Canada’s Annual Report on Immigration 2020

Canada has put out the 2020 Annual Report on Immigration to the parliament lately. The annual report shows the transparency of the Canadian government on the immigration system. The government updates the public regarding the latest immigration plans through this report.

Important highlights from the Annual Report

Canada admitted more than 1 million immigrants in 2019

Canada has welcomed more than one million newcomers in 2019. People arrived in Canada as study permit holders, work permit holders, and permanent residents. Nearly 341,000 immigrants entered Canada as permanent residents. And over 400,000 immigrants as international students with study permits. Another 400,00 immigrants arrived as work permit holders. So, it can be observed that a large proportion of immigrants arrive in Canada as temporary residents and not as permanent residents. Thus, Canada has increased immigration levels for permanent residents for the next three years.

Over 200,000 candidates in 2019 were economic class immigrants

Canada has welcomed almost 60 percent of its newcomers as permanent residents through the economy class immigration programs. Over 90,000 economic class immigrants were Express Entry candidates. They arrived in Canada under the three economy class programs of the federal Express Entry. A large number of Express Entry immigrants settled in Ontario. British Columbia and Alberta were other popular provinces among express entry candidates after Ontario. Most of the provinces of Canada also account for economic class immigrants through the Provincial Nominee Programs. Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, Ontario, and British Columbia welcomed a decent number of immigrants in 2019.

Family reunification: a priority for IRCC

As per the annual report, the IRCC was making all the efforts to clear family class backlogs before the pandemic. An approximate 90,000 immigrants came to Canada through family class immigration in 2019. The majority of family class immigrants were under the partners, spouses, and children categories of the family class immigration. In September-end this year, IRCC announced that it would expedite the processing of spousal sponsorship applications. And it would process around 6,000 applications every month. So, Canada aims to tackle the family-class backlogs and reunite family members.

Canada admitting more french-speaking immigration candidates

Canada is making efforts to welcome more Francophone immigrants in the country and strengthen the francophone community. In this view, Canada has made recent changes to the CRS score and has declared to award more points to French-speaking candidates. The IRCC has also invested more money to help the Francophone immigrants settle in Canada. By 2023, Canada targets to welcome 4.4 percent of French-speaking newcomers living anywhere in Canada apart from Quebec.