Five things international students need to know about Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan 2025-27

On October 24, Canada announced the Immigration Levels Plan for 2025-2027 and, for the first time, set targets for temporary residents, which includes international students.

Each year, Canada announces its Immigration Levels Plan for the year ahead to outline the number of permanent residents it aims to admit into the country to support economic growth, reunite families, and fulfill humanitarian commitments.

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The Immigration Levels Plan also released immigration targets for 2026 and 2027, although these are notional, with Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) finalizing the upcoming year's targets by November 1 each year.

Here are some takeaways from the most recent announcement that international students need to know:

Canada plans to welcome more new international students than work permit holders

This year’s Plan sets a stable target of 305,900 international student arrivals annually for 2025, 2026, and 2027.

These figures are for new arrivals only, so do not include anticipated study permit renewals from students already in Canada.

In contrast, the number of temporary resident worker arrivals – which includes those from the International Mobility Program and Temporary Foreign Worker Program – slowly declines over the course of three years (367,750 in 2025; to 210,700 in 2026; to 237,700 in 2027).

This means that from 2026 and 2027, a bigger proportion of temporary resident arrivals in Canada will be international students.

Canada plans to welcome more new PRs from within Canada

The Immigration Levels Plan 20255-2027 emphasizes facilitating the transition for those already in the country – either as students or workers – to permanent residents under the “in-Canada focus” category.

In 2025, IRCC anticipates more than 40% of overall permanent resident admissions to be students or workers already in the country.

According to the Plan, the Federal High Skilled (FHS) segment has been split into Federal Economic Priorities and In-Canada Focus, with the latter allocated more admissions over the next three years.

For example, in 2025, the target for Federal Economic Priorities is 41,700 whereas the target for In-Canada Focus is 82,980 – nearly double.

That means that IRCC might look for more ways to transition temporary residents in the country into permanent residents.

This could happen through more Canadian Experience Class (CEC) Express Entry draws, or new policies that favour those already in the country.

Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) to be scaled back

The Plan also announced some drastic cuts to the targets for PNP admissions in the upcoming years.

In 2025, the government’s allocation for PNP admissions is only 55,000 – a huge cut from last year’s target of 110,000 for 2024, and 120,000 for 2025.

Students who had planned on pursuing provincial nominations as a pathway to permanent residence may find the PNP streams more competitive.

Greater focus on French language skills

In line with IRCC’s previous stance on francophone immigration, the Levels Plan focuses on including higher proportions of French-speaking permanent resident targets outside of Quebec.

In 2025, 8.5% of the overall planned permanent resident admissions will be French speaking (outside Quebec). This increases to 9.5% in 2026 and 10% in 2027.

This is also an increase compared to previous targets mentioned in the 2024-26 plan which looked at 7% for 2025 and 8% for 2026.

Students with little or no fluency in French may wish to learn French to improve their chances of being invited to apply for PR.

Greater importance for in-demand occupations

In 2023, Canada launched category-based selection draws to issue ITAs to skilled workers in high-demand sectors, such as healthcare, STEM, trades, and transport. This aimed to address Canada's labour shortages.

These categories are designed to change with time, depending on labour market and demographic needs.

In 2025, priority categories include: healthcare occupations, and trade occupations.

The government has not mentioned plans to retire any of the other priority categories such as STEM, transport, agriculture or agri-food.

To be eligible for a category-based selection draw, candidates must have accumulated at least six months of full-time, continuous work experience (or an equal amount of part-time work experience) within the last three years in an in-demand occupation.

Students who are expecting to graduate with Post Graduate Work Permits (PGWPs) and wish to pursue Canadian PR after may consider focusing on jobs that align with the category-based draws.

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