On 24 October, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan. For the first time, the strategy outlines controlled targets of temporary residents, particularly affecting international students and foreign workers.
Adjusted targets
The 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan is set to reduce Canada’s permanent residency by 21% in 2025. This further supports the country’s existing efforts to reduce temporary resident volumes to 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2026.
Compared to last year’s plan, this year’s approach includes significant changes, including:
- reducing from 500,000 permanent residents to 395,000 in 2025
- reducing from 500,000 permanent residents to 380,000 in 2026
- setting a target of 365,000 permanent residents in 2027.
This is expected to result in a marginal population decline of 0.2% in both 2025 and 2026, before returning to a 0.8% growth in 2027:
- decline of 445,901 in 2025
- decline of 445,662 in 2026
- increase of 17,439 in 2027.
These reductions will be a result of policy changes announced over the past year. such as the cap on international students and tightened eligibility requirements for temporary foreign workers. Canada’s temporary population is forecasted to decrease over the next few years as more temporary residents transition into permanent residency or leave the country.
Impact on international students
Canada’s efforts to curb its population numbers have largely affected international students. The additional stipulations with the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan will hit students who don’t fit into an Express Entry category (STEM, healthcare, agriculture, trades, transport and French) the hardest.
Prime Minister Trudeau previously commented on the effect of the international student population in communities. He particularly mentioned how some colleges and universities bring in more foreigners than localities can accommodate, deeming this economically anchored practice “unacceptable.” Miller also pointed to the 43% reduction in study permits in Canada, which he places as evidence of the effectiveness of the international student cap.
Other measures
The 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan also highlights other measures:
Transitioning more existing temporary residents to permanent residents
The plan aims to transition more temporary student workers who are already in Canada into permanent residents. Representing over 40% of overall permanent resident admissions in 2025, these individuals are skilled, educated and integrated into Canadian society. Their presence shall support the workforce and economy without placing additional stress on social services.
Focusing on long-term economic growth and key labour market sectors
Permanent resident applicants in the economic class will represent just over 60% of total admissions by 2027.
Strengthening French-speaking communities
Of the overall permanent resident admission targets, Francophone immigration will represent 8.5% in 2025, 9.5% in 2026 and 10% in 2027.
Response from the sector
According to the announcement, the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan is meant to “pause population growth in the short term to achieve well-managed, sustainable growth for the long term.” Its implementation aims to alleviate pressures on Canada’s housing, infrastructure and social services, and is designed with the country’s long-term economic goals in mind.
Through it, the Canadian government hopes to ensure that all its citizens and newcomers have access to the well-paying jobs, affordable housing and social services they need to thrive in the country.
That said, international education stakeholders have voiced concerns about the recent policy changes. The sector fears “over-correction” and warns about the risk that these moves could pose in Canada’s ability to recruit and retain high-quality global talent to address its labour market and demographic challenges.
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