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Kassim Ssali

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Canada Announces Immigration Levels Plan 2024-2026

Canada's immigration levels will remain unchanged from its current targets. In 2024, the country will target the admission of 485,000 new immigrants. In 2025 and 2026, Canada will look to welcome 500,000 new immigrants each year.

The targets are the same as those announced under the Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025. The new information released today is the 2026 target, as well as updates to the levels of immigrants that will be admitted under each class and program between 2024-2026.

Breakdown of immigration targets by class

In 2024, Canada will look to welcome about 281,135 immigrants under the economic class or 58% of the annual target. By 2026, this will rise to 301,250 immigrants or 60% of the annual target.

The family class target, in 2024, will be 114,000 immigrants, or 24% of all admissions. This will rise to 118,000 immigrants by 2026, which will also be 24% of all admissions.

·         Canada has just released its Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025.

·         Canada will aim to welcome 465,000 new immigrants in 2023.

·         The target will rise to 485,000 new immigrants in 2024.

·         It will further rise to 500,000 new immigrants in 2025.

Canada broke its all-time immigration record by welcoming over 405,000 immigrants in 2021 and is looking to welcome nearly 432,000 immigrants this year.

The Immigration Levels Plan acts as a guide for the number of immigrants Canada aims to welcome each year. Canada's immigration goals include growing the economy, reuniting families, and offering asylum to refugees fleeing hardship            Under its Immigration Levels Plan, Canada is now looking to welcome 500,000 new immigrants annually in the coming years, the highest levels in its history. 

Refugee and humanitarian class targets to decline

Refugees and humanitarian class immigrants also have an allocation under the Immigration Levels Plan. Canada has a long-standing reputation for extending asylum to displaced persons fleeing unsafe situations in their home countries.

Canada currently has high humanitarian class targets due to its ongoing efforts to complete several campaigns such as welcoming some 40,000 refugees from Afghanistan.

The overall refugee class target will be just over 76,000 new landings in 2023 and 2024, before dipping to 72,750 in 2025.

The same goes for the humanitarian class target which is declining from nearly 16,000 in 2023 to 8,000 in 2025.

Refugee Application Process

There are several steps to Canada's refugee application process.

Eligibility for Canada Refugee Status

Not everyone is eligible to make a refugee claim. A person is not eligible if:

·       the claimant has never before made a refugee claim in Canada;

·       the claimant has been recognized as a refugee in another country and can be returned to that country;

·       the claimant came to Canada through a designated "safe third country";

·       the claimant has been determined to be inadmissible based on security, serious criminality, organized criminality, or violating human or international rights.

Note: Canada has signed an agreement with the United States designating the U.S. as a "safe third country". Claimants coming from, or even just passing through the U.S., are ineligible to make refugee claims at a Canadian border crossing by land. They will be turned back to the U.S.

A Canadian immigration official initially decides if a refugee claim is eligible. If the claim is made at a border crossing, a quick decision can be expected as to eligibility. It takes considerably longer for a decision concerning eligibility if the refugee claim is first made at an immigration office inside Canada.

Referral to the Immigration and Refugee Board

If an immigration official considers the claimant eligible, the file is transferred to an independent administrative tribunal called the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). The IRB determines whether the claimant is a genuine refugee and deserving of protection in Canada. The claimant is required to first complete a Personal Information Form (PIF) and submit it to the IRB. About 12 months later the claimant attends a hearing before a member of the IRB. In rare cases, where the evidence is exceptionally clear, a claimant may be accepted without a hearing.

Refugee status decision

If the IRB determines that the claimant is a genuine refugee, the claimant becomes a protected person and can apply for Canadian permanent residence inside Canada.

If the IRB refuses the claimant, an application for judicial review can be requested from the Federal Court of Canada. If the claimant does not succeed in Federal Court, then removal from Canada becomes probable.

Before removal, the claimant can ask for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA). The same grounds for protection are assessed as in a refugee claim, but the decision is made by a Canadian immigration official instead of the IRB. In cases that have already been considered by the IRB, only changes in circumstances that have occurred since the IRB decision will be taken into account. In some instances, even claimants who are ineligible to make a refugee claim are entitled to a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA).

Individuals who have a refugee claim rejected, abandoned, or withdrawn may eventually apply for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA). This is an opportunity for people who are facing removal from Canada to seek protection by describing, in writing, the risks they believe they would face if removed.

KASSIM SSALI

President and executive director Uganda Culture in Diaspora/Uganda