🇨🇦 Key Policy Shifts & Updates

1. Lower Overall Immigration Targets

• The new 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan has scaled back permanent resident admissions from ~500,000 to 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026, and 365,000 in 2027.

• Temporary migration—including international students and temporary foreign workers—will also be reduced by nearly one-third.

2. New “Strong Borders Act” (Bill C‑2) Introduced

• Gives enhanced powers to cancel or suspend visas/eTAs, inspect mail, limit asylum access (e.g., bar claims from those in Canada over 1 year & require official entry point applications within 14 days), and ramp up sharing intelligence with the U.S.

• The bill has raised civil liberties concerns, with groups like Amnesty International and the Migrant Rights Network warning it could undermine refugee protections.

3. Parents & Grandparents Program

• Invitations under the PGP will resume July 28, 2025, allowing citizens and PRs to sponsor older family members.

4. Tightened International Student Requirements

• Starting September 1, 2025, applicants must show greater financial resources (higher cost-of-living proof, updated thresholds, extra documentation) .

• Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) field-of-study requirements are under review, continuing the move to link study to labor-market needs .

5. Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) Adjusted

• Federal cuts reduced PNP spots by ~50% in 2025. Many provinces responded with new Expression of Interest systems, narrower eligible occupations, or paused specific streams .

6. New PR Pathways & Work Permit Streams

• IRCC’s 2025–26 roadmap includes:
  • Making the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMP) permanent by end of 2025
  • New work permits tailored for agriculture & fish-processing sectors
  • Formalizing PGWP field-of-study updates.

7. Citizenship by Descent Expansion

• A new bill (C‑3) aims to extend citizenship by descent beyond the first generation born abroad by proving a parent’s 3‑year residency in Canada (Immigration Advice Service).

🧭 What It Means

• Tightened immigration flow: both permanent and temporary entries are being scaled back.

• Stronger border enforcement: more authority for visa review, asylum restrictions & intelligence-sharing.

• Family reunification resumed, while student and provincial pathways face new financial, eligibility, and administrative hurdles.

• New supportive pathways: EMP becomes permanent, and sector-specific work permits are in development.

Overall, while immigration levels are being reduced, the government is simultaneously investing in controlled, strategic streams and keeping reunification open, balanced by stricter enforcement.