Canada budget allocates permanent residency to 200,000 temporary residents
The 2026 federal budget introduces a one-time pathway for 200,000 temporary residents in Canada to obtain permanent status, while keeping annual immigration targets unchanged.
Ottawa announced a one-time measure in the 2026 budget that will grant permanent residency to 200,000 temporary residents already in Canada. The program splits the beneficiaries into two equal cohorts of 100,000 each. One cohort will prioritize workers who entered Canada through specialised streams such as the Start-up Visa, Home Care Worker pilot, Atlantic Immigration Program and the Agri-Food Pilot. The second cohort will focus on humanitarian cases, including remaining applications under the Ukraine family reunification and Hong Kong pathways, as well as spouses and children already residing in the country.
The allocation adds to the existing target of 380,000 new permanent residents per year for 2027-2029, and the government will keep the annual intake of temporary residents at 370,000 for the same period. The budget also earmarks $152 million for reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program, $98 million to clear the asylum backlog, and $82 million for non-profit groups that assist migrant workers.
Statistics Canada data show that temporary residents made up 6.7 percent of the population as of July 1, down from a peak of 7.2 percent in October 2024. The government aims to reduce that share to 5 percent by the end of 2027, partly by converting temporary permits to permanent status.
Industry groups such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have long urged the government to relax caps on the proportion of temporary foreign workers that businesses may employ. The budget’s language emphasizes aligning the TFW program with regional labour market needs, improving processing times and strengthening employer compliance.