Canada Announces Cuts to Temporary Resident Targets, Capping Admissions at 385,000 for 2026

The Government of Canada has officially released its Immigration Levels Plan of 2026-2028, which is a significant change in its attitude toward non-permanent flows. In a bid to alleviate infrastructure pressures and stabilize population growth, Ottawa is enforcing a strict new limit on temporary resident targets. With the 2026 fiscal year the overall number of the international students and temporary foreign workers will be limited to 385,000, which is a drastically high decrease compared to the previous years. The recalibration belongs to a wider policy of decreasing the number of non-permanent residents people to 5 percent of the nationwide total by 2027, compelling businesses and educational institutions to change their recruiting policies very quickly.

Impact of the 2026 Admissions Cap

The introduction of the 2026 admissions cap represents the most significant tightening of temporary entry rules in decades. This 385,000 space is inclusive of both International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which means that there is considerably less room to give discretionary applications. To the employers, this implies that the days of cheap access to the low-wage temporary labor are long gone. The industries which traditionally depend on large amounts of casual workers have had to shift towards the maximization of the domestic labor or have had to invest in automation in order to close the gap.

Read more: Canada Announces New Immigration Targets for Skilled Workers

Strategic Shift in Canada Immigration 2026

This policy adjustment signals a long-term transformation for Canada immigration 2026 and beyond. The government is giving preference to retention, rather than new arrivals by giving priority to permanent residence changes to those who are already in the country i.e. one of the targets is to convert 33,000 current work permits into permanent residence. The purpose of this in-Canada first method is to entice those who have already been incorporated and become a part of the economy and at the same time stem the high growth rate of the temporary population which has caused a strain to the housing and healthcare system in the major cities.

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