Canada Searches For 15,000 Nigerians This Year Under its Immigration Plan

Canada Searches For 15,000 Nigerians This Year Under its Immigration Plan

  • Canada is looking for about 400,000 immigrants from across the world, 15,000 of which will be Nigerians
  • According to available data from the country's immigration programme, 15,000 Nigerians obtained permanent residency in the country in 2022
  • IRCC relied heavily on the CEC in 2021 to achieve its immigration levels plan, as the CEC accounted for about one-third of new admissions.

Data from Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) says that more than 15,000 Nigerians obtained permanent residence in Canada in 2021, more than the average of 6,146 who did so in the three years from 2018 to 2020, totalling 18,438.

The country expects more Nigerians to come in 2022, having given permanent residence to over 35,000 immigrants from all over the world in January alone.

Canada, Immigration
Nigerians in high demand in Canada Credit: Kevin Kozicki
Source: Getty Images

TheNiche reports that this puts the country on the verge of attracting about 400,000 immigrants for the second year running.

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Under the country’s Immigration Levels Plan 2022-2024 announced early this year, the North American country targets almost 432,000 immigrants in 20222, the highest in its history.

It gained more than 8 per cent of this target in January this year.

It has documented over 405,000 immigrants last year, mostly by transitioning those already in the country to permanent residency status due to restrictions caused by the pandemic.

This was the first time since 1913 that it had gotten more than 400,000 immigrants.

Economic reasons

In January, some 65 per cent of new permanent residents came under the economic class which is higher than the 56 per cent targeted in the Levels Plan.

About 20 per cent made it under the family class, lower than the 24 per cent level the country targeted.

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Humanitarian and Refugee status made up the remaining 15 per cent of landings, 5 per cent lower than the set goal this year.

The country’s Experience Class (CEC) is one of the leading programmes for new economic class arrivals, accounting for about 7,700 immigrants in 2021.

IRCC depended heavily on CEC last year to get its immigration levels to plan, as the programme accounted for one-third of new intakes.

IRCC relied heavily on the CEC in 2021 to achieve its immigration levels plan, as the CEC accounted for about one-third of new admissions.

Favourite of African immigrants

Canada is one of the top countries for Nigerian and other African immigrants seeking to further their education and ultimately earn a living in a greener pasture.

With travel restrictions now reduced, Canada is set to receive more permanent residents later in the year, a major opportunity for Nigerians seeking life abroad.

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Nigerians form long Queue at Lagos UK Visa Office after Legit story

Recall that Legit.ng has reported that two days after Legit.ng published a story that the United Kingdom has resumed Priority Visa issuance to Nigerians, the UK visa office is overflowing with Nigerians seeking to obtain visas.

Nigerians began to throng the UK visa office after it was announced that Nigeria has been removed from the UK red list following the drop in the spread of Omicron variant of COVID-19.

A crowd of applicants was seen milling outside the visa office in Lekki Phase I offices of TLSContact. Long queues were seen as people waited to be called in for the application.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Pascal Oparada avatar

Pascal Oparada (Business editor) For over a decade, Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment, and the economy. He has worked in many media organizations such as Daily Independent, TheNiche newspaper, and the Nigerian Xpress. He is a 2018 PwC Media Excellence Award winner. Email:pascal.oparada@corp.legit.ng