Immigration plan for the year 2016 announced by the Liberals

[Abul Aziz]

The 2016 annual immigration levels plan outlines a shift in immigration policy towards reuniting more families.

The plan will improve processing times and backlogs will go down across multiple immigration programs including those for: spouses; partners and children; and parents and grandparents – because the department will be able to welcome more people into Canada.

By the end of 2016, Canada will welcome between 280,000 and 305,000 (target 300,000) new permanent residents. This is a 7.4% increase in planned admissions over the 2015 levels plan.


Immigration supports Canada’s long-term economic growth while building strong communities and improving our global competitiveness. The contributions that experienced foreign professionals and skilled workers make to our country and economy result in jobs, innovation, and growth in existing and new industries.

The 2016 immigration levels plan continues to support Canada’s economic growth with significant admissions in economic immigration programs. The economic class will account for the majority of all immigration admissions in 2016, representing more than half of the overall total planned for the year.

The economic class includes the principal applicants as well as their spouses, partners and dependants in the following programs and streams: Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program and the Canadian Experience Class (collectively, the Federal Economic High Skilled programs) – since January 2015, all applications for these programs fall under the Express Entry application management system; Federal Economic Business programs; Quebec-selected Skilled Worker and Business programs (as set by the Government of Quebec); the Provincial Nominee Program; and the Caregiver Program.

Immigration Class Immigration Program 2016 Levels Plan
Target
Economic

Federal Economic – High SkilledFootnote2

58,400

Federal Economic – CaregiversFootnote3

22,000

Federal Economic – BusinessFootnote4

800

Provincial Nominee Program

47,800

Quebec Skilled Worker

26,200

Quebec Business

5,400

Total admissions under the Economic Class

160,600

 

[tgman]

Awesome! May all of us become a Canadian PR in 2016! Good luck all!

 

[Aragorn165]

So it's actually favorable to all of us, contrary to what many were predicting. Great news!

 

[mira.r]

I was expecting a little more than this. I was expecting a review of the EE system, but I guess that's not happening anytime soon.

 

[RamsayBolton]

So it's actually favorable to all of us, contrary to what many were predicting. Great news!

It's not a good thing at all, checks out my post: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/canada-immigration-plan-2016-less-quota-for-economic-stream-t402456.0.html

They cut the quota for economic in order to double the quota for refugee stream. We lost more than 26,000 nominations for economic stream.

 

[JoacRy]

Will this have any positive or negative impact for those of us who have received an ITA and submitted?

 

[smtele]

"spouses; partners and children;"

what does partners mean?

 

[Aragorn165]

Will this have any positive or negative impact for those of us who have received an ITA and submitted?

It has no impact on submitted applications. If previous changes are any indication, applications submitted before the change came into effect are processed under the rules in effect when the applications were submitted, not the new rules.

 

[bellaluna]

Will this have any positive or negative impact for those of us who have received an ITA and submitted?

IMO, it's a slightly positive sign that they aim to clear their backlog of submitted applications, these quotas are for the people who are targeted to enter Canada in 2016 as new immigrants, including principal applicants and their spouses and dependents, regardless of when they submitted their applications. For all we know, they are still processing some old CEC/PNP/FSW/family class applications from 2014 and before that.

 

[Scottygirl]

"spouses; partners and children;"

what does partners mean?

People who are common-law but not married

 

[andy108]

I think overall fo economic emigrants this is negative.

Only family and refugees are winning from this.