Canada’s latest immigration data revealed: Here’s what happened after a year of seismic changes

Good summary, will be issuing my quarterly update shortly:

…These immigration statistics have been closely watched, with critics arguing the Liberal government’s high immigration intake has contributed to Canada’s runaway population growth and is straining the housing market and health-care system.

In response, the government slashed the 2025 intakes of new permanent residents by 21 per cent to 395,000; new study permit holders by 10 per cent to 305,900; and new work permit holders by 16 per cent to 367,750.

The public data had not been updated this summer, drawing criticism from the Conservative party over the lack of transparency.

“How many illegal border crossings have we had? How many more asylum claims have piled on to an already backlogged wait-list? How many more permits have the Liberals handed out that continue to overwhelm our housing, health-care system and job market?” MP Michelle Rempel Garner, the Conservative party’s immigration critic, said in a statement earlier this month. 

“Whatever the numbers are, Canadians have a right to know.”

According to the Immigration Department, 36,417 new international students arrived in Canada from January to June, down from 125,034 in the first six months of 2024. The number of new work permit holders also dropped respectively to 119,234 from 245,137.

“The number of new students and workers arriving to Canada is declining — a clear sign that the measures we’ve put in place are working,” it said. “This downward trend reflects our commitment to a well-managed and sustainable immigration system.”

The number of asylum claimants, which has drawn attention since U.S. President Donald Trump was elected and made anti-immigration policies a key part of his agenda, also showed a downward trend. From January to June, 57,440 new claims were referred to the refugee board, down from 91,540 over the same period last year.

However, the number of immigration applications in the system has kept growing since March from 1,976,700 permanent and temporary residence files in the queue — including 779,900 that surpassed service standards and are deemed backlogged — to 2,222,600 on July 31, with backlogged cases rising to 901,700. 

As of July, there were 291,975 asylum claims pending a decision by the refugee board, up 25 per cent from 232,751 a year ago July.

Source: Canada’s latest immigration data revealed: Here’s what happened after a year of seismic changes