IRCC 2027–2029 levels plan: 380,000 permanent and 370,000 new temporary residents per year

What changed

On November 5, 2026, IRCC published a backgrounder on the 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan. The plan sets a target of 370,000 new temporary resident arrivals and 380,000 permanent resident admissions for each of 2027, 2028 and 2029.

• Temporary residents: 220,000 new workers and up to 150,000 new international students per year.
• Permanent residents: economic class admissions maintained at more than 64% of total admissions. These admissions include people already working or studying in Canada.
• Francophone immigration outside Quebec: 9.5% of permanent resident admissions in 2027, 10.5% in 2028 and 12% in 2029.
• Regional programs: planned admissions under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) and the Atlantic Immigration Program increase.
• Rural Community Immigration Pilot: being made permanent.

New time-limited measure

IRCC is also introducing a time-limited measure. It will provide additional admissions space in 2027 to help up to 200,000 people already living in Canada transition to permanent residence. The measure has two cohorts:

• Workers cohort (up to 100,000 people and their families): delivered through increased PNP allocations. Provinces and territories may also identify workers who already applied under select federal programs. These include the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Start-up Visa Program, the Self-Employed Persons Program, the Agri-Food Pilot and home care worker programs.
• Humanitarian cohort (up to 100,000 people): IRCC aims to process remaining applications under the Hong Kong permanent residence pathways and the Ukraine Family Reunification Pathway. It will also finalize humanitarian and compassionate applications already found eligible. In addition, it will process applications from spouses, common-law partners and dependent children of Canadians and permanent residents living in Canada. IRCC says this will help bring spousal and common-law wait times closer to 12 months for those destined outside Quebec.

The backgrounder also says IRCC is advancing Express Entry reforms, including changes to the CRS.

Official text

Read the full backgrounder on canada.ca (published November 5, 2026).