Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan holds the PR target at 380,000 a year to 2029 and trims new student arrivals to 150,000; up to 200,000 temporary residents get a route to PR

Canada will admit 380,000 new permanent residents every year from 2027 to 2029 and hold new temporary arrivals at 370,000 a year, under the 2027-2029 Immigration Levels Plan tabled with the federal Budget 2026 on Thursday, 5 November. The target for new international students falls to 150,000 a year, down from 155,000 set for 2026, and new temporary workers to 220,000 from 230,000.

The worker figure splits into 170,000 under the International Mobility Program and 50,000 under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which drops from 60,000. Economic immigrants make up 244,700 of the permanent resident places each year, about 64%, with 81,000 for family sponsorship and 49,300 for refugees and protected persons.

A one-time route for people already in Canada

Budget 2026 gives as many as 200,000 temporary residents now in the country a one-time chance to move to permanent residence before 2027 is out. Half the places will run through the Express Entry system or provincial nominee programs, so that provinces and territories can pick people to fill local job gaps. In its note on the plan, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sets out a time-limited measure for 2027 with two groups: workers already in Canada along with their families, and people who have waited in the country for many years on humanitarian grounds.

The budget sets aside C$302.3 million for the transition and C$56.9 million across four years for IRCC to run the plan. A further C$151.5 million across five years goes to reworking the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, though the budget does not list the changes.

The temporary targets cover only new arrivals. Permit extensions, study and work permit applications made from inside Canada, and asylum claims fall outside them, so students and workers already in the country are not counted against the 370,000. Eligibility rules and an opening date for the 200,000 transition have not yet been announced.