What to expect from the Immigration Levels Plan 2026-2028.
- nmredm
- Oct 23
- 4 min read
The Canadian federal government is expected to unveil the number of permanent and temporary residents that Canada intends to admit by 2026. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will publish the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan by November 1, 2025.
Each year's Levels Plan includes admissions targets for the coming year, as well as notional targets for the next two years. Previous government announcements have provided some hints of what to expect from the future Plan.
Stabilization of permanent resident levels.
If the federal government meets its election promise, permanent resident admissions in 2026 will not exceed 416,500.
We may establish this predicted upward bound because, before to the most recent election, the Liberals vowed to keep permanent resident admissions to fewer than 1% of Canada's population each year, and Canada's population is estimated to be 41.65 million as of July 1, 2025.
The targets from the Plan issued last year also fall beneath this upper constraint, as the government had reduced permanent residency admissions targets for 2025 by 20% relative to the Plan published in 2023.
The targets for total permanent resident admissions under the past two Immigration Levels Plans are as follows:
Year | Immigration Levels plan 2025-2027 (published 2024) | Immigration Levels plan 2024-2026 (published 2023) |
2025 | 395,000 | 500,000 |
2026 | 380,000 | 500,000 |
2027 | 365,000 | - |
These aims include economic immigration, family reunification, and refugee and humanitarian immigration.
Express Entry
Although last year's Immigration Levels Plan cut top-level immigration targets for permanent residence admissions across all programs by 20%, landings targets for economic immigrants under the Express Entry system increased.
The categories Federal Economic Priorities and In-Canada Focus were added in last year's Immigration Levels Plan, replacing what was formerly known as Federal High Skilled (FHS) - the quota for admissions under the Express Entry system.
For 2025, combining Federal Economic Priorities (41,700) and In-Canada Focus (82,980) produces a target of 124,680, up from 117,500 in the previous year's Plan.
Year | Immigration Levels plan 2025-2027 | Immigration Levels plan 2024-2026 | |
Federal Economic Priorities | In-Canada Focus | Federal High Skilled | |
2025 | 41,700 | 82,980 | 117,500 |
2026 | 47,400 | 75,830 | 117,500 |
2027 | 47,800 | 70,930 | - |
Federal Economic Priorities include in-demand occupations for category-based draws, as well as French language competency, whereas In-Canada Focus refers to permanent resident admissions for foreign nationals who are already in Canada with valid temporary resident status.
Provincial Nominee Program:
Last year's Immigration Levels Plan marked a significant departure in Canada's recent immigration strategy with regard to Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) targets.
The plan reduced federal admission targets for the PNP by half compared to the previous year, bringing admissions to just 55,000 each year in 2025, 2026, and 2027, down from a target of 110,000 in 2024.
Year | Immigration Levels plan 2025-2027 | Immigration Levels plan 2024-2026 |
2025 | 55,000 | 120,000 |
2026 | 55,000 | 120,000 |
2027 | 55,000 | - |
In line with this, provinces and territories received considerably reduced nomination allocations for 2025.
Since then, many provinces and territories, including British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and New Brunswick, have successfully negotiated increases in PNP nomination allotment for 2025.
Furthermore, on October 16, Immigration Minister Lena Diab met with her provincial and territory counterparts to consider granting additional space to their PNPs.
If the federal government continues on the same path it has been on since 2025, we may expect the PNP landings objective to rise from 55,000 last year to 60,000 in 2026.
Objectives for temporary resident admissions:
The IRCC is likely to include temporary residents in the next Immigration Levels Plan. In its 2025 consultations, which are meant to shape the 2026-2028 strategy, IRCC announced that it will build on last year's approach while remaining committed to reducing the non-permanent resident population to less than 5% of Canada's total population by the end of 2027.
Last year was the first time the Immigration Levels Plan included temporary resident levels. Temporary residents include international students and temporary foreign labourers.
Last year's Immigration Levels Plan assigned the majority of temporary resident arrivals for 2026 and 2027 to foreign students, with the remainder going to temporary workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the foreign Mobility Program.
2025 | 2026 | 2027 | |
International Mobility Program | 285,750 | 128,700 | 155,700 |
Temporary Foreign Worker Program | 82,000 | 82,000 | 82,000 |
Students | 305,900 | 305,900 | 305,900 |
Overall arrivals | 673,650 | 516,600 | 543,600 |
How does this affect the Temporary Foreign Worker Program?
Prime Minister Mark Carney has hinted at upcoming modifications to the TFWP, however it is unknown what impact any of these changes will have on the TFWP's annual landings targets, which were previously set at 82,000.
In an address to the Liberal caucus in Edmonton on September 10, Carney stated that the TFWP must have a “focused approach” that targets key strategic sectors and needs in specific locations.
Over the last year and a half, the government has made significant reforms to the TFWP.
Putting a suspension on the processing of low-wage LMIAs in areas with a 6% unemployment rate or above.
Raise the wage barrier for the TFWP's high-wage stream.
Lowering the maximum percentage of an employer's workforce that can be hired through the TFWP.
Spousal open work permits (SOWS) are only available to spouses of TFWP holders who work in TEER 0 or 1 occupations, as well as select in-demand TEER 2 and 3 occupations.
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