Canada’s PNP immigration targets will continue to exceed Express Entry
November 10, 2022
By CIC News |
The Immigration Levels Plan announced on November 1 will significantly increase the target of permanent residents arriving in Canada by up to 500,000 per year by 2025.
A large part of the overall target increase is the rise in allocations under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). In 2022 the program invited a total of 83,500 new permanent residents but the Immigration Levels Plan for 2023-2025 shows a sharp spike of an additional 20,000 new permanent residents, up to 105,000, for 2023. The PNP target increases for 2024 and 2025 will be more modest at 110,000 and 117,500, respectively. This means that by 2025, one fifth of the total number of new permanent residents will be admitted through a PNP.
While the provinces select the immigrants they feel will best contribute to the provincial labour force, it is still Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that has the final say on whether a candidate can become a permanent resident.
This is part of the multi-year PNP allocation plan that Canada’s immigration ministers agreed to develop during a meeting last summer.
In contrast, Express Entry programs will invite 82,880 new permanent residents in 2023, up to 114,000 by 2025. This is a continuation of the high targets for 2022 when PNP targets overtook Express Entry
PNP targets are broken down into allocations for each province. For example, in 2022 IRCC allocated 6,500 provincial nomination certificates to Alberta and 9,700 to Ontario. The allocation for each province over the next three years has not yet been made public.
Until the Immigration levels Plan 2022-2024, even though Canada sets its permanent residence targets over a three-year period, PNP allocations were determined on an annual basis. The ministers agreed that in future, PNP allocation targets will also be set on a three-year basis.