Canada has lofty plans to welcome a record 465,000 new immigrants in 2023 as it seeks to use immigrants to address a rising labour shortage. It intends to break those records once more in each of the following three years after breaking them in 2021 and 2022. This implies that there has never been a better moment to think about beginning the immigration process to Canada.
A complete list of options to immigrate to Canada in 2023 is provided below.
- Express entry: In 2023, Express Entry will still be the predominant method of immigration to Canada. Applications for the three main federal programs—Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class, and Federal Skilled Trades—are managed through the flagship selection system. According to the most recent Immigration Levels Plan, Canada intends to accept almost 83,000 Federal High Skilled immigrants in 2023, with numbers increasing to 109,000 in 2024 and 114,000 in 2025. There are several new professions that are now eligible for Canada’s mass entry immigration stream, from truck drivers to nurses, teaching assistants, and payroll administrators.
2. Program for Provincial Nominees.
Express Entry will be outperformed in 2023 only by the aggregate economic impact of Canada’s Provincial Nominee Programs. More than 105,000 immigrants are expected to enter Canada through the nine provincial (and two territorial) immigration schemes.
There are thousands of openings for immigration to Canada in 2023, from British Columbia in the west through the prairie regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to Ontario and the Atlantic Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.
3. Quebec
Quebec is unique in that it has complete control over the flow of economic immigrants. The powerful Quebec provincial government’s efforts to ensure that all immigrants welcomed to the province be francophone have received considerable attention.
Francois Legault, the head of the Coalition Avenir Quebec, is committed to keeping the number of immigrants to Quebec at 50,000 or less, with 33,000 of them coming through economic programmes. He feels that maintaining the French language is essential to maintaining Quebec’s culture. Candidates who already have a well-qualified job offer receive less importance from the requirement to be fluent in French.
4. Pilot Projects Driven by the Employer
Canada also runs a variety of employer-driven pilot projects that concentrate on regions or industries with persistent labour shortages. The Atlantic Immigration Program, which began as an experimental programme but was later made permanent, is at the vanguard of them.
In 2023, the AIP, which covers the four Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, will have 8,500 spots available for skilled workers and foreign graduates. Through three additional streams—the Agri-Food Pilot, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, and the Economic Mobility Pathways Project—an additional 8,500 newcomers will be admitted.
5. A Startup Visa
Start-Ups in Canada For those with a business mindset, obtaining a visa has become a crucial step in the immigration process to Canada. Candidates must have a qualified business or business idea, the backing of a designated angel investor group, venture capital fund, or business incubator, as well as the necessary settlement cash and language skills, in order to be considered.
Before meeting the requirements for permanent residence, candidates may immigrate to Canada on a work permit while they start their businesses. Applicants must be actively involved in the management of the business in Canada in order to be eligible.
In 2023, Canada aims to accept 3,500 new immigrants through business programmes, and that number will rise to 6,000 by 2025. These will mostly be obtained through the Start-Up Visa.
6. Local Business Initiatives
Numerous provinces in Canada run their own entrepreneur programmes as part of their corresponding Provincial Nominee Programs. Regarding the province or region they serve, each of these programmes has unique requirements.
7. Programs for Self-Employed
Quebec and the federal government both provide self-employed programmes.
Candidates for the federal Self-Employed Class should have relevant self-employment experience in addition to the desire and capacity to establish their own job and significantly enhance Canada’s cultural, artistic, or athletic life.
In Quebec, the main distinction between self-employed candidates and skilled workers is that the former create their own jobs by engaging in a profession or commercial activity.
8. Contract Employees
Numerous routes exist for temporary workers to enter Canada, including the International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, depending on whether they need a Labour Market Impact Assessment or not.
A successful LMIA verifies that a foreign worker is required to complete the task at hand and that no Canadian workers are available to carry it out.
Employers in Canada are now able to hire foreign workers without the need for an LMIA thanks to the IMP. Intra-company transfers, people who enter Canada via trade agreements like the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) or the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), and people who are eligible for an open work visa are all included.
The TFWP consists of four streams: live-in carers, seasonal agricultural workers, high-skilled employees, and low-skilled workers.
12. Purchase a company and relocate to Canada
Candidates who want to buy a business and immigrate to Canada still have options, such as the Ontario Entrepreneur Success Initiative and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
A recent modification to the TFWP’s owner-operator regulations removed the exemption for LMIA advertising obligations. For the proper applicant, the path still remains.
The OINP Entrepreneur Success Initiative is a two-year pilot programme with the goal of attracting $20 million in investment and welcome 100 migrants from outside the Toronto area.
