The Canadian government is planning to welcome 1.45 million permanent residents between 2023 and 2025, its Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Tuesday.
The plan will help to alleviate the country’s labour shortage and reduce uncertainty in Canadian business.
This would come as a surprise to many Nigerians, as Canada is a popular destination for Nigerians looking to study or work. Nigeria has been gripped by a wave of migration as thousands of people flee to Canada, the United States, and Europe to escape the country’s economic crisis and insecurity.
According to Mr. Fraser, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government plans to welcome 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025.
The Canadian 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan embraces immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers and to attract the skills required in key sectors and different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities to manage the social and economic challenges Canada will face in the decades ahead.
The plan will place a long-term focus on economic growth, with just over 60 percent of admissions in the economic class by 2025
The plan will also use new features in the Express Entry system to welcome newcomers with the required skills and qualifications in sectors facing acute labour shortages such as, health care, manufacturing, building trades and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
“Increases regional programs to address targeted local labour market needs, through the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot,” he said.
“Reuniting more families faster; ensuring that at least 4.4 percent of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone and support for global crises by providing a safe haven to those facing persecution, including by expanding the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot.”
