Where do the parties stand on immigration? This consultant says recent caps left thousands 'stranded'

While immigration might not be the most pressing issue for some voters ahead of this year's federal election, a Hamilton immigration consultant says whichever party forms government will need to address recent immigration caps. 

"I would like to ask them how they intend to handle all of the students and workers that came to Canada in the last two to three years, even four years, who were promised a pathway to permanent residency at the end of their study term or their working term," Charlene DaSilva told CBC Hamilton.

DaSilva said people have been left "stranded" after the federal government made sweeping changes to Canada's immigration system in recent months.

As part of a new immigration plan, Ottawa cut the projected number of new permanent residents to 395,000 this year, an 18.5 per cent reduction from 2024. The target will drop further to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027, as the federal government aims for a 0.2 per cent population decline over the next two years. 

The federal government made these sweeping changes to Canada's immigration system as the country's population continues to grow, reaching more than 41.5 million in October. Immigration has been a major factor in this growth, as concerns rise over the increasing need for services like housing and health care.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the government expects the changes to "yield approximately 300,000 fewer study permits" over the next three years.

Meanwhile, last September the Liberal government announced it would slash the number of international student permits it issues by another 10 per cent. The government says the new target for 2025 and 2026 will be 437,000 permits. In 2024, the target was 485,000 permits.

According to DaSilva, "those people came to Canada with pure intentions," but "thousands" of them have now been left without a clear path to become permanent residents. 

"They have worked hard, they have studied hard, and now to put them in a position of nothing basically and having to go back to their countries and start again, I think is a very unfair thing to do, so I'm hoping that the government will implement some sort of policies to help those individuals and make sure there are no disturbances," Da Silva said.

"How [do] they intend to handle those people who have now been left stranded or finding themselves in a position where they cannot meet the new requirements to get permanent residency?

"I would like to know how they plan on handling those particular applicants and whether or not they're going to introduce some temporary policies to accommodate some of them."

DaSilva's consultancy office provides support — including a free consultation — to people considering immigrating to Canada, visiting, working, or studying in Canada, including refugees. Additionally, they also assist clients with renewals, extensions, replacement of immigration documents, appeals and hearings.

DaSilva said everyone in the immigration consulting business has been affected by the changes made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

"If your business relies upon assisting those types of applications — temporary residents — Immigration Canada has now reduced the amount of temporary resident types of applications that they are accepting," she said.