Govt. decides against panel recommendation.
The Immigration and Citizenship division of the Canadian government on Monday announced 300,000 as the cap for new immigrant intake for 2017.
The announcement to retain last year’s cap was made by the government despite an expert panel recommending raise of immigration level. Even though the level set for 2016 was higher than the cap followed from 2011 to 2015, the committee found it was inadequate.
The announcement to retain the immigration level was made by John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, on Monday. McCallum said that the cap was set at 300,000 as there was an unexpected inflow of Syrian refugees.
“The 2017 levels plan will put Canada in a strong position for the future and support our overall economic and social development as a country,” the minister who tabled the immigration proposal in the Parliament, said.
The announcement of the government comes amidst the chief opposition party, the Liberal Party, calling for a raise in immigration levels by the tens of thousands in order to ensure better economic growth.
A council formed by the Liberal Party had recommended a gradual increase in the immigration cap to 450,000 per year for the next five years.
The government is planning a target boost for economic immigrants, which includes skilled workers, entrepreneurs and caregivers. It is estimated that the cap for economic immigrants will be set at 172,500 as against 160,600 last year. It is also reported that the level of refugees will decrease from 55,800 to 40,000.
In the family class, the number of sponsored spouses, partners, children, parents and grandparents will climb to 84,000 from 80,000.
A leading immigration lawyer Ravi Jain, of Toronto-based Green and Spiegel LLP was quoted by The Hindustan Times, saying, “This new target will benefit Indians as there will be more room to bring in Indian immigrants through both the family class and the economic stream. I have already seen a decrease in processing time for my Indian clients who are sponsoring spouses and I expect that parental sponsorship will be processed faster as well.”