Canada set to surpass its 2022 immigration target

Canada is on track to exceed its immigration target to grant permanent residence to more than 430,000 people in 2022, Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in Vancouver, Fraser also announced a plan to hire 1,250 workers to beat a record high number of immigration applicants.

Canada, which depends on immigration to drive its economy and support its aging population, is boosting annual immigration and has a goal of adding 451,000 permanent residents in 2024.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has relied on immigration to boost the Canadian economy since taking office in 2015, and has set an annual target of about 1% of the country's population.

Official data released earlier this year showed Canada's population rose to 37 million in 2021, up 5.2 percent from 2016, driven mostly by immigration.

As of the end of July this year, Fraser said, Canada had added more than 275,000 permanent residents.

"This puts us on a path toward exceeding our target of 431,000 permanent residents over the course of this year," he added.

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