Supplementary Information for the 2027-2029 Immigration Levels Plan

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is pleased to release details of the 2027-2029 Immigration Levels Plan (Levels Plan). The Levels Plan includes temporary resident targets for new arrivals of international students and temporary workers, along with permanent resident targets and ranges under the immigration categories of Economic, Family, Refugees and Protected Persons, and Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other.

This year’s Levels Plan advances the Government’s commitment to sustainable immigration by building on progress already made to restore stability and predictability to the system. The Levels Plan aligns with the Government’s broader economic priorities by attracting the talent and skills needed to complement Canada’s domestic workforce and support major investments, while collaborating with provinces and territories, supporting regional and rural communities and reinforcing Canadians’ confidence in a well-managed immigration system.

Targets for new temporary resident arrivals will stabilize at 370,000 for all three years of the 2027-2029 Levels Plan. These figures represent new temporary worker and student arrivals. Temporary resident targets provide stability and predictability for provinces and territories, employers, and educational institutions while supporting short-term labour needs tied to major investments and helping Canada attract global talent. Workers are expected to represent approximately 60% of new arrivals over the course of the Plan, and students approximately 40%. For workers, targets are allocated under the International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Overall permanent resident admissions will remain at 380,000 for all three years of the 2027-2029 Levels Plan. As supporting the Canadian economy continues to be a key priority, the economic category remains the largest proportion of admissions each year at 64.4% across all three years. It supports a stronger focus on selecting the talent Canada needs to drive growth, support innovation, fill persistent labour shortages, and strengthen rural and remote communities while modestly increasing provincial programs to address regional labour needs.

This approach is supported by the continued reforms to Express Entry and federal economic programs to select more high-potential workers, including skilled tradespeople.

Targets for the Family, Refugees and Protected Persons, and Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other categories would remain stable, with the overall proportion of family class admissions remaining at 21.3% across all three years, 13% of overall admissions dedicated to Refugees and Protected Persons, and 1.3% of admissions to Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other to support Canada's obligations and humanitarian commitments.

The Plan reinforces Canada’s commitment to ensuring the vitality and economic development of Francophone Minority Communities, by setting targets for French-speaking permanent resident admissions outside Quebec at 9.5% in 2027, 10.5% in 2028, and 12% in 2029.

IRCC will also continue delivering existing one-time initiatives announced in Budget 2025 to accelerate the transition of up to 115,000 Protected Persons in Canada (PPiC) and their in-Canada dependants and 33,000 work permit holders to permanent residence in 2026 and 2027.

Time-Limited Measure

As implementation of the one-time initiatives continues, IRCC is also introducing a new time-limited measure to provide additional space to process permanent residence applications in 2027 within two cohorts:

First, the workers cohort will transition in-Canada workers and their accompanying family members to permanent residence in collaboration with provinces and territories in order to support regional labour market needs.
Second, the humanitarian cohort will transition individuals to permanent residence who are already in Canada and have been waiting for many years. This transition will provide fairness, keep families together, and fulfill some of Canada’s existing humanitarian commitments.

Given that this time-limited measure applies to people already living in Canada, transitioning them to permanent residence will deliver many benefits including improving the overall efficiency of Canada’s immigration system and supporting the economy, while not increasing pressure on services and infrastructure.

2027-2029 Immigration Levels Plan

Temporary Residents

	2027	2028^{Table footnote 1}	2029
Overall Arrivals^{Table footnote 1}^{Table footnote 2}	370,000 (355,000 – 385,000)	370,000 (355,000 – 385,000)	370,000 (355,000 – 385,000)
Workers (Total)	220,000	220,000	220,000
International Mobility Program^{Table footnote 3} ^{Table footnote 4}	170,000	170,000	170,000
Temporary Foreign Worker Program ^{Table footnote 5} ^{Table footnote 6} ^{Table footnote 7}	50,000	50,000	50,000
Students^{Table footnote 8}	150,000	150,000	150,000

Temporary Residents Table Footnotes

Table footnote 1

Notional targets and ranges for 2028 and 2029 will be confirmed or adjusted by November 1 of next year.

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Table footnote 2

Targets for temporary residents include new arrivals under one of the temporary worker programs (i.e., the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP)), as well as new arrivals under the International Student Program (ISP). Targets are not set for visitors arriving with temporary resident visas or electronic travel authorizations (eTAs), permit extensions, in-Canada study/work permit applications and asylum claimants. Asylum claimant volumes and in-Canada study/work permit applications are included in the overall methodology and calculations to reach the less than 5% non-permanent resident target.

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Table footnote 3

The IMP is comprised of a collection of streams that do not require Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA), including work permits issued in accordance with agreements with partner countries, or work permits issued under economic, family-class, and Post-Graduation Work Permits. However, Post-Graduation Work Permits are not included under these targets, as IRCC treats them as an extension or change of status, not new arrivals to Canada.

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Table footnote 4

IMP targets exclude seasonal or short-duration streams.

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Table footnote 5

The TFWP is jointly administered with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and is based on employer demand to fill specific jobs when no Canadians or permanent residents are available to do the work, with an LMIA required to issue closed work permits. The TFWP includes seasonal and non-seasonal agricultural streams.

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Table footnote 6

TFWP targets include all non-seasonal workers who remain in Canada for longer than one year.

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Table footnote 7

TFWP targets exclude seasonal workers who are required to enter and leave Canada within the same calendar year (e.g., some seasonal primary agriculture and seasonal low-wage occupations in Canada with a maximum duration of 270 days).

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Table footnote 8

Study permits are issued to foreign nationals studying for six months or more in Canada at a Designated Learning Institution (DLI) that is approved by the provincial or territorial government to host international students.

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Permanent Residents

Immigrant Category		Target	Low Range	High Range	Target^{Table footnote 1}	Low Range^{Table footnote 2}	High Range	Target	Low Range	High Range
		2027			2028			2029
Overall Planned Permanent Resident Admissions		380,000 (352,500 – 422,000)^{Table footnote 3}			380,000 (352,500 – 422,000)			380,000 (352,500 – 422,000)
Overall French-speaking Permanent Resident Admissions outside Quebec^{Table footnote 4}		9.5% (31,825)			10.5% (35,175)			12% (40,200)
Economic	Federal High Skilled^{Table footnote 5}	100,000	87,000	123,000	100,000	87,000	123,000	100,000	87,000	123,000
	Federal Business^{Table footnote 6}	1,500	500	5,000	2,725	1,500	3,500	1,000	500	2,000
	Federal Economic Pilots: Home Care Workers^{Table footnote 7}; Agri-Food Pilot; Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot; Francophone Community Immigration Pilot; Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot^{Table footnote 8}	7,900	5,000	15,450	6,175	4,400	8,250	7,400	4,900	10,500
	Rural Community Immigration Program^{Table footnote 9}	5,500	4,000	6,500	6,000	5,000	7,000	6,500	4,000	7,000
	Atlantic Immigration Program	6,000	5,000	8,500	6,000	5,000	7,000	6,000	5,000	7,000
	Provincial Nominee Program	95,000	83,000	106,000	95,000	83,000	106,000	95,000	83,000	106,000
	Quebec Skilled Workers and Business^{Table footnote 10}	TBD			TBD			TBD
	Total Economic	244,700 (230,000 – 270,000)			244,700 (230,000 – 270,000)			244,700 (230,000 – 270,000)
Family	Spouses, Partners and Children	66,000	61,000	75,000	66,000	61,000	75,000	66,000	61,000	75,000
	Parents and Grandparents	15,000	12,000	18,000	15,000	12,000	18,000	15,000	12,000	18,000
	Total Family	81,000 (76,000 – 89,000)			81,000 (76,000 – 89,000)			81,000 (76,000 – 89,000)
Refugees and Protected Persons	Protected Persons in Canada and Dependents Abroad	20,000	16,000	29,000	20,000	16,000	29,000	20,000	16,000	29,000
	Resettled Refugees – Government Assisted^{Table footnote 11}	11,750	10,000	16,000	11,750	8,500	14,500	11,750	8,500	14,500
	Resettled Refugees – Privately Sponsored	17,550	14,500	20,500	17,550	14,500	20,500	17,550	14,500	20,500
	Total Refugees and Protected Persons	49,300 (42,000 – 55,000)			49,300 (42,000 – 55,000)			49,300 (42,000 – 55,000)
Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other	Total Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other^{Table footnote 12}	5,000 (4,500 – 8,000)			5,000 (4,500 – 8,000)			5,000 (4,500 – 8,000)

Permanent Residents Table Footnotes

Table footnote 1

Notional targets and ranges for 2028 and 2029 will be confirmed or adjusted each year.

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Table footnote 2

Ranges provide operational flexibility so that IRCC can remain responsive to evolving priorities and program pressures.

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Table footnote 3

Program and category specific ranges do not equal the total range for each class.

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Table footnote 4

The overall French-speaking permanent resident admissions outside Quebec indicated here represent the number of admissions required to meet the 9.5% target in 2027, 10.5% target in 2028, and 12% target in 2029 of overall permanent resident admissions that have been set. These targets are for admissions outside Quebec and are therefore calculated based on how many admissions within the Levels Plan would be necessary to meet the targets, based on the overall ranges for admissions outside of Quebec. Once Quebec tables its 2027 immigration levels plan, these targets may require updates.

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Table footnote 5

Includes the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class. Each year the Minister of IRC establishes categories in the Express Entry system, informed by labour market information and projections as well as input received from partners, including provinces and territories, and stakeholders across the country, to select eligible candidates with specific skills, training and language ability, to respond to labour-market needs.

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Table footnote 6

Includes admissions from the Start-up Visa Program and the Self-employed Persons Program.

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Table footnote 7

Includes the Home Care Worker Immigration: Child Care, and Home Care Worker Immigration: Home Support pilots which were launched March 31, 2025. Also includes applications from previous caregiver programming – Home Child Care Provider, Home Support Worker Pilots, Caring for Children, Caring for People with High Medical Needs, Interim Pathway for Caregivers, and the Live-in Caregiver Program – which are being processed to completion.

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Table footnote 8

Admissions of former international students who participated in the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP), a temporary initiative launched in 2024 to support the recruitment, settlement, and retention of French-speaking international students in Francophone Minority Communities outside Quebec through a dedicated pathway from study to permanent residence.

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Table footnote 9

Includes admissions from remaining applications under the Rural Community Immigration Pilot and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, which will continue to be processed to completion, as well as future admissions under the Rural Community Immigration Program.

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Table footnote 10

Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec has responsibility for the selection of economic immigrants destined to the province. Targets can be found in Quebec’s immigration levels plan, to be tabled in fall 2026.

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Table footnote 11

Includes streams for human rights defenders in need of protection, as well as LGBTQI+ individuals.

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Table footnote 12

Includes admissions of persons selected on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, for reasons of public policy, and in the permit holder class.

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2026-11-05