Five Things You Should Know About Canada's Immigration Levels Plan

Last month, Canada launched a radically different immigration strategy. Here's 5 things you need to know.

I’ve made no bones about the threats Canada’s new Immigration Levels Plan poses to higher education, population growth, and society at-large.

But conversely, I haven’t yet covered the positives or opportunities this Plan presents.

Til now.

Pictured: Immigration Minister Marc Miller.

On October 24, the federal government launched its new Immigration Levels Plan for 2025-27 that introduced some pretty unprecedented changes for the sector, including massive cuts to temporary residents numbers, new immigration targets, and more.

All fairly harsh coming from the historically pro-immigration Federal Liberals. But then again, with the increasingly negative public perception against immigration, it’s unsurprising that the government feels it needs to crackdown on immigration numbers.

Here are the 5 key takeaways that you should know about the government’s immigration plan.

1) Canada is planning to attract more new international students than work permit holders.

The federal government plans to welcome a steady target of 305,900 international students each year until 2027. However, in contrast, the number of new Temporary Resident Workers* is set to decline by 42.7% in 2026, and only slightly recover in 2027.

*Note this category includes applicants from the International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program — the latter being an especially popular option for foreign skilled workers.

This means overall, that from 2026 onwards, a larger chunk of new temporary residents will be international students.

2) Canada is Planning to Welcome More New Permanent Residents Already In The Country

The Immigration Levels Plan also makes a noticeable focus on ‘in-Canada’ category of permanent resident applicants — whether students or workers.

According to the Plan, IRCC expects over 40% of total permanent resident admissions in 2025 to be either workers or students already in Canada.

Essentially, the Federal Highly Skilled segment will split into Federal Economic Priorities and this In-Canada Focus — and this latter section will get more permanent residency admissions seats over the next 3 years.

Here’s a good example. In 2025: the In-Canada Focus will have nearly double the number compared with the Federal Economic Priorities target. Pretty interesting stuff, given the government has made much of its immigration strategy post-pandemic to be economically-driven.

Implications? Well this might mean that the department of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will search for more methods to transition temporary residents living in Canada into permanent residents — either through more Canadian Experience Class (CEC) draws or brand new policies.

3) Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) Are Going to be Scaled Back

The Immigration Levels Plan contains some nasty cuts to PNP admissions targets for the next few years — especially in 2025.

If you’re an international students who planned on using PNP as a pathway to permanent residency, I would suggest finding a different pathway. Or buckle up for PNP to get more competitive.

4) French Language Skills Are Becoming More Prioritized

Planning to go through permanent residency? You might want to learn French.

The new Immigration Levels Plan is looking to target a higher proportion of Francophone permanent residents outside of Quebec, a noticeable jump from even previous immigration plans.

5) In-Demand Occupations Have an Increased Focus

Back in 2023, IRCC launched its category-based selection draws. Essentially, the government would issue Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to skilled workers from high in-demand sectors, like healthcare, trades, and transportation — all with the goal of addressing record labour shortages.

Given that they are responsive to labour market & demographic needs, these targets are meant to change over time.

By 2025, the government included new categories including trade jobs and a larger list of healthcare careers, including:

• Registered nurses, practical nurses, and nursing supervisors

• Pharmacists, optometrists, and family physicians

• Physiotherapists and chiropractors

To be eligible, applicants need to have built-up at least 6 months of full-time, continuous job experience (or equivalent in part-time work) over the last 3 years — in that high-demand occupation (eg registered nurse).

Thing to note —and students interested in graduating with a Post-Grad Work Permit (PGWP) and who want to pursue permanent residency (PR) might want to consider looking at jobs that align with these category-based draws.

Even in the event of a government switch-up after next election, I only expect that these economically-driven immigration targets are here to stay.