471,550 Permanent Residents Applicants Are Approved in Canada – ASKMigration: Canadian Lifestyle Magazine

According to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, the country welcomed a grand total of 471,550 permanent residents in 2023. In 2022, Canada welcomed 437.600 new residents, meaning that the number has increased significantly this year. IRCC says Canada exceeded its target for the number of permanent residents it’s planning to approve in 2023. In the Immigration Levels Plan for 2023 – 2025, the country only intends to supposedly welcome about 465,000 permanent residents. The number of permanent residents was increased as the department considered candidates from both the Provincial Nominee Program and their spouses along with the Express Entry program.

The IRCC also published a list of the number of temporary residency applications that were approved. The number of Work Permits finalized applications, including extensions, was approximately 1,646,300. Comparing 2022 to 2019, there was a rise of almost half-a-million, or 503,380 applicants. Work permit applications also include the International Mobility Program, and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. About 1,089,600 Study Permits have been finalized including extensions. The 917,900 final decision number in 2022 was increased by 171,700. Finally, the IRCC data also shows that there were about 293,000 applicants who became new Canadian citizens between April 1 and December 31, 2023, a significant increase of 13,900 from 2022’s figure of 279,100 applicants.

What Was the Immigration Levels Plan (IMP)?

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada announces its Immigration plans every year for the following three years. The plan is aimed at permanent residents and not temporary ones, like those for a student permit.

The IRCC has met its target of 485,000 new permanent Canadian residents for 2024. The department plans to welcome a half-million new permanent residents in 2025 and 2026.

IRCC usually doesn’t limit the number of permanent resident applications for Canada. In January 2022 it will introduce a cap for the number of study permits issued in 2024. It plans to only release about 360,000 study permits. Additionally, it plans to limit study permit requests to only 606,250. Note that there is not a cap on renewals of study permits.