2024 Immigration Trends in Canada and Favorable Regions

Summary of Key Points

2024 Immigration Trends in Canada and Reduction of Temporary Visas

From 2024, the Canadian government will reduce temporary visas to address the side effects of immigration expansion policies.

Changes in Immigration During the Pandemic and Government Measures

During the pandemic, student visas, work visas, and new immigrants decreased. The government expanded immigration to address economic and labor shortages.

Comparison of Immigration Characteristics: Major Cities vs. Small Cities and Rural Areas

Major cities offer high housing and living costs, excellent schools, and ample job opportunities, while small cities provide lower costs and a nature-friendly environment.

Changes in Canada's Immigration Policy and Housing Market Trends

Canada's housing market is closely tied to immigration. The government tends to wait until problems become severe before taking action, and long-term, house prices are expected to rise.

Immigration Trends During the Pandemic

During the pandemic, the Canadian government expanded immigration, but announced that it would reduce temporary visas starting January 2024, creating a negative atmosphere. Today, we will discuss the background and countermeasures for the difficulty of immigrating to Canada, especially considering the characteristics and advantages and disadvantages of cities by size.

Immigration Situation During the Pandemic

In 2021 and 2022, as the pandemic hit the world, the number of student visas, work visas, and new immigrants entering Canada significantly decreased compared to the previous year. As the retirement age decreased during the pandemic, Canada faced an economic crisis and a labor shortage. To solve this problem, the Canadian government pushed for a significant expansion of immigration. As the panic of the pandemic subsided, student visas to Canada surged in 2023 compared to 2022. Those who had difficulty processing permanent residence due to the lockdown also flocked back at once, causing delays in provincial processing. Some provincial governments even suspended new applications.

Changes in Temporary Visa Policy

The Minister of Immigration made a surprising remark that the immigration expansion policy was a mistake. Canada selects the quota of new immigrants it will accept each year. However, since there were no clear criteria for the quota of temporary visas, the influx of temporary visas after the pandemic caused complaints due to rising house prices and lack of social infrastructure. As a countermeasure, the government could not help but announce measures to reduce temporary visas. In addition, recent surveys show that 60% of the Canadian population believes that there are too many immigrants. The Canadian government, conscious of next year's election, used strong expressions such as the failure of immigration policy to appease voters and announced that it would reduce immigration. Under these circumstances, it is expected that the stance of reducing immigration will be maintained until next year's election. In particular, anti-immigration sentiment is expected to be stronger in major cities where complaints about rising house prices and lack of infrastructure have been high recently. However, although it seems that immigration will be reduced on the surface, it is expected that the number of new immigrants to be accepted will not be significantly affected since the annual quota has already been announced. Efforts to prevent the concentration of people in major cities are expected to continue. In this conservative situation of the Canadian government, finding opportunities for immigration to Canada will be a more stable plan to go to small cities or rural areas where people do not gather. However, blindly moving to rural areas is not the answer, so this week we will look at the important factors to consider when selecting a region.

Major Cities

Representative major cities in Canada are Vancouver in British Columbia and Toronto in Ontario. The following characteristics become more pronounced as cities grow larger:

• ▶Permanent Residency Difficulty: The larger the population of a province, the higher the difficulty in Ontario and British Columbia.
• ▶Weather: Vancouver has the mildest weather in Canada, and Toronto has four seasons similar to Korea.
• ▶Housing/Living Costs: Housing prices and living costs are high.
• ▶Excellent School Districts: Top-ranked universities such as the University of Toronto and UBC are located here.
• ▶Korean Community: Well-developed for convenient living.
• ▶Living Environment: Despite being a major city, it boasts a nature-friendly environment.
• ▶Employment Opportunities: Many large companies and employment opportunities, especially favorable for professional job seekers.

Small Cities and Rural Areas

Provincial immigration in other provinces excluding British Columbia and Ontario is not significantly different in difficulty, as permanent residency can be obtained with basic/intermediate English and a high school diploma through employment in Canada for a certain period. However, since employment is often prioritized to obtain permanent residency, the employment situation in your field should also be considered.

• ▶Weather: The central region has longer and colder winters compared to coastal areas. However, most people use personal vehicles, so exposure to cold is minimal.
• ▶Housing/Living Costs: Housing prices are generally lower than in major cities, and Alberta, in particular, has lower taxes, reducing living costs.
• ▶Excellent School Districts: Canada's public education system is well-developed, so the quality of education is standardized.
• ▶Korean Community: Small cities have Korean communities, but the farther you go into rural areas, the fewer there are. It may be somewhat inconvenient for immigrants in their late 40s with limited English. For younger immigrants, it is an opportunity to quickly improve English and integrate deeply and quickly into the Canadian community.
• ▶Living Environment: Boasts a nature-friendly and clean environment.
• ▶High Proportion of Canadians: With fewer immigrants, you can quickly learn Canadian culture.
• ▶Employment Opportunities: Employment opportunities for professional jobs decrease in smaller cities, so it is necessary to check the major industries and employment situation of the city where you want to work. For industries closely related to daily life, such as tourism, food service, and retail, there may not be significant differences between regions.

Choosing a City and Immigration Strategy

It is advisable to choose a city considering both your lifestyle and the difficulty of obtaining permanent residency. Especially in situations where regional concentration is problematic, it is better to avoid major cities. Small and medium-sized cities with relatively good infrastructure and employment opportunities include Calgary, Montreal, Victoria, and Halifax.

Canada's Immigration Policy and Housing Market Trends

Having been involved in Canadian immigration processing for over 20 years, I have noticed that the Canadian government tends to wait until problems become very serious before making sudden countermeasures rather than predicting and planning regulations in advance. It is often difficult to understand whether potential problems are not visible from the announcement point or if they plan to solve the problems only when they become serious.

House prices in Canada, like those in the rest of the world, fluctuate greatly depending on various economic and political factors. Nevertheless, it is an objective fact that Canadian house prices are relatively high. House prices in Canada are closely related to immigration, and the atmosphere of Canadian immigration always fluctuates. Despite short-term measures, Canada, with its continuously increasing population, is expected to see a greater likelihood of rising house prices in the long term. Moreover, since immigration takes at least 2-3 years, it is uncertain whether the current negative announcements will directly affect your plans. Avoiding excessive optimism or negativity and choosing a city that fits your qualifications, personality, and situation can make it easier to cope with variables.