The one-time 2-year initiative regarding 115,000 protected persons

[Mancini]

Hello Community...

I attended a meeting a few weeks ago with a refugee support group. They addressed several things.. like the support provided to refugees/protected persons by this board and other organizations advocating for refugees/protected persons; why IRCC's estimated processing times had changed dramatically from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec), who would be included in the 115,000 initiative.. etc.

Unfortunately, protected persons in Quebec are not YET included in the 2-year one-time initiative to give PR to 115,000 protected persons. As a result, Quebec's annual PR quota for protected persons still stand at 4,000 every year. Negotiations are still ongoing between the federal government and Quebec to be part of this initiative.

Why IRCC's estimated processing times changed from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec)?

Up to December 31, 2025, IRCC followed a retrospective approach, where IRCC updated their estimated processing times based on the number of applications actually processed during the past months, and also based on the updated immigration plans (PR quotas for protected persons).

Starting from January 1, 2026, IRCC decided to follow a prospective approach, taking into account the 2-year initiative, assuming that every month over the coming 24 months, there will be PR for approximately 5,000 protected persons. However, the refugee organization explained that IRCC was still mobilizing and preparing to implement this 2-year initiative, expecting that this would take effect from April 2026 onward. This may explain why we have not seen any major progress in January 2026.

According to this refugee organization, the focus of this one-time initiative will be to finalize the PR applications for those inside Canada. Dependents of protected persons who are outside Canada (like my case) will not be part of this initiative. I hope this will change.

So, especially for those 2023-2024 PR applicants still desperately waiting without any progress, you are almost there.. It won't be long before your files will start 'flying'

===============================================

Personally, I hope that IRCC can introduce a 'bridge' pathway, similar to EMPP, where protected persons who meet certain requirements can qualify for expedited processing similar to economic immigrants. I'm sure that there are thousands of protected persons who could qualify as EE or CEC candidates, but who are not eligible to apply because of their protected person status.
===============================================

Good luck everybody... Have faith in God. Do all that you can to prove to yourselves that you deserve to live on this blessed land.

 

[Waeln]

Thanks for sharing this—very informative. Do you know which groups would be included in the 115,000 initiative?
Regarding a case where the principal applicant is in Canada and has dependents outside Canada, would only the principal applicant be counted toward the 115,000, or would the entire family be excluded from this one-time initiative?

 

[MilesYoung]

Hello Community...

I attended a meeting a few weeks ago with a refugee support group. They addressed several things.. like the support provided to refugees/protected persons by this board and other organizations advocating for refugees/protected persons; why IRCC's estimated processing times had changed dramatically from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec), who would be included in the 115,000 initiative.. etc.

Unfortunately, protected persons in Quebec are not YET included in the 2-year one-time initiative to give PR to 115,000 protected persons. As a result, Quebec's annual PR quota for protected persons still stand at 4,000 every year. Negotiations are still ongoing between the federal government and Quebec to be part of this initiative.

Why IRCC's estimated processing times changed from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec)?

Up to December 31, 2025, IRCC followed a retrospective approach, where IRCC updated their estimated processing times based on the number of applications actually processed during the past months, and also based on the updated immigration plans (PR quotas for protected persons).

Starting from January 1, 2026, IRCC decided to follow a prospective approach, taking into account the 2-year initiative, assuming that every month over the coming 24 months, there will be PR for approximately 5,000 protected persons. However, the refugee organization explained that IRCC was still mobilizing and preparing to implement this 2-year initiative, expecting that this would take effect from April 2026 onward. This may explain why we have not seen any major progress in January 2026.

According to this refugee organization, the focus of this one-time initiative will be to finalize the PR applications for those inside Canada. Dependents of protected persons who are outside Canada (like my case) will not be part of this initiative. I hope this will change.

So, especially for those 2023-2024 PR applicants still desperately waiting without any progress, you are almost there.. It won't be long before your files will start 'flying'

===============================================

Personally, I hope that IRCC can introduce a 'bridge' pathway, similar to EMPP, where protected persons who meet certain requirements can qualify for expedited processing similar to economic immigrants. I'm sure that there are thousands of protected persons who could qualify as EE or CEC candidates, but who are not eligible to apply because of their protected person status.
===============================================

Good luck everybody... Have faith in God. Do all that you can to prove to yourselves that you deserve to live on this blessed land.

Thank you for sharing this important information! Hopefully PR will coming soon for everyone.

 

[Flowercita]

Hello Community...

I attended a meeting a few weeks ago with a refugee support group. They addressed several things.. like the support provided to refugees/protected persons by this board and other organizations advocating for refugees/protected persons; why IRCC's estimated processing times had changed dramatically from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec), who would be included in the 115,000 initiative.. etc.

Unfortunately, protected persons in Quebec are not YET included in the 2-year one-time initiative to give PR to 115,000 protected persons. As a result, Quebec's annual PR quota for protected persons still stand at 4,000 every year. Negotiations are still ongoing between the federal government and Quebec to be part of this initiative.

Why IRCC's estimated processing times changed from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec)?

Up to December 31, 2025, IRCC followed a retrospective approach, where IRCC updated their estimated processing times based on the number of applications actually processed during the past months, and also based on the updated immigration plans (PR quotas for protected persons).

Starting from January 1, 2026, IRCC decided to follow a prospective approach, taking into account the 2-year initiative, assuming that every month over the coming 24 months, there will be PR for approximately 5,000 protected persons. However, the refugee organization explained that IRCC was still mobilizing and preparing to implement this 2-year initiative, expecting that this would take effect from April 2026 onward. This may explain why we have not seen any major progress in January 2026.

According to this refugee organization, the focus of this one-time initiative will be to finalize the PR applications for those inside Canada. Dependents of protected persons who are outside Canada (like my case) will not be part of this initiative. I hope this will change.

So, especially for those 2023-2024 PR applicants still desperately waiting without any progress, you are almost there.. It won't be long before your files will start 'flying'

===============================================

Personally, I hope that IRCC can introduce a 'bridge' pathway, similar to EMPP, where protected persons who meet certain requirements can qualify for expedited processing similar to economic immigrants. I'm sure that there are thousands of protected persons who could qualify as EE or CEC candidates, but who are not eligible to apply because of their protected person status.
===============================================

Good luck everybody... Have faith in God. Do all that you can to prove to yourselves that you deserve to live on this blessed land.

Thanks for sharing this info. All we have been wondering what is going on. Now we have an idea.

 

[broccoli13]

Thanks for the updates! I still don’t believe they’d be able to pull off the promised timelines. 5k PR per month?? IRCC could never.
And will they target the oldest applications first? Or what’s their priority. Because even with asylum applications they are very random.
I can’t believe they still didn’t announce the details for this “one time initiative”

 

[Waiting_claimant]

Thanks for the information! Does anyone know if there is a follow up comprehensive security screening for those who applied for PR after receiving protected status?

 

[Mancini]

Thanks for sharing this—very informative. Do you know which groups would be included in the 115,000 initiative?
Regarding a case where the principal applicant is in Canada and has dependents outside Canada, would only the principal applicant be counted toward the 115,000, or would the entire family be excluded from this one-time initiative?

This initiative is meant for In-Canada protected persons who applied for PR.

As for dependents who are outside Canada, apparently they are not part of this initiative. However, when I check IRCC's estimated processing times for dependents outside Canada, it shows as 26 months, while before 2026 it would show 52 to 54 months.. Hopefully when the backlog starts to clear, dependents living outside Canada will be processed faster (fingers crossed)..

 

[Mancini]

Thanks for the updates! I still don’t believe they’d be able to pull off the promised timelines. 5k PR per month?? IRCC could never.
And will they target the oldest applications first? Or what’s their priority. Because even with asylum applications they are very random.
I can’t believe they still didn’t announce the details for this “one time initiative”

And most probably we will never see any official details..
Immigration Minister stated that IRCC have the necessary resources to do this, without taking resources from other departments..

They can do this by streamlining the process, bringing more efficiency, maybe (hopefully) removing some redundant steps..

When there is a will, there is a way..

Keep your faith.. Stay positive!

 

[Mancini]

Thanks for the information! Does anyone know if there is a follow up comprehensive security screening for those who applied for PR after receiving protected status?

There are processes which are redundant, biometrics, medical exam, security screening, hopefully IRCC will find a way to expedite these while ensuring that all protected persons are vetted, screened and cleared..

 

[Waiting_claimant]

There are processes which are redundant, biometrics, medical exam, security screening, hopefully IRCC will find a way to expedite these while ensuring that all protected persons are vetted, screened and cleared..

I sure do hope so!

 

[moref1988]

Thanks for the updates! I still don’t believe they’d be able to pull off the promised timelines. 5k PR per month?? IRCC could never.
And will they target the oldest applications first? Or what’s their priority. Because even with asylum applications they are very random.
I can’t believe they still didn’t announce the details for this “one time initiative”

They secured $120 million from the 2026 budget for this one-off initiative. They have to succeed somehow, and there needs to be a real acceleration. Otherwise, it would be something like fraud. $120 million in extra funding is a lot of money.

 

[canuck78]

Thanks for the updates! I still don’t believe they’d be able to pull off the promised timelines. 5k PR per month?? IRCC could never.
And will they target the oldest applications first? Or what’s their priority. Because even with asylum applications they are very random.
I can’t believe they still didn’t announce the details for this “one time initiative”

Many of governent announcements are often aspirational and the reality often ends up being different. Even if they don’t process 5k/month or even close to that the processing will be faster than it was scheduled to be. Unlike asylum applications, PR processing for the applicants inside Canada is primarily done sequentially by either date of application or AOR. Assessing and processing asylum claims is much more complex than PR applications. Think these 1 time initiatives may have been last minute additions and an attempt to try to address some issues with current immigration picture in Canada. Also appears to have been an attempt to try to increase the annual PR targets without actually including them in the levels plan and also while still declaring that the government is lowering the annual new PRs. Assume that the government may also still be trying to figure out how they will be able to run these 1 time initiatives without the annual new PRs numbers being much higher than the target and the total for the past few years. Assume this new information specifies that the 1 time initiatives will only be used for protected people and refugees inside Canada and not dependents outside of Canada because the justification for this initiative was that the applicants are already in Canada and most are essentially guaranteed PR. This should not add any extra pressure on things like infrastructure.

 

[canuck78]

Hello Community...

I attended a meeting a few weeks ago with a refugee support group. They addressed several things.. like the support provided to refugees/protected persons by this board and other organizations advocating for refugees/protected persons; why IRCC's estimated processing times had changed dramatically from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec), who would be included in the 115,000 initiative.. etc.

Unfortunately, protected persons in Quebec are not YET included in the 2-year one-time initiative to give PR to 115,000 protected persons. As a result, Quebec's annual PR quota for protected persons still stand at 4,000 every year. Negotiations are still ongoing between the federal government and Quebec to be part of this initiative.

Why IRCC's estimated processing times changed from 99 months to 17 months for protected persons (outside Quebec)?

Up to December 31, 2025, IRCC followed a retrospective approach, where IRCC updated their estimated processing times based on the number of applications actually processed during the past months, and also based on the updated immigration plans (PR quotas for protected persons).

Starting from January 1, 2026, IRCC decided to follow a prospective approach, taking into account the 2-year initiative, assuming that every month over the coming 24 months, there will be PR for approximately 5,000 protected persons. However, the refugee organization explained that IRCC was still mobilizing and preparing to implement this 2-year initiative, expecting that this would take effect from April 2026 onward. This may explain why we have not seen any major progress in January 2026.

According to this refugee organization, the focus of this one-time initiative will be to finalize the PR applications for those inside Canada. Dependents of protected persons who are outside Canada (like my case) will not be part of this initiative. I hope this will change.

So, especially for those 2023-2024 PR applicants still desperately waiting without any progress, you are almost there.. It won't be long before your files will start 'flying'

===============================================

Personally, I hope that IRCC can introduce a 'bridge' pathway, similar to EMPP, where protected persons who meet certain requirements can qualify for expedited processing similar to economic immigrants. I'm sure that there are thousands of protected persons who could qualify as EE or CEC candidates, but who are not eligible to apply because of their protected person status.
===============================================

Good luck everybody... Have faith in God. Do all that you can to prove to yourselves that you deserve to live on this blessed land.

One of the arguments for this 1 time initiative is that the applicants are already in Canada so there would not be any extra demands placed on things like infrastructure. It also would not change the number of immigrants in Canada since people are already in Canada. If you included dependents outside Canada many of the justifications for this one time initiative would disappear. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen but given how unpopular immigration (or at least the volume of people coming to Canada) has become it may be quite difficult to convince the government to include dependents who are outside Canada. I am still a bit confused as to how the government will be able to keep on declaring they are reducing the number of new PRs when the number should increase pretty substantially with these 1 time initiatives. This is a perfect example of when politics has a significant impact on policy. When making these types of decisions the government will/should also be thinking about the next election. The resignation of the Quebec premier and the fact that Quebec will need to have a provincial election sometime in the next 8ish months may also have an impact on whether Quebec will be wiling to participate in the 1 time initiative.

 

[Flowercita]

One of the arguments for this 1 time initiative is that the applicants are already in Canada so there would not be any extra demands placed on things like infrastructure. It also would not change the number of immigrants in Canada since people are already in Canada. If you included dependents outside Canada many of the justifications for this one time initiative would disappear. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen but given how unpopular immigration (or at least the volume of people coming to Canada) has become it may be quite difficult to convince the government to include dependents who are outside Canada. I am still a bit confused as to how the government will be able to keep on declaring they are reducing the number of new PRs when the number should increase pretty substantially with these 1 time initiatives. This is a perfect example of when politics has a significant impact on policy. When making these types of decisions the government will/should also be thinking about the next election. The resignation of the Quebec premier and the fact that Quebec will need to have a provincial election sometime in the next 8ish months may also have an impact on whether Quebec will be wiling to participate in the 1 time initiative.

What I really think is this: the PR for people who have been living here many years ago and stablished it will be only like a formality.

When they give PR to people who will come for like economical stream, that means people will come to the country. Adding population and demanding services that right now is not possible to supply.

If you think there is some logic in this.

 

[Mancini]

One of the arguments for this 1 time initiative is that the applicants are already in Canada so there would not be any extra demands placed on things like infrastructure. It also would not change the number of immigrants in Canada since people are already in Canada. If you included dependents outside Canada many of the justifications for this one time initiative would disappear. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen but given how unpopular immigration (or at least the volume of people coming to Canada) has become it may be quite difficult to convince the government to include dependents who are outside Canada. I am still a bit confused as to how the government will be able to keep on declaring they are reducing the number of new PRs when the number should increase pretty substantially with these 1 time initiatives. This is a perfect example of when politics has a significant impact on policy. When making these types of decisions the government will/should also be thinking about the next election. The resignation of the Quebec premier and the fact that Quebec will need to have a provincial election sometime in the next 8ish months may also have an impact on whether Quebec will be wiling to participate in the 1 time initiative.

Totally agree with you dear @canuck78

This is what the Immigration Minister said in the discussions in the House of Commons.. that these protected persons are already in Canada, established, and they are protected by the Canadian government.

This initiative is not about bringing people from outside Canada, rather it is about formalizing their presence in Canada.

This is somehow similar to what was stated by the ex-immigration minister Milner, that 60% of economic immigrants for the 2025-2027 plan would be from inside Canada (basically international students with PGWP).

This one-time initiative will add approximately 60,000 new PR each year to the published 2026-2027 immigration plan. The total number is around 380,000 (again this will be 60% from inside Canada)..

There is no official statement confirming that these 115,000 new PR will be added over and above the announced 380,000 target. Maybe there will be some sort of an offset with other streams?

At the same time, almost 3 million temporary permits will expire by end of 2026. If only 5% of these will actually leave Canada, this means roughly 150,000, 10% will be 300,000...

In addition, there are thousands of Canadian citizens who leave Canada every year for various reasons..

Add to this the fact that natural population growth in Canada (newborns) is at historical low levels (1.26 per woman in 2023)..

According to Statistics Canada, there was a decrease in population in Q3 of 2025, basically attributed to decreasing temporary residents..

For policy makers, ageing population (workforce) is an equally nightmare similar to overpopulation....

Maybe this is what the government is trying to do.. to strike a balance between population growth and making sure that there is sufficient young workforce to counter the ageing population...

The home prices has been the lowest in almost 3-4 years... rents continue to decrease... real estate developers big players are crying.. and the blame is always on refugees and new migrants...