July 17, 2011

2006 and 2011 – The Changing Face of Canadian Immigration

Posted by blgpc_web - Bellissimo Law Group PC

A quick comparison of numbers released recently by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) comparing immigrant categories in 2006 to 2011 highlight a new focus and window into current immigration processing. Taking into account the 25% decrease in overall immigration numbers in the first quarter of 2011 the numbers in the key categories read as follows:

Family Class – Down 29% since 2006
Economic Class – Down 1% since 2006
Refugees – Down 49% since 2006
Humanitarian – Down 40% since 2006

Granted 2011 includes only one quarter and the numbers should rise but in 2006 the pattern was already set following previous levels:

Family Class – Down 15%
Economic Class – Up 271%
Refugees – Down 24%
Humanitarian – Down 15%

The focus clearly remains on the economic categories with a 60% allocation of the overall numbers. It will be interesting to read the numbers at the end of 2011.