On Tuesday, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, John McCallum, announced that Canada will welcome a greater number of immigrants in 2016 – placing a special emphasis on family reunification.
The Government of Canada has an ambitious plan to bring in between 280,000 and 305,000 new permanent residents this year. The minister revealed that in order for Canada to continue to show global leadership, the country will reunite families, offer a place of refuge to those fleeing persecution, and support the country’s long-term economic prosperity.
Through the Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration – which includes the 2016 immigration levels plan – the government outlined how it will increase levels of family class immigration, which will address the application backlog and reunite families more quickly. A total of 80,000 permanent resident visas are intended to be issued to family migrants this year, compared to 68,000 in 2015.
The government has also pledged to meet its commitments to welcome more refugees to Canada, and in the process, help diversify the Canadian economy and create sustainable growth.
However, the target for economic – highly skilled – immigrants has dropped from 181,300 last year to 160,000 this year.
Canadian immigration target levels for 2016
Economic immigrants – 160,600
Family total – 80,000
Refugee total – 55,800
Humanitarian total – 3,600
Article by David Fuller