Canada to add three new permanent residency streams to Express Entry immigration program

Further dilution of the human capital approach and the CRS. Better than the Francophone category but still…:

Canada is expanding its Express Entry immigration program, adding three new permanent residency streams that cover a range of professions the Liberal government says are needed to fill critical labour gaps, including researchers and military personnel, Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced Wednesday.

The new categories under the Express Entry stream will give priority to researchers and senior managers with Canadian work experience; applicants with work experience in transport occupations, including pilots, aircraft mechanics and inspectors; and highly skilled foreign military applicants.

The new streams are part of what Diab calls a federal strategy to attract “top talent” to the country.

“We’ve identified these sectors as areas in critical need,” Diab said in a speech in Toronto. “Strengthening those helps us move goods across the country and to new markets, supporting trade, supply chains and economic resilience.”

Diab said the decision to have a new category for skilled foreign military applicants, along with other categories, “supports Canada’s defence industrial strategy,” and aims to “strengthen our armed forces, defend our sovereignty and to keep Canadians safe.”

This announcement comes after a new category for foreign medical doctors with Canadian work experience was announced in December. Diab at the time said this was part of a broader plan to move away from a “one-size fits all” immigration approach and make it easier for people in certain professions to come to or remain in Canada.

The 2026 immigration levels plan prioritizes permanent economic immigrants while reducing temporary admissions, particularly for students, as Ottawa ramps up its efforts to attract highly skilled workers and scientists from around the world.

The federal government in December announced it would spend more than $1 billion over the next decade to attract and retain leading international researchers to Canada. The funding is slated to support salaries, new infrastructure, grants and the recruitment of more than 1,000 doctors, researchers and scientists.

“Our Express Entry system is at the core of our approach for attracting and retaining the skilled workers Canada needs,” Diab said Wednesday.

“We’re not waiting for the right people to find us,” she said. “We will go out into the world to recruit the people our country needs, to connect them with Canadian employers and to highlight why Canada is the place” to build their careers and lives.

Canada has long struggled to retain in-demand, highly skilled workers. A November report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the Conference Board of Canada, titled “The Leaky Bucket 2025,” found that one in five immigrants are leaving Canada within 25 years of landing and highly educated immigrants are leaving faster than those with lower education levels.

Many newcomers remain stuck in precarious, low-wage work due to a labour market that continues to undervalue international experience. More than 30 per cent of newcomers ages 25-54 with a post-secondary education reported they were overqualified for their job compared to 19.7 per cent of Canadian-born workers, according to Statistics Canada.

Source: Canada to add three new permanent residency streams to Express Entry immigration program