Canada Immigration Plan to Welcome 1,233,000 Immigrants by 2023!

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has recently announced that they plan to invite over 400,000, or more specifically, 1,233,000 newcomers over the next three years! This is one of the highest Canadian immigration levels the country has ever seen, aiming to invite thousands of immigrants to apply for permanent residency. In fact, the only time that it came close to these staggering totals was in 1913, when 401,000 newcomers were invited to move to Canada.

This change to the immigration plan is part of the Government’s economic recovery plan and came about due to the effects of the pandemic travel restrictions. These restrictions, although temporary, have reduced Canada’s immigration targets for the year considerably, and have recently been extended until 30 November 2020. The plan was announced shortly after another exciting announcement was made regarding changes to the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) of the Express Entry draw.

French speakers or francophones, with strong French language skills, will now be able to earn 25 extra CRS points (previously 15) if their first language is French or 50 extra CRS points (previously 30) if they speak both English and French! This change aims to help promote the growth of Canada’s flourishing French community by 4.4% by 2023.

“Supporting the development of Francophone minority communities outside of Quebec is part of this government’s plan for economic growth and long-term prosperity throughout the country. It is also the right thing to do to help support Francophone communities right across Canada. We will continue to attract Francophone immigrants to make sure that Francophone minority communities flourish.”  – The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship