How to View Canada's Announcement of 1.23 Million Immigrants Over the Next Three Years? Overall, this is positive news for Canada's immigration policy, but positive news does not mean that immigration has become easier; on the contrary, immigrating to Canada will become increasingly difficult. A detailed analysis is provided below.
1. It is a positive development for Canadian immigration policy
Affected by the pandemic, Canada continues to prioritize the vigorous development of its immigration policy. Canada is a vast country with a sparse population and faces a serious aging population problem. Canada urgently needs to supplement its labor force through immigration to offset the effects of an aging population and to develop its economy. Canada's announcement of 1.23 million immigrants over the next three years demonstrates the importance the country places on attracting immigrants. Due to the pandemic, the projected immigration targets for 2020 were not met, and the Canadian economy was significantly impacted; therefore, the original budget, coupled with economic setbacks, requires additional foreign immigration to drive economic recovery. For those who wish to immigrate to Canada, this is a major positive.
2. Canadian immigration policy has become more difficult with higher requirements
With the increase in the number of immigrants to Canada, does this mean that immigrating to Canada has become easier? The reality is that it has become increasingly difficult. The adjustments to Canada's immigration policy in recent years have all been centered on enhancing Canada's labor force. Whether it is investment immigration, entrepreneur immigration, or skilled worker immigration, there is an emphasis on language proficiency, age, and Canadian work and life experience.
3. Canadian immigration policy is favorable for economic-class immigrants
In this 1.2 million immigration plan, the government is prioritizing economic-class immigrants (including investment and skilled worker immigrants). This category has seen the largest change in numbers, with many more spots added! The original 170,000 will increase to nearly 250,000 over three years. This is undoubtedly a major positive for economic-class immigrants. These figures represent an annual increase of approximately 50,000, with the primary goal of compensating for the immigration shortfall caused by the pandemic this year, a shortfall that accounts for about 1% of Canada's population. Practical issues such as the pandemic and labor shortages urgently require immigration.
4. Canadian immigration policy is highly competitive
Canada has always made attracting global talent to immigrate to Canada a national policy, and precisely because of this, global talent is actively seeking to immigrate to Canada. In reality, those who want to immigrate to Canada face global competition for talent, so the competition to immigrate to Canada is extremely fierce. This can be seen simply by looking at the scoring situation for Canada's Express Entry (EE) program in recent years; the EE score was around 440 in 2018, and it rose to 470 by the end of 2019. The above situation clearly shows that the score threshold is gradually rising, which also indicates that Canada is raising the bar for immigration, and it will become increasingly difficult to process Canadian immigration in the future.
