Canada Opens Up To 200,000 Permanent Residency Spots For 2 Categories Of People, Details Emerge
- Canada's Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada announced a time-limited measure offering up to 200,000 permanent residency spots to people already living in Canada
- The measure is split into two cohorts, a workers cohort and a humanitarian cohort, each offering up to 100,000 permanent residency spots
- Applications under the time-limited measure will be processed in 2027 through select pathways as part of Canada's 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan
PAY ATTENTION: Mark Legit.ng as a preferred source, and our content will appear higher in your Google feed!
Canada's Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced a time-limited measure that could allow up to 200,000 people already living in Canada to transition to permanent residence, with two distinct categories determining who qualifies.
The measure, published on November 5, 2026 as part of the government's 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan, creates a workers cohort and a humanitarian cohort, each with space for up to 100,000 people. Applications will be processed in 2027 through select pathways.
Source: UGC
Canada: The Workers Cohort
The workers cohort targets people already contributing to Canada's economy. Under this cohort, the federal government will work with provinces and territories to transition up to 100,000 workers, together with their families, to permanent residence.
Provinces and territories will receive additional allocations through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which they can use to nominate workers who meet their regional labour market needs.
They will also be able to identify workers who have already submitted applications under select federal immigration programmes, including the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Start-up Visa Program, the Self-Employed Persons Program, the Agri-Food Pilot and home care worker programmes.
Canada: The Humanitarian Cohort
The humanitarian cohort focuses on people who have been waiting for a permanent residence decision for many years.
Up to 100,000 people in this group will be granted permanent residence as part of Canada's effort to fulfil existing humanitarian commitments and keep families together.
This cohort will cover all remaining applications under the Hong Kong permanent residence pathways and the Ukraine Family Reunification Pathway, as well as applications from people already found eligible for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
It will also include permanent residence applications from spouses, common-law partners and dependent children of Canadians and permanent residents already living in Canada.
The government noted this will help bring processing wait times closer to 12 months for the spouse or common-law partner class, specifically for those destined for provinces and territories outside Quebec.
The IRCC described the measure as a way to provide fairness for people who have already established themselves in communities across Canada, while also reducing existing application inventories and resetting the broader immigration system.
Canada lists offence that may get foreign spouses deported
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Canada's Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada flagged marriage fraud as the key risk that could cost a foreign spouse their permanent resident status.
Sponsored spouses found to have entered non-genuine relationships face misrepresentation charges and possible removal from Canada.
Source: Legit.ng
