Canada benefits when diverse, engaged, and empowered youth are able to come from abroad to gain meaningful work and life experiences here.

Today, the Honorable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, launched the 2023 International Experience Canada (IEC) Program with a 20% increase in the number of applicants who can apply. Applicants will be able to apply as of January 9, 2023.

IEC is a reciprocal program that allows Canadian and international youth to work and travel in each other’s countries. This increase means that nearly 90,000 candidates will be able to work and travel in Canada, including Francophone youth, which will help employers fill labour gaps, including for seasonal work opportunities in Canada’s tourism industry.

By allowing more international youth to work and travel in Canada, the Government of Canada is helping employers, including those in the tourism industry, find the workers they need.

Canada has a long-standing history of supporting Canadian and international youth to travel and work abroad. IEC helps youth explore new cultures, languages, and societies, all while developing life skills and improving their job prospects for the future.

The Canadian economy has experienced one of the fastest recoveries from COVID-19 among advanced economies, but is now facing critical labour market shortages causing uncertainty for Canadian businesses and workers.

On 01st November 2022, the Honorable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, released Canada’s 2023–2025 Immigration Levels Plan. The plan embraces immigration as a strategy to help businesses find workers and to attract the skills required in key sectors—including health care, skilled trades, manufacturing and technology—to manage the social and economic challenges Canada will face in the decades ahead.

Last year Canada welcomed over 405,000 newcomers - the most we’ve ever welcomed in a single year. The Government is continuing that ambition by setting targets in the new levels plan of 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. The plan also brings an increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the country, including small towns and rural communities.

Highlights of the levels plan include:.

• a long-term focus on economic growth, with just over 60% of admissions in the economic class by 2025
• using new features in the Express Entry system to welcome newcomers with the required skills and qualifications in sectors facing acute labour shortages such as, health care, manufacturing, building trades and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
• increases in regional programs to address targeted local labour market needs, through the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
• reuniting more families faster
• ensuring that at least 4.4% of new permanent residents outside Quebec are Francophone
• support for global crises by providing a safe haven to those facing persecution, including by expanding the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot