, 2026). All in Canada. Some of these applicants have been living in Canada since 2021.
The least that can be said is that the above programs are practically speaking dysfunctional. It is unreasonable for an applicant to wait for more than 10 years for processing their application.
In addition, this limited-time initiative includes In-Canada spousal sponsorship applications. Again, as per IRCC’s estimated processing times, under the family sponsorship program we have the following:
Family – Spousal sponsorship (In-Canada): 55,600 applications. The processing time is 26 months.
Family – Spousal sponsorship (Outside-Canada): 65,500 applications. The processing time is 18 months.
By including the In-Canada spousal applications, IRCC is trying to clear this backlog.
Furthermore, even for the economic immigration programs, the government has repeatedly stated that the target is to have 60% of the annual economic immigration target (~240,000) from inside Canada.
For over 18 months, the Canadian government has been trying to bring the immigration system under control. Through these limited-time initiatives in 2026 and 2027, the government is essentially creating a fast-track processing lane to clear out years of built-up backlogs.
The strategy works as a safety valve in three distinct ways:
Zero Infrastructure Pressure: Because every single person in these backlogs – from the Hong Kong stream applicants to the inland spouses – is already living, renting and using healthcare in Canada, processing their PR cards adds zero new residents to the country's infrastructure.
Cleaning the Slate for IRCC: The immigration department (IRCC) has been heavily criticized for massive processing delays. Shifting these 200,000 complex, legacy files into a dedicated "backlog clearance" initiative allows them to empty the queues by the end of 2027.
Restoring Predictability: Once these long-standing backlogs are cleared out of the system, it resets the baseline. This allows the regular, core streams (like standard Express Entry or overseas family sponsorships) to run much faster and stay within their strict 380,000 annual caps moving forward.
It is a one-time paper exercise designed to turn temporary residents into permanent ones, letting Canada manage its population numbers on paper without causing an actual influx of new people at the border.
Through the economic immigration pathways admitting 60% from inside Canada, and through these one-time initiatives in 2026 and 2027, the government is trying to achieve the important objective of bringing temporary residents to 5% of the population.
Furthermore, as part of the efforts to bring the immigration system under control, the government has been active on minimizing the reasons that can cause future bottlenecks.
Asylum: Several substantial changes have been gradually introduced to the asylum program. These have resulted in asylum claims significantly dropping from ~15,000 a month in 2023 and 2024 to ~2,500 in 20206. As per IRB’s most recent statistics, there are ~245,000 pending refugee claims. IRB has been processing on average ~10,000 to 12,000 refugee claims on a monthly basis.
Temporary Residents (Student visas and temporary workers): In 2026, Canada is planning to admit 155,000 as new international students compared to 430,000 new student visas, a drop of ~64%. There were only 22,405 new international students arriving in Canada in the first 6 months of 2026 due to visa refusals and falling application volumes.
As for temporary workers, under the International Mobility Program (IMP), in 2023 there were ~765,000 workers compared to 170,000 in 2026 and 2027 (~76% drop). For Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), there were ~184,000 in 2023 compared to 50,000 in 2026. (~72% drop). In total, new arrivals as temporary workers fell from ~949,000 to 220,000 (~76% drop).
One last point: Although it provides for up to 200,000 new PR's, this may not be even achievable due to several reasons. It is related to the approval of provinces with regard to the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), completion of security screening of all applicants, etc. However, assuming that everything will be alright, there will be 380,000 (as per the regular level plan) + 200,000 (limited-time initiative) + 69,000 protected persons in 2027 (balance of the one-time initiative 115,000) + 15,000 (rural workers - balance of the one-time initiative 33,000) = 664,000 new PR's. Again, these are all already in Canada.
These are some of the important statistics and facts related to the Immigration Level Plan. It is not about being pro-liberal, pro-Carney or pro-immigration. This post tries to present the facts and rationale behind the new plan.
Last edited:
