Follow immigration topics over time. Read AI-summarized timelines of policy changes and latest updates.
Quebec is reopening its family sponsorship intake on July 2, 2026, with a two-year cap of 2,400 undertakings for parents and grandparents, and is exempting adult dependent children from the cap for the first time.
Citizenship ceremonies are now predominantly conducted virtually via video conference, with IRCC sending formal invitations detailing format, date, and requirements including the OAC form signing.
Canadian passport fees increased as of March 31, 2026 — the first increase since 2013 — with a 10-year adult passport now costing $163.50 inside Canada, up from $160. A new 30-business-day processing guarantee with automatic refunds also launched April 1, 2026.
Effective April 1, 2026, employers must advertise low-wage positions for 8 consecutive weeks (doubled from 4 weeks) before submitting a low-wage LMIA application to ESDC, aimed at prioritizing Canadian workers.
As of July 19, 2026, the Express Entry pool contains 231,533 candidates. The largest concentration is in the 451–500 CRS range (72,579 candidates), suggesting ongoing pressure on cutoff scores for general and CEC draws.
2026 processing time estimates for spousal sponsorship stand at 15–21 months at the federal stage, based on 80% of recent applications.
Ontario eliminated its 8 existing OINP streams on June 25, 2026, replacing them with a single 'Ontario Workforce Priority' stream focused on arranged employment and hard-to-fill roles, with new elevated language and education requirements.
The open work permit for 2021 TR-to-PR pathway applicants has been extended to December 31, 2026, letting eligible applicants and family members maintain status and work for any employer.
IRCC continued issuing category-based draws in July 2026, including draws for French-language proficiency (5,000 ITAs at CRS 399), Senior Managers with Canadian Work Experience (500 ITAs at CRS 392), and Canadian Experience Class (2,000 ITAs at CRS 517).
The July 20, 2026 PNP draw issued 511 ITAs at a CRS cutoff of 744, down significantly from the 795–805 range seen in April and May 2026, suggesting the PNP cutoff is trending downward through mid-2026.
Canada released its 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, setting temporary resident arrival targets at 385,000 for 2026 and 370,000 for 2027 and 2028, with the explicit goal of bringing the temporary resident population below 5% of Canada's total population by end of 2027.
Canada's 2026-2028 plan increases LMIA-exempt IMP targets to 170,000 (up ~32%) while reducing LMIA-based TFWP targets to 60,000 (down ~27%), signaling a strategic shift away from employer-sponsored labour market testing.
The 2026 pathway guide highlights that Express Entry federal stage processing is estimated at 6–7 months and base PNP federal stage at approximately 13 months, with the Atlantic Immigration Program taking the longest at around 40 months.
Canada officially set the 2026 study permit issuance target at 408,000 — down 7% from 2025 and 16% from 2024 — with the goal of reducing the temporary population to under 5% of Canada's total population by end of 2027. The number of study permit holders has already dropped from over 1 million in January 2024 to about 725,000 by September 2025.
As of January 1, 2026, master's and doctoral students at public designated learning institutions no longer need a Provincial or Territorial Attestation Letter (PAL/TAL) to obtain a study permit and are no longer counted within Canada's international student cap.
IRCC announced plans to establish a new framework for updating field of study requirements for Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs) as part of its 2025-2026 Departmental Plan.