Over the first half of the year, Canada\u2019s permanent resident admissions amounted to only 41% of the federal government\u2019s annual target.<\/p>\n
On August 18, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) released new data showing that from January 1 through June 30, 2026, it had admitted 155,800 new permanent residents.<\/p>\n
Assess your eligibility for Canadian permanent residence January\u2013June admissions amount to 34,200 fewer than the 190,000 that would be expected to pace toward the annual top-line target of 380,000, established in the federal government\u2019s immigration levels plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n To reach the midpoint of its annual top-line permanent residence<\/a> admissions, Canada would need to admit a total of 224,200 permanent residents over the July\u2013December period of 2026.<\/p>\n Economic<\/p>\n IRCC reports<\/a> having admitted 89,200 new permanent residents under its economic category by June 30, against its 2026 target of 239,800.<\/p>\n IRCC<\/a> was behind its economic target by 30,700 permanent residence admissions by mid-year.<\/p>\n This category consists of programs such as Express Entry<\/a>, federal business programs like the start-up visa program, the Provincial Nominee Program<\/a> (PNP), the Atlantic Immigration Program<\/a> (AIP), and federal economic pilots.<\/p>\n Family<\/p>\n IRCC has set a target of 84,000 permanent residence admissions under the family class for 2026.<\/p>\n As of mid-year, the department reports that 45,100 new permanent residents had been welcomed through this category.<\/p>\n For this category, landings exceeded the pace needed to hit the annual target by 3,100 permanent residents.<\/p>\n Those who land under the family class<\/a> include spouses, partners, and dependents who have been sponsored by permanent residents or Canadian citizens<\/a>, and those sponsored under the Parents and Grandparents Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Refugees and protected persons<\/p>\n There were 17,900 landings reported by the federal government under the refugees and protected persons category as of June 30.<\/p>\n The permanent residence admissions target for this category sits at 49,300 for 2026.<\/p>\n For this category, IRCC admitted 6,750 fewer landings than needed to stay on pace with its target.<\/p>\n This category consists of resettled refugees (government-assisted, privately sponsored, and visa-office referred), as well as individuals in Canada granted protection by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada or through IRCC\u2019s pre-removal risk assessment<\/a> process.<\/p>\n Humanitarian & Compassionate and Other<\/p>\n The 2026 admissions target for this category is the lowest of all, at 6,900.<\/p>\n By mid-year, the government had admitted 3,600 new permanent residents under this category from January to June.<\/p>\n IRCC was 150 admissions ahead of its target for this category by mid-year.<\/p>\n Eligibility under this category extends to humanitarian and compassionate cases, individuals displaced by international conflict, crisis, or natural disaster, and those who fall outside the scope of other immigration programs.<\/p>\n IRCC\u2019s one-time initiatives<\/p>\n Between 2026 and 2027, Canada intends to admit 115,000 protected persons and 33,000 in-Canada workers<\/a> as permanent residents through two \u201cone-time initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n Admissions are split across the two years, with 2026 targets set at 46,000 for protected persons and 20,000 for in-Canada workers (*\u201cIn-Canada Workers Initiative<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n These admissions are on top of the \u201coverall\u201d 380,000 permanent residence admissions target set by the federal government for the year.<\/p>\n When these initiatives are accounted for, Canada’s true admissions target for 2026 is 446,000.<\/p>\n As of June 30, IRCC had admitted 11,300 in-Canada workers and 15,000 protected persons under its one-time initiatives\u2014putting the department 57% of the way to its 2026 target for in-Canada workers, and 33% of the way to its target for protected persons.<\/p>\n In total, therefore, Canada had already admitted 182,100 new permanent residents to Canada by mid-year.<\/p>\n At 182,100 admissions by the end of June\u2014against a true target of 446,000\u2014the government still remains behind pace, having reached 40.8% of that total by mid-year.<\/p>\n *The In-Canada Workers Initiative is for skilled workers who have been living in Canada in a rural community for at least two years and have submitted an application for permanent residence through a qualifying program, such as the PNP, AIP, or Agri-Food Pilot<\/a>.<\/p>\n French-speaking permanent residence admissions<\/p>\n According to the latest data published by IRCC, 12,400 of the permanent residents admitted to Canada outside Quebec in the first six months of 2026 were French-speaking or bilingual.<\/p>\n Canada is aiming for 9% of all permanent residence admissions outside Quebec to fall into this category in 2026, as part of its broader effort to increase francophone immigration outside the province.<\/p>\n IRCC has supported this goal by prioritizing French-language proficiency through Express Entry’s category-based selection<\/a>\u2014of the 114,865 invitations to apply<\/a> issued through the system in 2026, 39.6% have gone to French-speaking candidates.<\/p>\n
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