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ARTICLE · 03 FEBRUARY 2025

2024: Year In Review In Immigration Law

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In 2024, Canada's immigration policy underwent a dramatic shift. The year was marked by significant changes that, on the one hand...

CanadaImmigration
Stefanie Di Francesco
Stefanie Di Francesco
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In 2024, Canada's immigration policy underwent a dramatic shift. The year was marked by significant changes that, on the one hand, included stricter eligibility requirements for existing programs and the closure of certain immigration pathways entirely, and, on the other hand, included the introduction of new regional programs and immigration pathways aligned with changing labour market demands.

As we begin 2025, it is a good time to both recap some of the notable changes in Canadian immigration law in 2024 and to reflect on the direction Canada's immigration system is headed in 2025.

Looking Back at 2024

  • Addressing Application Backlog

2024 began with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) confirming that 899,150 of the 2.1 million immigration applications under processing had fallen into backlog and were being processed outside standard timelines. The backlog underscored the challenges facing Canada's immigration system as application

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