Until August 22, there were around 300,000 new permanent residents in Canada. Sean Fraser, Canada's minister of immigration, announced this week that the country had reached the 300,000 level earlier than in any previous year. Only six times since Confederation in 1867 has Canada accepted more than 300,000 immigrants in a calendar year: in the years 1911 to 1913, followed by 2018 through 2021.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) increased immigration in 2021 after travel restrictions connected to the pandemic caused a decline in new arrivals in 2020. The year ended with a record-breaking 405,330 new arrivals. However, it took until the fourth quarter of that year for IRCC to cross the 300,000 threshold.

The number of new immigrants rising through June 2022 has so far been provided in publicly available statistics on the IRCC’s open data portal. In the future months, the results for July and August will be made public.

About 231,620 newcomers had entered Canada as of the end of June. The disparity between the data from the end of June and the beginning of August implies that over the course of two months, Canada welcomed about 68,000 permanent residents.

If this rate continues during the last four months of the year, Canada may reach or perhaps surpass its goal of 431,000 new immigrants by the year 2022. If the immigration service succeeds in meeting this goal, it will surpass the previous mark established in 2021.

In an effort to safeguard individual privacy and avoid identifying specific people, IRCC rounds data to the closest five. The data may not always add up to the total as a result.

Here are some important details about immigration to Canada in the first half of 2022.

Top 10 countries for sources

India continues to be by far the largest source of new immigrants. 68,280 Indians have been granted permanent residency in Canada so far this year, making up 29% of all immigrants. Since 2017, immigrants from India have regularly made up the majority of new arrivals to Canada.

Following the Taliban takeover, there was a notable rise in the number of permanent Afghan residents. Afghanistan was the ninth most common place of origin for new immigrants in 2021 after a spike in Afghan immigration to Canada in the second half of the year as a result of the federal government’s pledge to resettle 40,000 refugees leaving the country. Afghanistan is currently in fourth place for the year thus far. In accordance with new permanent residency policies for Afghans, as of August 31, 2022, 18,075 refugees had entered Canada.

Provincial immigration

By far, Ontario has been the most frequently chosen province for immigrant arrivals. In the first half of the year, Ontario welcomed 101,155 newcomers, about three times as many as British Columbia, which came in second. As of the end of June, there were 36,700 more permanent inhabitants living in the province of BC.

In terms of total immigration, Quebec welcomed the third-highest number of individuals, beginning the year with 31,880. Alberta had 26,920 immigrants, which placed fourth.

In addition, Ontario received the most immigrants from all categories of immigration to Canada—economic, family, refugee, and other. BC accepted the second-highest number of immigrants from the economic and family classes, while it ranked third in the other category. Alberta welcomed the second-highest number of refugees and the third-highest number of immigrants from the family class. Quebec accepted the second-most immigrants overall and the
third-most immigrants from the economic and refugee classes.

This year, there were a few more PNP immigrants admitted

According to the 2022–2024 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada anticipates that its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will admit more immigrants this year and next year than its Express Entry–managed programs. Since Canada’s implementation of the Express Entry system in 2015, this has not occurred.

Through Express Entry and the PNP, Canada has accepted 40,785 and 40,835 immigrants thus far. The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) has admitted the vast majority of Express Entry immigrants. This year, immigrants who entered the country through Express Entry under the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) have the smallest share of immigrants. While the number of immigrants admitted through Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) ranges
between CEC and FSTP.

Canada is still pushing for increased immigration

In order to address the labor shortfall, Canada may anticipate an annual increase in immigration that will set new records. For instance, as part of the Immigration Levels Plan, Canada aims to welcome more than 450,000 new immigrants in 2024. In addition to pushing for more control over immigration, several provincial governments are urging Canada to do more to entice immigrants with in-demand skills.

Canada is also redoubling its efforts to simplify and streamline the application process for applicants. Recently, IRCC announced a number of initiatives to reduce the backlog of applications and enhance the customer experience. Beginning September 23, all immigration applications will be submitted electronically, and by the spring of 2023, the IRCC will roll out application status trackers for seven more programs for permanent and temporary residency.