Permanent residence permit holders can usually apply for citizenship after five years.
Ottawa:
Canada set an immigration record last year by granting more than 437,000 foreigners permanent residency, the government said on Tuesday, as it ramped up immigration to combat a tightening labor market.
The government has set a target of welcoming 431,645 new permanent residents by 2022, and the immigration department says Canada has achieved that goal to become the largest annual recipient country in Canadian history.
The tally for last year is about 9% higher than in 2021, when Canada beats the previous record set in 1913 and comes as Canada looks to attract 1.45 million new permanent residents by the end of the year. year 2025.
The ministry said immigration is an important part of the solution as Canada focuses on addressing a severe shortage in the labor market. Permanent residence permit holders can usually apply for citizenship after five years.
Immigration makes up nearly 100 percent of Canada’s workforce growth and that by 2036, immigrants will make up 30 percent of Canada’s population, up from 20.7 percent in 2011, the statement said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has relied on immigration to boost Canada’s economy and support its aging population since coming to power in 2015.
Skilled labor shortages in industries such as healthcare are acute, and the most recent official data showed 871,300 vacancies were filled in October, down from a record high over a million positions were open in Canada in May.
To address that, Ottawa is planning to attract skilled immigrants for the first time by 2023, allowing them to select the candidates with the most needed skills for the regions that need them most. of the country.
But many immigrants still struggle to find work in their chosen fields, and some advocates say support is not growing to keep up with the number of new permanent residents.
The department said Canada has also struggled to keep up with the surge in applications after COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions were eased as the number of applications processed doubled to approximately 5.2 million in 2022 compared to the previous year.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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