MENA Newswire, OTTAWA: Canada granted permanent resident status to about 393,500 people in 2025, according to federal immigration data, bringing admissions close to the government’s planned level for the year. The total covers people approved across Canada’s main permanent immigration streams, including economic programs, family reunification, refugees and other humanitarian pathways. The 2025 result followed a year in which Canada admitted a higher number of permanent residents and amid a broader policy focus on managing both permanent and temporary inflows.
Canada sets annual permanent resident targets through multi year immigration levels plans published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The plan for 2025 set a target of 395,000 new permanent residents and outlined category ranges for economic immigration, family class, refugees and protected persons, and humanitarian and other admissions. Those targets are distinct from temporary resident volumes, such as international students and temporary foreign workers, which are measured separately from permanent admissions.
Federal reporting in the previous admissions year showed most permanent resident admissions coming through the economic class, followed by family class and then refugee and humanitarian admissions. Economic programs include federal skilled streams, provincial nominee selections and other pathways used by employers and provinces to recruit workers, while family sponsorships focus on spouses, partners, children, parents and grandparents. Refugee and protected person admissions include resettled refugees and people granted protection in Canada, alongside other humanitarian categories.
First year under the 2025 to 2027 levels plan
Canada’s 2025 admission total marked a decrease from 2024, when the federal government reported 483,640 new permanent residents admitted within the planned range for that year. The 2024 results report also described the approximate share of admissions by class, with economic immigration forming the majority, family reunification accounting for a little over one fifth, and the balance made up of refugee and humanitarian admissions. While annual totals can shift due to processing volumes and category distribution, the government publishes targets and ranges to guide intake and program operations.
The 2025 to 2027 levels plan, released in October 2024, set lower permanent resident targets than earlier projections that had anticipated admissions closer to 500,000 a year. The plan described the permanent resident target for 2025 at 395,000, with notional commitments of 380,000 for 2026 and 365,000 for 2027. It also introduced, for the first time in this planning format, targets for temporary residents, presenting permanent and temporary flows together as part of a single planning framework.
In addition to the 2025 to 2027 plan, the federal government later published an Immigration Levels Plan for 2026 to 2028 that maintained permanent resident admissions targets at 380,000 annually while setting lower targets for new temporary residents. Federal immigration materials describing that plan emphasized stabilizing permanent resident admissions while reducing new arrival targets for temporary residents. The government has also published monthly and quarterly updates on permanent resident admissions through federal open data releases, providing periodic snapshots of progress toward annual targets.
How the permanent resident figure is tracked
The reported 2025 total refers to people who were granted permanent resident status, not the number of applications submitted, approvals issued, or temporary permits granted. Permanent resident admissions are recorded when individuals complete the process and obtain status, which can occur through a range of programs and can be influenced by application inventories, processing times and the timing of final approvals. In official reporting, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada distinguishes permanent admissions from the stock and flow of temporary residents, and it updates figures through departmental publications and open data series used by researchers and policymakers.