OTTAWA—The Carney government will hold immigration levels steady in the coming three years, while also announcing it will add 200,000 permanent residence spots in 2027 for temporary migrants already established in Canada.
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it → hold → Canada
Despite speculation that the government was ready to reverse course after two years of steep immigration cuts, its budget released Thursday said 380,000 people would be admitted as permanent residents in this fiscal year, the same number as last year.
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people → reverse → year
The economic class will make up 64.4 per cent of the targets, followed by those under family reunification (21.3 per cent) and the rest as resettled refugees, protected persons and on humanitarian grounds.
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class → make → grounds
The budget said that level would be maintained through 2029, and that the number of temporary residents, including students and workers, will be held at 370,000 for the next three years.
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number → say → years
After a decade of record-high intake targets under Justin Trudeau that contributed to a housing crisis, strained health care and eroded public confidence in immigration, Ottawa in 2024 started slashing the number of new permanent and temporary residents it would admit and tightening the rules for those already here.
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it → contribute → those
The Liberal government has pledged to reduce the share of temporary residents to five per cent of the country’s population by the end of 2027.
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government → pledge → 2027
Yet, it still stood at 6.7 per cent as of July, with many stuck in the bottleneck for permanent residence, hanging on to the hope to stay for good.
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it → stand → hope
Under tremendous pressure to fulfil that campaign promise, the new plan includes a one-time initiative to help as many as 200,000 people already living in Canada transition to permanent residence in 2027 — equally split between the worker and humanitarian streams.
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people → fulfil → streams
“I would characterize that as an administrative clearing of the decks,” said Rick Lamanna of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association.
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Lamanna → characterize → Association
“These people in most cases have been here for quite a while, living in this temporary, suspended existence.
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people → live → existence
They’ve been vetted.
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They → vet → ?
It’s good for them, it’s good for Canada.
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it → ’ → Canada
This also means Canada will see one of the largest admissions of permanent residents in history, totalling 580,000, said Ottawa-based immigration lawyer Cédric Marin.
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Marin → mean → 580,000
“These are not new admissions,” he noted.
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he → note → ?
“They’re people that are currently inside Canada, that are employed and (some) have a house.
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some → ’re → house
But it’s almost a way, in my view, to reduce the temporary resident population that they set themselves.
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they → ’ → population
Under the one-time measure, provinces will be able to identify workers who have already applied for permanent residence under select federal immigration programs, including the Atlantic immigration program and others that are closed to new applications such as the programs for start-up entrepreneurs, self-employed persons, agri-food workers and home care workers.
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that → identify → entrepreneurs
With the additional spaces, officials said they also hope to process all remaining applications under the permanent residence pathways for temporary residents from Hong Kong and those in the Ukraine family reunification program.
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they → say → program
While this effort is welcomed, the Migrant Rights Network said the 200,000 additional permanent resident spots are a drop in the bucket, given the 2.15 million people who held work or study permits in Canada as of August 2026.
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who → welcome → August
“These additional spaces recognize the injustice facing migrants who already live and work here,” said Syed Hussan, a spokesperson for the umbrella advocacy group.
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Hussan → recognize → group
“But what about the millions of migrants shut out of existing programs, who are also building and sustaining the economy?”
Toronto economist Parisa Mahboubi said she understands why Ottawa is compelled to transition more temporary residents to permanent status, but it is misleading the public by excluding the 200,000 extra bodies from the headline count.
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It would also send the wrong signal to others planning to come to Canada that they would ultimately receive permanent residence as long as they make it to the country and hang on, she cautioned.
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she → send → country
“That’s the message the government is sending,” said Mahboubi, who chairs the immigration targets council of the C.D. Howe Institute, a Toronto-based think tank.
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who → ’ → Institute
“That’s not the right approach.”
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That → ’ → ?
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