Who lands as a permanent resident
Official IRCC data on who lands as a permanent resident in Canada: via Express Entry and across all programs.
Landing as a permanent resident is the end of the immigration journey and the beginning of everything that follows. This page draws on two official IRCC datasets: one tracking only the people who landed through Express Entry, and one tracking everyone who became a permanent resident through any route. Together they tell you how many people are making it across the finish line each year, which programs they came through, where they are settling, and how they got here.
Two datasets, one relationship
The IRCC permanent-resident admissions data covers everyone who became a permanent resident through any program. The IRCC Express Entry permanent residents data covers only those who came through Express Entry specifically. Express Entry is a subset of the total, not a separate count. If you add them together, you will double-count every Express Entry applicant. Throughout this page, we keep them clearly separate.
Filter year-specific charts
Year-specific charts below show data for 2020.
PR landings by year
Number of people admitted as permanent residents each year
Annual totals: Express Entry PRs (a subset, blue) vs all PR programs. Express Entry is always smaller than or equal to the total.
All programs: total PR admissions (IRCC permanent-resident admissions data)
Via Express Entry only (a subset of the total above, IRCC Express Entry permanent residents data)
The two series use the same scale so their bars are visually comparable, which makes the Express Entry share easy to read at a glance. Express Entry has grown as a share of total PR admissions over the years as Canada has expanded the program and added more category-based draws. But the total PR number is the one that moves when federal immigration targets change, and Express Entry moves with it.
Do not add these two series together. Every Express Entry applicant in the blue bars is already counted in the total bars. The gap between them represents everyone who came through a different route: the Provincial Nominee Program, the family class, humanitarian programs, or other economic streams.
Program breakdown
Number of people admitted, by immigration program (2020)
Count of all PR admissions by program category: all programs, not just Express Entry. Rounded to nearest 5; small counts suppressed.
Economic
105,940Sponsored Family
48,975Resettled Refugee & Protected Person in Canada
25,345All Other Immigration
3,380This breakdown covers every permanent resident who landed, organised by how they got here. The economic class tends to be the largest single category and includes Express Entry streams, provincial nominee programs, and a range of other economic pathways. Family class and humanitarian categories account for a meaningful share as well.
The numbers here are counts of people admitted, not applications received. Processing times and backlogs mean the people who land in a given year applied at different points in time.
Top source countries
Number of people admitted as PRs, by country of citizenship (2020)
Number of PR recipients from each of the top 10 countries of citizenship, across all programs. Rounded to nearest 5.
These are counts of people who landed, grouped by their country of citizenship. India has consistently been the top source country for permanent residents over the past decade, driven by large numbers of international students and skilled workers transitioning to PR. The Philippines and China also appear near the top. Country of citizenship does not directly affect eligibility or processing, but it does reflect where Canada's immigration pipeline draws most heavily.
Top occupations
Number of people admitted as PRs, by occupation (2020)
Number of PR recipients in each of the top 10 NOC occupations, across all programs. Rounded to nearest 5.
These are people-counts: the number of new permanent residents who had each occupation listed on their application. They are not conversion rates and cannot tell you how likely someone in a given occupation is to get PR. What they do tell you is which occupations are most common among people who completed the process that year. When IRCC runs category draws targeting specific sectors, those sectors tend to rise in this chart the following year, when those applicants land.
What the data tells us
Drawn from IRCC permanent-resident admissions data, Express Entry permanent residents data, and transitions-from-temporary-to-permanent data. Figures are approximate. IRCC rounds counts to the nearest 5. Express Entry landings are a subset of total admissions; do not add the two together.
Landing volume: the year-over-year picture
Total PR landings were down 71.3% in 2026 compared with 2025. A drop in total landings can reflect a lower federal target for the year, a slower processing pipeline, or both. It does not necessarily mean applicants are being refused at higher rates. The pipeline is long enough that many of the people who land in a given year applied considerably earlier.
Where permanent residents actually settle
The destination a person lists when they land is their intended city of settlement. Across all years in this dataset, the top cities for new permanent residents (by intended destination) are:
- 1.Toronto1,190,895
- 2.Montréal446,640
- 3.Vancouver436,965
- 4.Calgary241,925
- 5.Edmonton193,470
- 6.Ottawa - Gatineau (Ontario part)160,105
Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal have long drawn the largest share, which reflects where most job offers, communities, and immigration infrastructure are concentrated. If you are weighing cities, the share is not a measure of opportunity; it is a measure of where most people already plan to go. Smaller cities are growing as federal and provincial programs actively encourage newcomers to settle beyond the largest centres.
Shares shown are within these top cities, not a share of all Canadian PR landings.
How people got here: the temporary-to-permanent transition
Most people who become permanent residents of Canada do not arrive as permanent residents. They come first as students or temporary workers and then transition. The data below shows the prior temporary status of people who made that transition in recent years, from IRCC's transitions-from-temporary-to-permanent data.
- 1.Study Permit100% of these transitions
The Post-Graduation Work Permit and employer-sponsored work permits are consistently the most common stepping stones. This matters if you are on a similar path: the study-then-PGWP-then-PR route is not just common, it is the single most-traveled road into permanent residence. If you are partway through that journey, you are in very large company.
Shares are within-dataset: the share of transitions in this data that came from each prior status. This is separate from the total PR admissions figure.
When landings happen: the monthly rhythm
PR landings are not evenly distributed across the year. Looking at average monthly landing counts across all years in the dataset, June tends to see the highest volume, while November tends to be the quietest. The year-end push is driven partly by applicants who have been waiting and want to land before their visa expires, and partly by IRCC processing patterns that move faster in certain months. The off-peak months are not slower because fewer people want to land then. They are slower because fewer applications clear processing at that time.
If you are waiting to hear about your application, a quiet month does not mean something is wrong. It is a regular feature of how the pipeline runs.
Monthly averages are across all available years. Individual years can vary significantly.
About this data
- Monthly data: PR landing figures are published monthly; year-level totals aggregate across all months.
- Express Entry is a subset of total PR admissions. The two figures are not additive. Every Express Entry PR is already counted in the total.
- Counts are rounded to the nearest 5 by IRCC; small counts (1–5) are suppressed. All-time totals are approximate and may not reconcile.
- “Program” means the immigration program (e.g. CEC, FSW, PNP, FSWP), not draw-type categories.
Independent, not affiliated with IRCC or the Government of Canada
Source: IRCC — IRCC Express Entry permanent residents, by immigration program (a subset of all PR admissions). Data through Apr 2026 · published 2026-06-16 View on open.canada.ca → · Open Government Licence – Canada
Source: IRCC — IRCC permanent-resident admissions, by program, country, occupation, and intended destination city. Data through Apr 2026 · published 2026-06-16 View on open.canada.ca → · Open Government Licence – Canada
Source: IRCC — IRCC transitions from temporary to permanent status, by prior permit type. Data through Apr 2026 · published 2026-06-16 View on open.canada.ca → · Open Government Licence – Canada