Three trends have emerged in the direction of Canadian immigration under the first year of Lena Metlege Diab\u2019s tenure as immigration minister: a more targeted approach to permanent residence selection, a streamlining of temporary residence administration, and stricter measures for the asylum system.<\/p>\n
In this analysis piece, we’ll trace the through-line of recent policy under Diab as minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) since she took office on May 13, 2025.<\/p>\n
Assess your eligibility for Canadian permanent residence Targeting economic immigration by region<\/p>\n With Mark Carney as prime minister and Diab as head of the immigration department, economic immigration has become more regional\u2014a move away from the previously federally centralized approach seen under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller.<\/p>\n The first annual Immigration Levels Plan<\/a> under Diab boosted allocations to permanent residence<\/a> selection by the provinces by 66%<\/a>, to an annual admissions target of 91,500 for 2026, up from 55,000 in the previous year’s plan under Miller.<\/p>\n In an about-face from the earlier regime, the Plan under Diab and Carney cut back on the top-level federal allocation for the first time in years: dropping to to a target of 109,000 for annual permanent residence admissions for the year 2026, down from from 124,680 for the year 2025, with the top-line target target for economic admissions rising slightly (from 232,150 for 2025 to 239,800 for 2026).<\/p>\n Through the Provincial Nominee Program<\/a>, provinces have the ability to nominate foreign nationals to fill specific labour needs unique to their regional economies\u2014for example, by defining specific pathways based on occupations.<\/p>\n British Columbia, for instance, has allocated nearly its entire 2026 quota of nominations to healthcare workers, tradespeople, entrepreneurs, and high-economic impact candidates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rural immigration focus<\/p>\n Under Diab, IRCC<\/a> has focused heavily on using immigration to support labour market needs in Canada\u2019s rural communities\u2014a continuation of a policy that began under Miller, with the launch of the RCIP<\/a> and FCIP in January of 2025.<\/p>\n On the PR front, however, the sole development under Diab has been to accelerate PR applications from existing inventories of rural PR applicants<\/a>.<\/p>\n The \u201cIn-Canada Workers Initiative,\u201d a one-time initiative that aims to transition 33,000 in-Canada temporary workers (specifically those living in rural areas) to PR status in 2026 and 2027, was first announced in Budget 2025 last November, and confirmed in the Levels Plan.<\/p>\n After the publication of the Levels Plan, no further details were released, until in a March 2026 interview with the Toronto Star, Diab stated the initiative had already launched<\/a>, without saying which foreign nationals qualified or how they had come to be considered.<\/p>\n In a mid-April interview with “I\u2019m Canada,\u201d Diab stated that the initiative would exclude workers in Canada\u2019s urban areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first concrete details on the \u201cIn-Canada Workers Initiative\u201d were released on May 4, 2026<\/a>, stating that at least two years living in a smaller community were required to qualify and that \u201cpart of this initiative\u201d consists of \u201cinitially accelerating eligible applications from existing inventories of work permit<\/a> holders who have applied for permanent residence,\u201d through programs like the PNP and Atlantic Immigration Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n IRCC intends to transition 20,000 temporary workers<\/a> to PR status through this initiative over the course of 2026\u2014and has already hit 3,600 in January and February alone. The remaining 13,000 are to be transitioned in 2027.<\/p>\n Work permit access in rural areas: In an effort to address labour shortages in rural communities, the federal government recently introduced temporary measures<\/a> under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program<\/a> (TFWP).<\/p>\n Under the new measures, eligible employers can fill up to 15% of their workforce through the low-wage stream of the TFWP, increased from the standard 10% limit, and may also retain their current proportion of low-wage temporary foreign workers above the cap.<\/p>\n The temporary, provincial opt-in measures will run from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 and currently apply to rural employers in communities across British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec.<\/p>\n Assess your eligibility for Canadian permanent residence Targeting federal immigration by occupation<\/p>\n Five new Express Entry<\/a> categories have been introduced since Diab has taken office: each of them a niche category designed to fulfill a specific labour need.<\/p>\n Each of the new categories have four or fewer occupations, in stark contrast to previously established categories around Trades, STEM, and Healthcare and social services, which have 25, 11, and 37 categories respectively.<\/p>\n This surgical approach to Express Entry allows IRCC to better address particular gaps in the labour market through smaller draws for niche occupations. To date, IRCC has held two draws with the new categories, having invited 250 senior managers, and 391 physicians. To compare, Canadian Experience Class<\/a> draws have seen between 2,000 to 8,000 invitations issued per draw over the course of 2026.<\/p>\n At the same time, work experience requirements were raised<\/a>\u2014now, to qualify for category-based selection<\/a>, Express Entry candidates require one year of non-continuous experience in an eligible NOC<\/a>\u2014up from six months (previously continuous).<\/p>\n Express Entry is the Canadian federal government’s flagship system for selecting permanent residents who intend to settle anywhere in Canada outside Quebec. In recent years, around 100,000 permanent residents each year have been selected through the Express Entry system.<\/p>\n To obtain permanent residence through Express Entry, a foreign national must create a profile, enter the Express Entry pool, and compete against other candidates.<\/p>\n The federal government holds periodic draws in which they invite the top ranking candidates who qualify for the criteria established for that round of invitations.<\/p>\n See how competitive your Express Entry profile is Streamlining temporary residence program administration<\/p>\n As of January 2026, IRCC removed the requirement of a Provincial\/Territorial Attestation Letter <\/a>(PAL\/TAL) for master\u2019s and doctoral degree students, who make up only a small proportion of overall annual enrolments, and whose annual admissions numbers for any given program are often strictly limited based on the availability of senior academic faculty members at the instituion.<\/p>\n At the same time, the government introduced expedited study permit processing for doctoral degree students<\/a>, allowing them to get permits in as little as two weeks.<\/p>\n Along this trajectory, in April 2026 IRCC removed the need for a co-op work permit<\/a> for post-secondary students in Canada participating in co-ops, internships, and practicums. Students in qualifying work placement programs now only need a study permit with on-campus work conditions.<\/p>\n Also in April 2026, IRCC extended WP-EXT letter validity<\/a> from 180 days to 365 days. The WP-EXT letter is provided to foreign nationals as a document they can display as proof of their having work authorization through maintained status during the period between the expiry of their old work permit and the immigration department’s decision on their application for a work permit extension. Prior to this change, there was a specific mechanism for workers to request being issued a second WP-EXT letter, which had been necessary with in-Canada work permit application processing times having climbed to over 200 days.<\/p>\n Temporary public policies for work permit renewals<\/p>\n Under Diab’s leadership, the federal government extended two temporary public policies, allowing Iranian and Ukrainian nationals to renew their work permits until March 2027, including:<\/p>\n Schedule a Free Work Permit Consultation Legislative reforms supporting trends<\/p>\n During Diab’s tenure, Bill C-12 was enacted<\/a>, ushering in stricter asylum policies and significant reforms to the immigration system, including the ability for streamlined administration of temporary resident programs.<\/p>\n Changes to the asylum system included a ban on claims made over a year after the claimant entered Canada, and the requirement for the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to cease consideration of claims for claimants outside Canada on account of having voluntarily left Canada and returned to the country from which they had claimed asylum.<\/p>\n Changes to the immigration system as a whole included the authorization of sweeping executive powers for the Governor in Council, including the ability to issue orders to cease the acceptance of sets of immigration applications for processing, pause or terminate the processing of sets of immigration applications, vary existing immigration documents such as work permits, study permits, and permanent residence visas, and to impose conditions on temporary residents.<\/p>\n On March 23, 2026, a report released by the auditor general highlighted that between 2023 and 2024, over 153,000 study permits had been flagged for potential fraud. In the regime prior to C-12, officers only had resources to investigate approximately 4,000 cases.<\/p>\n Assess your eligibility for Canadian permanent residence Proposed changes under consultation<\/p>\n Several changes have been proposed under Diab that align both with the targeted approach to permanent residence selection, and the streamlining of the administration of temporary resident programs.<\/p>\n Canada’s immigration department is proposing an overhaul to its Express Entry system and changes to study and work authorization for international students and graduates.<\/p>\n In its recently released Forward Regulatory Plan (2026-2028), IRCC indicated plans to retire the three existing Express Entry programs and replace them with a singular program with streamlined eligibility.<\/p>\n The merged program<\/a> would require candidates to have a high school diploma or equivalent, meet a Canadian Language Benchmark<\/a> (CLB) 6 across all four language abilities, and have one year of cumulative work experience in the last three years.<\/p>\n In addition to these changes, the immigration department highlighted plans to restructure the Comprehensive Ranking System<\/a> (CRS), which would impact how candidates are scored and ranked in the Express Entry pool.<\/p>\n Should the proposed CRS changes<\/a> take effect, we would see candidates in high wage occupations prioritized<\/a> and receive extra CRS points, the return of job offer points<\/a> (only for high wage workers), enhanced recognition of trade qualifications, and the removal or modification of certain scoring factors.<\/p>\n IRCC also announced proposed changes to study and work authorization rules for international students and graduates on April 1, 2026.<\/p>\n Among the proposed reforms is an expansion of work authorization for international students awaiting a study permit extension decision, and international graduates awaiting a decision on their post-graduation work permit<\/a> applications.<\/p>\n The amendments would also remove study permit requirements for some foreign apprentices and establish uniform rules for employment during scheduled academic breaks.<\/p>\n Consultations for the majority of these proposed changes have begun this Spring.<\/p>\n
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