Canada sets 2027-2029 immigration targets with new pathway for temporary residents

Canada’s government announced that, starting in 2027, it will admit 370,000 new temporary residents each year and maintain a ceiling of 380,000 permanent residents annually through 2029, according to the 2026 federal budget released on Nov. 5, 2026. The plan also creates a pathway for up to 200,000 temporary residents already in the country to obtain permanent residency by the end of 2027.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration said the measures are designed to match labour market needs while keeping immigration levels compatible with housing affordability, health-care capacity and other public services. The temporary resident quota for 2027 will be split between 150,000 international students and 220,000 workers, with the worker component comprising 170,000 arrivals under the International Mobility Program and 50,000 through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The budget notes that recent declines in new international student arrivals (71 % lower than the same period in 2024), worker arrivals (down 57 %) and asylum claims (down 68 %) support a reduced immigration pace compared with the higher levels recorded earlier in the decade. Economic immigration is expected to account for about 64 % of permanent-resident admissions, with family immigration and refugee categories filling the remainder.

A separate initiative will transition 100,000 workers eligible for Express Entry or the Provincial Nominee Program to permanent status by the end of 2027, alongside processing space for workers and their families already in Canada and for long-standing humanitarian cases. The budget also extends the foreign-buyer ban on existing homes to Jan. 1, 2029, while exempting new residential properties to stimulate new housing construction.