Mint Explainer: Why Canada is welcoming immigrants more than ever
3 min read . Updated: 08 Nov 2022, 12:21 PM IST
Premium- However, it's not alone; It has competition from Australia and Germany.
Canada has been historically open to immigrants, and has opened its doors wider now, as the ageing nation tries to plug labour shortages and keep its economic engine going. Indians have been the largest migrant group to Canada in recent years, overtaking the Chinese, and that number will only rise. The country has seen rising demand for skilled professionals and shrinking demand for low-skilled labour. Meanwhile, Australia and Germany are also welcoming immigrants, and some experts have called for changing US immigration policies as well to attract talent.
What does Canada’s new immigration policy state?
Canada announced a new immigration policy on 1 November. Like in much of the developed world, it has a greying population, but unlike many others, Canada believes encouraging immigration is the best way to keep its economy on track. It helps to plug the labour shortages for businesses and address the skills deficit. The government says the new policy aims to manage the social and economic challenges it will face in the coming decades. In 2021, Canada admitted over 405,000 newcomers, the most in a single year. The new policy aims to scale up this number to 465,000, 485,000 and 500,000 residents in 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively. According to the government, immigration now accounts for almost 100% of Canada’s labour force growth. By 2032, almost all of Canada’s population growth will be due to immigration.
The opportunities for Indian immigrants in Canada
Restrictive immigration policies in the US have prompted many Indians to consider opportunities in Canada. Indians have become the largest immigrant group in Canada, overtaking the Chinese. The number of Indians acquiring permanent residency (PR) in Canada has soared in recent years, from about 30,000 or less every year about a decade ago, to about three times that number now. In fact, about 20% of the permanent residencies granted by Canada now goes to Indians, most of them economic migrants. While earlier, there were abundant low- and medium skilled jobs for migrants, now Canada is now more open to immigrants highly skilled in healthcare, manufacturing and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
Other developed countries are taking note too
In September, Australia said it will raise its permanent immigration intake by 35,000 to 195,000 in the current fiscal year. Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said, “The impact of covid has been so severe … (that Australia will be) thousands of workers short, at least in the short term." She also acknowledged that the “best and brightest minds" were choosing to migrate to Canada, Germany and the UK, and vowed to rebuild Australia’s immigration programme in the national interest. An ageing Germany too has encouraged skilled-worker migration from India in the past decade, particularly in STEM. Between 2010 and 2020, the number of people of Indian origin settled in Germany trebled from 48,000 to 151,000.
Skilled workers moving to Canada and other destinations has sparked some concern in the US as well. In July 2021, a US Congress sub-committee on Immigration and Citizenship held a hearing titled “Oh Canada! How outdated US Immigration Policies Push Top Talent to Other Countries".
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