Dec 14 – Canada is planning a “broad and comprehensive programme” that would allow many undocumented people to apply for permanent residency, the country’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, told The Global and Mail.
The announcement adds to Canada’s ambitious immigration targets, which already aim to bring in 500,000 immigrants a year by 2025. The country’s population has grown largely through immigration, which has helped fuel economic growth in recent years.
An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people are living in the country without valid documentation, many of whom are at risk of deportation because they lack formal status, The Global and Mail quoted Miller as saying.
The new programme would also include people who entered the country legally as temporary workers or international students and then stayed on after their visas expired, the report said.
Miller added that not all those without valid documents would be allowed to apply for permanent residency, including those who have recently arrived in the country.
He plans to present a proposal to the cabinet in the spring to allow undocumented immigrants to “regularise their status”, the report added.
Amid a housing crisis and high inflation, the government last month kept immigration targets unchanged for the next two years and said it would stop increasing immigration after 2026.
Canada is targeting 465,000 new residents this year, 485,000 in 2024, before reaching 500,000 in 2025 – a level it plans to maintain in 2026.
