Ottawa adds 200,000 spots for temporary residents to become permanent
The one-time measure could push total permanent resident admissions in 2027 to more than 650,000 people.
OTTAWA · The federal budget last week included a one-time measure to grant permanent residency to 200,000 temporary residents already in Canada. This adds to the existing target of 380,000 permanent residents for 2026. Combined with 82,000 spots left over from a similar 2025 program, total permanent resident admissions in 2027 could exceed 650,000 people. The move surprised policy watchers as it follows recent government efforts to clamp down on immigration.
Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the policy at a press conference last Friday. "Those who will be granted permanent residency were previously 'not permanent in terms of classification, but are effectively permanent residents, and we're recognizing that,'" Carney said. He argued the decision was "the right thing to do" and fit within "a sustainable immigration system." The government had previously announced a plan in 2025 to grant permanent status to 148,000 temporary residents, with 66,000 processed so far.
Conservative Party immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner accused the Liberals of a "hidden mass immigration agenda" in a press release the day after the budget. She said the move was designed to enrich their "wealthy corporate friends." Economist Parisa Mahboubi of the C.D. Howe Institute said adding the 200,000 spots outside the official target masks the true number of people Canada will admit. "Repeating one-time initiatives such as that also signals that temporary residents who arrive and stay will eventually receive permanent status, which undermines efforts to reduce the number of non-permanent residents," she wrote in an email.
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The new measure prioritizes two groups of 100,000 people each. One cohort is for workers who applied through programs like the Start-up Visa, Home Care Worker pilots, Atlantic Immigration program and the Agri-Food Pilot. The other is a humanitarian cohort for applications in the Ukraine family-reunification and Hong Kong permanent-residents pathways, plus spouses and children already in Canada. The announcement follows a period of stricter rules, including a reduction of the permanent-residency target from 500,000 in 2025 to 380,000.
Ottawa remains committed to reducing the temporary-resident population to 5 percent of the total population by the end of 2027, down from the current 6.7 percent. The government's annual temporary-resident target for the next three years is 370,000 admissions, far below the 971,000 admitted at the peak in 2023. Government data shows only 195,000 people had arrived by the end of August against the 2026 target of 370,000. "What's missing from the headlines is that less people are arriving in Canada. Far less than our immigration targets. And that is impacting population growth and economic growth," said Syed Hussan of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
Adam Hajji of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's Immigration Council said there is a misconception that the measure increases the immigrant count. "It does not. These are people who have lived here for years and made Canada their home," he said. The chamber had lobbied for the change, citing calls from businesses losing workers due to the immigration crackdown. Hussan noted that shrinking the permanent resident target had left many temporary residents in limbo. "Last Thursday's announcement changed this situation for some people," he said.
With files from The Globe and Mail