How to get permanent residency in Canada
Canada will admit 380,000 permanent residents a year through 2028. The main routes are Express Entry, the Provincial Nominee Program, family sponsorship, and a set of regional pilots.
Two recent changes break most older advice. A job offer no longer earns you any CRS points, and the 500,000-a-year target you may have read about was cut.
Here are the current routes, the scores actually being invited, and what the process costs.
What are the routes to permanent residency in Canada?
There are four practical routes, and which one fits you depends mostly on whether you already have Canadian work experience. Economic immigration is the largest category by far and grows to about 64% of all admissions by 2027.
| Route | Best suited to | 2026 target or allocation |
|---|---|---|
| Express Entry (Canadian Experience Class) | People already working in Canada, including former students | Most invitations in 2026 go to this group |
| Express Entry (Federal Skilled Worker and Trades) | Skilled workers applying from outside Canada | Part of the 239,800 economic admissions |
| Provincial Nominee Program | People targeting a specific province, or with an occupation a province wants | 91,500 nominations |
| Family sponsorship | Spouses, partners, children, and some other relatives of citizens or PRs | 84,000 admissions |
| Regional pilots (Atlantic, Rural, Francophone Community) | People willing to settle in a specific smaller community with an approved employer | Smaller, community-by-community |
Refugee and humanitarian streams account for a further 49,300 and 6,900 admissions respectively. Those are separate processes and not covered here.
How many permanent residents will Canada admit?
The target is 380,000 a year, flat across 2026, 2027, and 2028. This is the number most out-of-date guides get wrong. The 2023–2025 plan aimed for 465,000 rising to 500,000. “Canada wants half a million immigrants a year” became the most repeated line in the migration corner of the internet. It was cut to 395,000, then to 380,000.
| Category | 2026 admissions target |
|---|---|
| Economic | 239,800 |
| Family reunification | 84,000 |
| Refugees and protected persons | 49,300 |
| Humanitarian and other | 6,900 |
| Total | 380,000 |
Temporary residents are being cut at the same time. New arrivals are targeted at 385,000 in 2026 and 370,000 in each of the next two years. That matters for planning. The study-then-work-then-PR path most readers have in mind now has a narrower entrance at every stage.
Do you still get CRS points for a job offer?
No. Since March 25, 2025, arranged employment earns zero CRS points. A valid job offer used to be worth 50 points, or 200 for senior management roles, and chasing one was standard advice. IRCC removed those points to kill the market in illegally bought and sold labour market impact assessments.
Read that carefully, because the nuance matters. A job offer can still be part of your eligibility for some programs, and many provincial streams are built around one. You should still declare a job offer in your profile. It simply won’t move your score.
If anyone offers to sell you an LMIA-backed job offer to raise your CRS score, they’re describing a system that no longer exists. That was the exact behavior the change was designed to stop.
What CRS score do you need in 2026?
There is no single CRS score for Express Entry, because Canada runs several different draws with different cut-offs. Asking “what score do I need” only makes sense once you know which draw you’re aiming at. Here is what has actually been invited in 2026.
| Draw type | Date | Invitations | CRS cut-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Experience Class | January 2026 | 8,000 | 511 |
| Canadian Experience Class | May 2026 | Not published | 518, the year’s high |
| Canadian Experience Class | August 2026 | 3,000 | 516 |
| Transport occupations | August 7, 2026 | 300 | 470 |
Two conclusions follow. The 2023-era advice that “around 490 is competitive” is now wrong for the Canadian Experience Class, which has run in the low 510s all year. And a category-based draw is often the cheaper way in, because those cut-offs sit well below the general rounds.
The occupations Canada prioritizes in 2026
Canada announced its 2026 category-based selection in February 2026, targeting three priorities: labor shortages, top talent, and Francophone immigration outside Quebec. The categories changed, so check the current list rather than an older one.
- New for 2026: foreign-trained medical doctors, researchers, and senior managers, each with Canadian work experience. Also transport occupations including pilots and aircraft mechanics, and highly skilled recruits brought in by the Canadian Armed Forces.
- Continuing categories include French-language proficiency, healthcare and social services, trades, and education.
- The minimum work experience rose from six months to one year for all renewed categories. It can be gained in Canada or abroad, within the previous three years.
- Agriculture and agri-food is no longer a 2026 category. Standalone STEM is not framed the way it was in 2023 either.
French is worth a serious look. Francophone draws have consistently had the lowest cut-offs of any category, and Canada has an explicit target for French-speaking immigration outside Quebec. If you have any French at all, testing it may be the cheapest points available to you.
How does the Provincial Nominee Program work now?
A provincial nomination adds 600 CRS points, which effectively guarantees an invitation. The catch is that nominations are rationed, and the ration was cut hard before it partly recovered.
The federal allocation for 2026 is 91,500 nominations, up 66% from 55,000 in 2025. It’s still below the 110,000 available in 2024. So the honest framing is that PNP capacity is recovering, not booming, and 2025 applicants faced stream closures and long inventories.
| Province | 2026 nomination allocation |
|---|---|
| Ontario | 14,119 |
| Alberta | 6,403, plus 200 added mid-year |
| British Columbia | 5,254 |
| Saskatchewan | 4,761 |
Pick the province before you pick the stream. Our breakdown of Canadian regions with the most job opportunities covers where the hiring actually is, which is the practical input to that decision.
What permanent residency costs
An economic-class principal applicant pays $1,590 to IRCC: a $990 processing fee plus the $600 right of permanent residence fee. That’s up from $1,365 in 2023, so budget from the current figure rather than an older guide.
| Fee | 2026 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Economic PR, principal applicant, total | $1,590 | $1,365 |
| Right of permanent residence fee, included above | $600 | $515 |
| Family sponsorship, sponsorship fee | $90 | $75 |
| PR card | $50 | $50 |
| Citizenship grant, adult | $653 | $630 |
Budget for more than the government fees. You’ll also pay for a language test, an educational credential assessment, a medical exam, and police certificates from every country you’ve lived in. Those routinely cost more than the application fee itself.
How much money do you need to show?
A single applicant to the Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades Program must show $15,263 in settlement funds. The amount rises with family size. It’s updated every year at 50% of Statistics Canada’s low-income cut-off, so confirm the current table before you apply.
Canadian Experience Class applicants are exempt, and so are people with a valid job offer who are already authorized to work in Canada. Proof takes the form of official letters from every bank or financial institution holding your money.
The proposed Express Entry overhaul
IRCC ran a public consultation from April 23 to May 24, 2026 on the biggest Express Entry overhaul since it launched. None of it is law yet, so treat what follows as proposed, not current.
The proposals would merge the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Federal Skilled Trades Program, and Canadian Experience Class into a single Federal High-Skilled Class. They would rebuild the CRS around language ability and earnings, add a high-wage occupation factor, and reintroduce job-offer points for high-wage roles only. They would also reduce or remove the French bonus and the points for Canadian study, a sibling in Canada, and spousal attributes.
If you’re planning several years out, that’s worth watching. If you’re applying now, the current rules are the ones that apply to you.
Is there a faster route if you already work in Canada?
Yes. Canada is accelerating up to 33,000 temporary workers into permanent residence across 2026 and 2027 under a one-time In-Canada Workers Initiative. It targets people who have lived in smaller communities for at least two years and already have an application in. That covers the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Rural and Francophone Community Immigration pilots, the caregiver pilots, and the Agri-Food Pilot.
The Rural Community Immigration Pilot runs in 14 selected communities with approved local employers. One planning note: the home care worker pathways are not reopening in 2026, so don’t build a plan around them.
Frequently asked questions
These are the questions that come up most often about Canadian permanent residency, including the two where out-of-date answers still circulate widely.
Does a job offer help my Express Entry application?
It earns no CRS points, and hasn’t since March 25, 2025. It can still matter for program eligibility and for many provincial streams, so declare it. But it will not raise your score.
What CRS score do I need for permanent residency?
It depends on the draw. Canadian Experience Class rounds ran between 511 and 518 through 2026, while a category-based transport draw cut off at 470. A provincial nomination adds 600 points and effectively guarantees an invitation.
How much does Canadian permanent residency cost?
$1,590 for an economic-class principal applicant, made up of a $990 processing fee and the $600 right of permanent residence fee. Language tests, credential assessments, medicals, and police certificates are extra.
How many immigrants is Canada accepting?
380,000 permanent residents a year for 2026, 2027, and 2028. The earlier 500,000 target was cut, first to 395,000 and then to 380,000.
Can my family come with me?
Yes. A spouse or partner and dependent children can be included on your permanent residence application, and they become permanent residents with you. This is different from the temporary spousal work permit rules, which were tightened in January 2025.
Which language tests does Canada accept?
For English, IELTS General Training, CELPIP-General, and PTE Core. For French, TEF Canada and TCF Canada. IELTS Academic and PTE Academic are not accepted for Express Entry. Results must be less than two years old.
Do I need a consultant to apply?
No. Express Entry is designed to be self-serve and thousands of people file their own applications. If you do use a representative, check they are authorized, and be skeptical of anyone selling CRS points through a job offer.
If you’re earlier in the journey, the study route is still the most common entry point. Start with the Canadian student visa process and the Canadian work permit routes, since Canadian work experience is what the Canadian Experience Class rewards.
Work out which draw you’re realistically aiming at, then calculate your CRS score against the cut-offs above. That tells you whether to improve your language score, target a province, or build Canadian experience first.
