More than 1.7 million permanent residents and 1.1 million new citizens have been admitted to Canada since 2018. Last year, Canada admitted 431,645 permanent residents, making it the largest number of people admitted in a year in Canadian history.

Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan aims to admit an even more ambitious number of 465,000 permanent residents in 2023. Based on the most recently available data, the Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard shows that IRCC has already hit 20% of the PR number target for 2023.

For those following the news on immigration in Canada, there have been a lot of record-setting headlines related to permanent resident admissions. For example, IRCC issued a record-breaking 11,000 express entry invitations in January 2023, only to break this record again in March 2023, inviting 21,000 candidates to apply for PR. Here is a short report on what Permanent Resident admissions in 2023 is starting out like.

Permanent Residence 2018-2023

Based on the Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard, the PR levels were mostly impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic and seem to be getting back on the average increase by 2022. We are yet to see what the percentage increase or decrease looks like at the end of 2023.

Permanent Residence in 2023

January 2023 set a record number where 50,885 PRs were admitted in Canada, followed by 49,550 PRs in February. Most PRs admitted were through the Economic-PNP (28,450) and Economic-Federal (32,560) while the Family stream (line in pink) also saw a significant uptick, admitting 23,755 PRs.

Permanent Residence by Province

In January and February 2023, Ontario (40,860) and British Columbia (17,500) were the top 2 immigration destinations, while Alberta (11,785) and Quebec (11,085) levelled with each other.

Regionally, Newfoundland in Atlantic Canada admitted 1,590 PRs, Quebec and Ontario trended steady inflows of PRs (see Citizenship and Immigration Dashboard), following the Prairies, Alberta experienced an increase in admitting 11,785 PRs (50% increase from last year), and in the north, Yukon PR numbers jumped from admitting an average of 30 PRs monthly to having 105 PRs in January and 170 PRs in February (160% increase from January and February of 2022).

While IRCC is meeting the immigration targets, the success rate could experience a dip due to the PSAC strike, where more than 155,000 government employees are participating, and immigration services are expected to face extensive delays. IRCC has not indicated how the strike will affect PR processing time and we are yet to see how the PR levels will unfold in the coming months.

Do you think this halt in immigration services will create a similar backlog that Canada faced due to the pandemic? What changes need to be implemented to create an immigration system where immigrant applicants aren’t adversely affected every time there is a shock or a stop in the process? How might this be affecting prospective immigrants’ views of Canada?

Take a look at our immigration dashboard for updated numbers of PRs and citizens and add your voice to the conversation (our social media links are below).

You can learn more about the ICC here. Join the conversation and be part of building a more inclusive Canada.

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Be sure to keep a lookout for our next monthly ICC Immigration Dashboard analysis