In a recent interview, Marco Mendicino, Canada immigration minister, revealed they are almost 40 percent ahead of the speed required to meet the 2021 immigration targets of 401,000 new permanent residents.
On February 13, 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held an Express Entry draw which was considered significant for two reasons:
- 27,332 principal applicants invited. This was the largest number of applicants invited since four consecutive draws of 5000 invitations at the end of 2020.
- Only a score of 75 was required under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). 199 points were the lowest CRS score when a draw was held inviting candidates under the Federal Skilled Trades program on May 16, 2017.
- The number of Invitation to Apply (ITAs) issued were triple the number of invitations issued around the same time last year.
For more details, see “Express Entry: A historic 27,332 invited in a single draw”
Marco Mendicino (Immigration Minister) said that given the COVID-19 restrictions, they are trying to find options to convert the Canadian temporary residents to permanent residents. It is believed that this historic draw is precisely aimed at achieving the same.
Owing to COVID-19, travel restrictions are still in place.
In March 2020, when Canada went into lockdown, the number of permanent residents declined to about 50 percent. By the end of 2020, Canada admitted just 184,370 new permanent residents as compared to 341,175 in 2019.
In order to make up for the low number of new immigrants, Canada has increased immigration targets for the next three years (as below):
| 2021-2023 Immigration Levels Plan | |
| Year | Projected Admissions – Targets |
| 2021 | 401,000 |
| 2022 | 411,000 |
| 2023 | 421,000 |
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