Canada to announce new immigration targets for 2027–2029

Canada is set to announce new immigration targets for 2027 to 2029, including the number of permanent residents, international students and temporary foreign workers the country will admit.

The new Immigration Levels Plan is expected to be tabled in Parliament in early November, following the statutory requirement for the immigration minister to present the annual plan on or before November 1.

However, November 1, 2026 falls on a Sunday, when Parliament will not be sitting, meaning the plan is expected to be tabled when the House next sits.

The forthcoming plan will establish Canada’s first official target for permanent resident admissions in 2029 and will confirm or adjust the indicative targets for 2027 and 2028 contained in the current 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan.

The announcement will be closely watched by Nigerians and other prospective immigrants seeking permanent residence, study and work opportunities in Canada.

Under the current plan, Canada has set a permanent resident target of 380,000 for both 2027 and 2028. Temporary resident arrivals are targeted at 370,000 in each of those years, including 150,000 international students annually and 220,000 temporary workers.

The Canadian government has been reducing temporary resident arrivals while keeping permanent resident admissions relatively stable.

Its stated objective is to bring temporary residents below 5 per cent of the country’s population by the end of 2027 and keep permanent resident admissions below 1 per cent of the population beyond 2027.

The new plan will therefore be important for prospective applicants because the overall figures will not tell the full story. The allocation of places among economic immigration, Express Entry, provincial nominee programmes, family reunification and other categories will determine where opportunities are available.

International students and temporary foreign workers will also be watching the new temporary resident targets, particularly as Canada continues to adjust the scale of these programmes.

Prime Minister Mark Carney recently said Canada’s immigration system was back under control and raised the possibility of a future “controlled increase” in population. His comments have renewed attention on whether immigration levels could eventually rise, although the government has not announced the 2027–2029 figures.

Canada’s existing policy direction remains focused on controlling the pace of population growth while attracting workers in areas where they are needed. The government has also committed to increasing the share of French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec to 12 per cent by 2029.

For prospective immigrants, the 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan will provide the clearest indication yet of how Canada intends to balance permanent immigration, temporary migration, labour-market needs and population growth over the next three years.