Canada Charts Course for 2025-2026 Immigration Policy: New PR Pathway Planned Amid Continued Tightening of Temporary Resident Rules
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has set the tone for the next two years of immigration policy with the release of its 2025-2026 Departmental Plan on June 20. The plan details a series of strategic initiatives aimed at reshaping Canada's immigration landscape, on one hand opening new pathways for skilled refugees and workers in specific sectors, and on the other, continuing to tighten overall limits and eligibility requirements for temporary residents.
New Opportunities: Planning for New Immigration and Work Pathways
According to the plan, IRCC intends to transform the existing Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP) into a permanent, official immigration program by the end of 2025. This means more eligible, skilled refugees will have the opportunity to apply directly for permanent residence in Canada through this pathway.
Furthermore, to address labour shortages in specific industries, IRCC is moving forward with creating a new foreign labour stream and a dedicated work permit for the agriculture and fish processing sectors. The department will also explore a new potential pathway to permanent residence for refugee students in Canada.
On the technology front, IRCC is collaborating with Stanford University to test a new algorithm called "GeoMatch," designed to help Express Entry candidates better choose their settlement locations and promote a more balanced distribution of new immigrants across the country. Service modernization is also a key focus, with IRCC planning to roll out a new, personalized online account system for all clients and expand online passport renewal services during the 2025-2026 period.
Policy Tightening: Strict Controls on Temporary Resident Levels
Running parallel to the creation of new pathways are adjustments and restrictions to existing policies. This continues the policy direction from 2024, aimed at addressing the significant pressure on Canada's infrastructure, particularly housing and public services.
The plan outlines several key restrictive measures:
- Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP): A framework will be established to update the field of study requirements for PGWP eligibility, which could affect the eligibility of graduates from certain programs in the future.
- Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP): Eligibility requirements for SOWPs issued to the spouses of foreign workers and international students will be changed.
- Temporary Resident Cap: The goal of reducing the total temporary resident population to 5% of Canada’s population is reaffirmed.
- Permanent Resident Cap: The policy of limiting annual permanent resident admissions to no more than 1% of Canada's population will be maintained.
- Study Permits: The intake cap on study permit applications will remain in place.
- Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA): The number of LMIA-based work permits issued will be significantly reduced. Under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the annual target is set at 80,000 – 84,000 permits, a sharp decrease from 184,000 in 2023.
Policy Continuity and Priorities
The plan also reaffirms several ongoing policy priorities:
- In-Canada Applicants Prioritized: IRCC will continue to prioritize temporary residents already in Canada for permanent residence, with a target of having at least 40% of PR admissions come from this cohort. Provinces are also mandated to allocate 75% of their Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) nominations to candidates already in Canada.
- Express Entry Category-Based Selection: Invitations will continue to prioritize workers in healthcare, skilled trades, and education, as well as French-speaking candidates. Data from the first half of 2025 supports this trend, with invitations for French-language proficiency (18,500) and the Canadian Experience Class (15,850) dominating the 23 draws held so far.
- Francophone Immigration: The target to increase the proportion of French-speaking new permanent residents settling outside Quebec to 8.5% is maintained.
- Family Reunification: Processing of family sponsorship applications for members outside Canada will be expedited.
- Newcomer Integration: Funding for settlement services will be increased to improve the economic and social integration of new permanent residents.
Targets and Challenges
IRCC has set ambitious service goals for itself, including processing at least 80% of all application types within its service standards and achieving a 90% client satisfaction rate.
However, the department faces challenges in securing public support. The plan sets a target that "at the end of each fiscal year, at least 65% of Canadians will support current immigration levels." For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, this support level was only 50%, down significantly from 67% in 2021-2022.
In terms of economic contribution, IRCC aims to ensure that visitors and international students contribute at least $36 billion to Canada's economy annually.
Overall, IRCC's 2025-2026 Departmental Plan paints a picture of a more targeted, goal-oriented immigration management framework. Canada is attempting to strike a more cautious balance between welcoming global talent and ensuring the sustainable development of its society. For future immigrants and international students, the new policies present both opportunities and challenges, with pathways becoming more specific and eligibility thresholds potentially rising.
Friendly reminder: There are many pathways to immigrate to Canada. We recommend first using UNA AI to generate an objective and neutral immigration plan, so you can gain an initial understanding of the possible immigration pathways and their requirements, and then choose to proceed with one-on-one consultations with a licensed Canadian immigration consultant partnered with UNA.
Newfoundland and Labrador Invites 186 Candidates in May 11 Draw, NLPNP Share Climbs Above 90%
On May 11, 2026, Newfoundland and Labrador held its fifth provincial immigration draw of the year — and its second draw in May — issuing 186 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) across two pathways: 168 (90.3%) through the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Nominee Program (NLPNP) and 18 through the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP). The round delivered the province's lowest single-draw volume of 2026 and continued a steady decline seen across each successive draw this year, yet the province has still issued 692 more invitations from January 1 through May 11 than it did during the same window in 2025 (when just two draws produced a combined 584 ITAs) — a shift that reflects a more frequent and predictable cadence under the federal government's 2026 Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) allocation of 91,500 nominations, up roughly 66% from the 55,000 cap imposed in 2025 but still about 17% below the 110,000 peak of 2024. Although the Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism (OIM) does not publish which NLPNP streams or sectors were targeted in this round, its published Expression of Interest (EOI) prioritization criteria continue to point to healthcare and health-related occupations, rural and regional jobs, candidates with strong long-term retention potential, and graduates of the province's post-secondary institutions as the primary selection focus.
05/16/2026
Canada Permanently Closes Four Falls Land Border Crossing in New Brunswick After Six-Year Suspension
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced on May 11, 2026, that the Four Falls land port of entry in northwestern New Brunswick will be permanently closed, formalizing a suspension that began as a temporary COVID-19 measure on May 17, 2020 and ending six full years of inactivity at the small seasonal crossing; CBSA cited four factors — seasonal-only operations, low traveller volumes, the density of alternative crossings nearby, and the absence of any corresponding U.S. port of entry on the opposite side of the border — and argued that the move aligns Canadian operations with what U.S. Customs and Border Protection already does on this stretch of the boundary, leaving travellers between northwestern New Brunswick and Maine to reroute through one of two alternative ports of entry within 15 km of Four Falls, the 24/7 Andover crossing and the Gillespie Portage crossing (open daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.), with CBSA reminding the public that all travellers must still report to a designated port of entry on arrival or risk fines, seizures, loss of trusted-traveller status, or prosecution under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or the Customs Act.
05/14/2026
IRCC May Processing-Time Update: Express Entry and PNP Wait Times Climb Again, While AIP and Citizenship Renunciation Ease
On May 12, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) released its updated official processing times for permanent residence and citizenship applications, revealing a split picture in which most economic and citizenship streams lengthened while several family sponsorship and Atlantic categories eased. Under Express Entry, the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) climbed from six to seven months and the base Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) stretched from 13 to 14 months, with the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) inventory rising by 6,300 in a single month and the base PNP backlog growing by 2,100 — a continuation of the trend that has added more than 20,000 cases to the CEC queue since February 2026. At the same time, the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) eased from 40 to 38 months, the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) shortened by one month for both inside-Quebec and outside-Quebec applicants, and citizenship renunciation dropped sharply by three months to seven; however, citizenship grants reversed several months of acceleration, climbing from 12 to 13 months as the inventory grew by 7,900 to 321,100 applications, while Quebec's Business Class, the Start-Up Visa and the federal Self-Employed Persons Program all remained stuck at "more than 10 years" or 78 months.
05/13/2026
Canada Issues 380 ITAs to Provincial Nominees in First Express Entry Draw of May, CRS Cut-Off Climbs to 798
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) held its 27th Express Entry draw of 2026 — and the first of May — on May 11, issuing 380 invitations to apply (ITAs) to Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates with a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score of 798, while requiring eligible profiles to have been created before 5:23 a.m. UTC on January 7, 2026. The round is the tenth PNP-specific draw of the year, and compared with the April 27 PNP draw of 473 ITAs at a 795 cut-off, this round saw the invitation pool shrink by roughly 20% and the score threshold rise for a second consecutive round. Against the broader backdrop of the Carney government's 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan — which raised the federal PNP allocation from 55,000 in 2025 to 91,500 in 2026, the largest single-year PNP increase in Canadian history — provincial nominee rounds have nevertheless retained a "high cut-off, small batch, steady cadence" profile. So far in 2026, IRCC has issued a total of 72,007 ITAs across all categories, with Canadian Experience Class (CEC) and French-language candidates continuing to dominate this year's invitations.
05/12/2026
BC PNP Holds First Draws Under "Look West" Overhaul: 341 Invitations Issued in Back-to-Back Rounds, Construction Trades Lead the Way
The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BCPNP) issued at least 341 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) across two back-to-back draws on May 5 and 6, 2026, covering both its Skills Immigration (SI) and Entrepreneur Immigration (EI) categories, with the vast majority going to SI candidates. These were the first official selections held since British Columbia unveiled its "Look West" strategy on April 23, restructuring the entire BC PNP around three pillars — Care, Build and Innovate — while permanently closing the Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (ELSS) stream, ending technology-specific draws, and scrapping a planned dedicated pathway for international graduates. ITAs in this round were concentrated in four target areas — health, education, veterinary care and construction trades — with construction trades accounting for 121 ITAs, or 36.3 per cent of the total, in what is widely seen as the first clear signal that British Columbia's new immigration direction has now moved from policy announcement to live implementation.
05/11/2026
Canada Sets July 15 Launch for Sweeping Overhaul of Immigration Consultant Regulation, with First-Ever Compensation Fund for Victims
Canada's federal government announced on May 6, 2026 that a sweeping overhaul of the regulatory framework governing the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) will come into force on July 15, 2026 — the most significant regulatory upgrade since the CICC succeeded the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) on November 23, 2021. The new rules give the College stronger disciplinary teeth, allow the federal government to step in and take over the College's board if it fails to protect the public, and establish, for the first time, a dedicated compensation fund to provide redress to clients who suffer financial losses because a CICC-licensed consultant engaged in theft, fraud, misappropriation of funds, misrepresentation, or refusal to cooperate with professional liability insurance; at the same time, the College's public register will be expanded with additional disclosures about each licensee, making it easier for the public to verify a consultant's licensing status, good standing, and disciplinary history — and squeezing the operating space of so-called "ghost consultants."
05/08/2026
New Brunswick Tightens NB Experience Pathway, Limits Invitations to Healthcare, Education, and Construction
Effective May 4, 2026, the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (NBPNP) is restricting invitations to apply (ITAs) under the NB Experience pathway of its Skilled Worker Stream to candidates working in just three sectors — healthcare, education, and construction trades — until further notice; the province has attributed the change to the limited nomination space remaining under the stream, with industry trackers estimating New Brunswick's total 2026 allocation at roughly 3,603, well short of the federal-level expansion that pushed the national PNP target to 91,500 spots for the year; this marks the second major sector-focused tightening within four months, following the February 3, 2026 overhaul that froze the accommodation and food services sector (NAICS 72) and several retail-oriented National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes, and candidates outside the targeted sectors are encouraged to either withdraw and resubmit their Expression of Interest (EOI) under another stream, or open a separate INB profile (using a different email address) to pursue another pathway or an Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) endorsement.
05/07/2026
Saskatchewan Opens Third 2026 Intake Window for Capped Sectors as Two Categories Hit Limits Within Hours
The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) opened its third 2026 application intake window for capped-sector employers on May 4, with both retail, trade, and other services and accommodation and food services hitting their limits the same day. Only the trucking sector remained open at the time of writing, with 28 positions still available. The third window again allocated a total of 400 positions across the three capped sectors—240 for accommodation and food services, 80 each for retail/trade and trucking—mirroring the distribution used in the second intake on March 2. Saskatchewan's overall 2026 allocation of 4,761 nominations matches the level it ended 2025 with, but remains well below the roughly 8,000 spots it received in 2024, reflecting the lasting impact of Ottawa's 50% cut to provincial nominee allocations introduced in 2025. As of the most recent quarterly update, SINP had issued 1,233 nominations, or roughly 26% of its 2026 cap. Three intake windows remain this year: July 6, September 7, and November 2.
05/06/2026
Canada Activates Fast-Track TR-to-PR Channel: 33,000 Rural Temporary Workers to Get Phased PR Approvals
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on May 4, 2026 released the long-awaited eligibility details for its In-Canada Workers Initiative — better known as the TR-to-PR pathway — confirming that the one-time program will fast-track permanent residence (PR) applications for up to 33,000 temporary workers already in Canada over 2026 and 2027, prioritizing those who have already filed PR applications under one of six streams (the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot, the Caregiver pilots, and the Agri-Food Pilot) and who have lived in a smaller community for at least two years; IRCC will identify eligible applicants directly from existing inventories without requiring any action from candidates, and as of the end of February 2026 it had already granted PR to 3,600 workers under the initiative — 18% of this year's at-least-20,000 target — with the remaining roughly 13,000 spots expected to be processed within 2026 and the balance pushed into 2027, in line with Ottawa's broader objective of cutting Canada's temporary resident population to under 5% of the national total by the end of 2027 and complementing the rural low-wage Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) flexibilities that took effect on April 1, 2026, together cementing a clear policy tilt toward rural communities and away from major urban centres.
05/05/2026
Newfoundland and Labrador Issues 190 Invitations in Fourth 2026 Provincial Draw, Year-to-Date Total Surpasses 1,000
Newfoundland and Labrador held its fourth provincial immigration selection round of 2026 on May 1, issuing a total of 190 invitations through the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Nominee Program (NLPNP) and the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) — with NLPNP candidates accounting for 82.6% (157 invitations) and AIP candidates receiving 33. While the round marks the smallest single draw in 2026 to date and continues a trend of progressively shrinking round sizes, the year-to-date numbers remain striking: across four draws, the province has now issued 1,090 invitations, far exceeding the 256 invitations sent during the same January-to-May window in 2025 — a 325.8% year-over-year increase. The acceleration plays out against a notable federal backdrop: Ottawa's national PNP target has climbed from 55,000 in 2025 to 91,500 in 2026, with Canada's four Atlantic provinces collectively receiving more than a 65% allocation boost. With neighbouring New Brunswick having paused new AIP employer designations as of February 3, 2026, Newfoundland and Labrador now stands out as the Atlantic region's most active and stable provincial draw venue this year.
05/04/2026
