The issue analyzed by your local refugee law office

Recent discussions in the media raised the question whether the arrival of Syrian refugees is negatively affecting the intake of other Canadian immigrants. It’s an issue Canada immigration lawyers and refugee law offices are frequently confronted with. Let us examine some key considerations:

2016 immigration targets

In its 2016 Immigration Levels Plan, the Government of Canada announced that it is welcoming 280,000 to 305,000 new permanent residents this year, with a target of 300,000. That total number is further divided into economic immigrants (151,200 to 162,400), family sponsored immigrants (75,000 to 82,000) and a third bucket (53,800 to 60,600) that encompasses refugees, protected persons, humanitarian and others. This makes Canada’s Trudeau government the first to welcome 300,000+ new immigrants a year since 1913.

Trade-offs?

As immigration lawyers in Canada can confirm, the immigration total has been increased for 2016, compared to previous years. However, Immigration Minister John McCallum has been quoted to admit that the expected arrival of additional Syrian refugees may result in cutbacks for the other immigration groups. Trade-offs are to be expected, but refugee law offices are not concerned. For example, this year’s target number for Resettled Refugees has been set at 44,800. However, 19,000 Syrian refugees were already resettled by the Canadian government in just January and February of this year. This is still a small number in comparison to the thousands of immigrants accepted by our country every year.

Concerns?

Canada immigration lawyers should not be that a further rise in refugee immigrants will negatively affect the 2016 number of economic immigrants. The overall number of economic immigrants that Canada will welcome has increased, a fact welcomed by all refugee law offices. When we look at the number of economic immigrants, the Conservative government had set the 2015 target at 186,700 whereas this number sits at just 160,600 for 2016. This may be a bit lower but it does not give rise to a significant concern. In any case, the refugees accepted by Canada will also contribute positively to Canada’s economy and they too, along with their children, will in turn become permanent residents.

This is a topic that you may wish to discuss further with your local refugee law office. Contact your trusted immigration lawyer for your specific refugee and immigration needs today.