Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at the official dinner held at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
OTTAWA: Canada is on track to exceed its immigration goal of granting permanent residency to more than 430,000 people by 2022, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday.
Fraser also announced plans to hire up to 1,250 workers to handle a record number of immigration applicants, telling reporters in Vancouver.
Relying on immigrants to drive its economy and support an aging population, Canada is adding more immigrants each year, with a goal of adding 451,000 permanent residents by 2024.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has relied on immigration to boost Canada’s economy since coming to power in 2015, setting an annual target of about 1% of the country’s population.
According to official data released earlier this year, Canada’s population will grow to 37 million in 2021, up 5.2% from 2016. This is mainly due to immigration.
By the end of July this year, Canada had added more than 275,000 permanent residents, Fraser said Wednesday.
“This puts us on track to exceed our goal of 431,000 permanent residents this year,” said Fraser.
With increased border controls due to the coronavirus pandemic last year, Canada focused on addressing temporary residents already in the country and meeting its goal of granting permanent residency to 401,000 foreigners.
Canada also processed about 3.73 million temporary residence applications through July, compared with 2.97 million in the same period last year.
“What we are seeing now is a record number of applications being recorded and productivity being recorded. Yet, for the foreseeable future, demand is exceeding our capacity,” said Fraser. says Mr.
About 54% of applications are considered a backlog, according to Fraser, and new hires can help process them and reduce wait times for new applicants.
