The levels plan: a 2029 target for the first time, delivered with the November 5 budget

Under subsection 94(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the immigration minister must table an annual report containing the immigration levels plan in both Houses of Parliament on or before November 1 each year; if Parliament is not sitting that day, the report may be tabled within the next 30 sitting days. November 1, 2026 fell on a Sunday, so the statutory deadline slipped. The Canadian Press reported on November 3, citing government sources, that the 2027-2029 plan will be folded into the federal budget to be released on November 5, a Thursday. That makes it the second consecutive year in which the annual levels have been published inside a budget document, and it means the plan will reach the public after the statutory date has passed.

The baseline is set by the current 2026-2028 plan. Permanent resident admissions are held at 380,000 in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028, within a range of 350,000 to 420,000. New temporary resident arrivals are set at 385,000 for 2026 and 370,000 in each of 2027 and 2028, with the worker target falling from 230,000 to 220,000 and the student target from 155,000 to 150,000. The economic class share rises to 64% in 2027 and 2028, the highest in more than a decade: the Federal High Skilled category grows from 109,000 to 111,000 and the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) from 91,500 to 92,500, while family reunification falls from 84,000 to 81,000, refugees and protected persons hold at 49,300, and humanitarian and other grounds fall from 6,900 to 5,000.

The 380,000 figure is not the whole of it. Two one-time arrangements open separate channels outside that target: one will move about 115,000 people already granted protection in Canada straight to permanent residence across 2026 and 2027, and the other will accelerate up to 33,000 temporary workers already employed in Canada towards permanent residence. The two together account for about 140,000 people and are not counted against the 380,000 annual target, which explains why actual landings can run above the headline number even while the permanent resident figure stays flat.

The 2029 number is what the new plan will be watched for. It would be the first time Canada has set an official permanent resident admissions target for that year, and it will also confirm or revise the 2027 and 2028 figures, which under the current plan are nominal only: a footnote states that both were to be confirmed or adjusted before November 1 of each year. The plan is widely expected to set fresh targets for temporary foreign workers and international students as well, and to say how the government intends to keep shrinking the temporary resident population.

Directional signals have been accumulating. Prime Minister Mark Carney told The New York Times in September that immigration was back under control, and that the question now was when "controlled growth" would begin. One licensed consultant's assessment is that the 2027 target will most likely stay near 380,000, with a small increase to between 390,000 and 400,000 not ruled out. IRCC consulted the public on the next plan between May 12 and June 30, 2026; internal material also notes that 56% of Canadians said in the fall of 2025 that Canada admits too many immigrants, a share that has risen "significantly" within two years.

On the temporary side the hard target is equally explicit: the government has promised to bring temporary residents below 5% of the population by the end of 2027. The share has already fallen from a peak of 7.6% to 6.5%, and a February 2026 report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer concluded that the goal is reachable on the current trajectory.

Express Entry: a new scorecard on November 3, and draws on hold until the pool is recalculated

From November 3 the CRS carries an additional block, the Labour Market Integration Factor (LMIF). It is widely described as the largest change to Express Entry scoring since the system opened in 2015. The new factor is worth up to 150 points for a candidate with no accompanying spouse and up to 140 for one with a spouse or common-law partner. There are two routes to those points, and the system awards whichever is higher, never both.

One route looks at the length of Canadian work experience. The existing years-of-experience points continue to apply, and a high-wage top-up is added according to the occupation's tier: 70 points at the 2x tier, 40 at 1.5x and 20 at 1.3x, with nothing below 1.3x. The other route looks only at the job offer: a qualifying offer in a designated high-wage occupation earns a flat 100, 70 or 50 points by tier, with no experience component.

Whether a job counts as high-wage is a question about the occupation, not about the individual's pay. IRCC compares an occupation's national median wage with the median wage across Canada; occupations at 1.3 times, 1.5 times and twice that benchmark form the three tiers. The list currently holds 186 occupations: 66 at the 1.3x tier, 89 at 1.5x and 31 at 2x. An occupation is placed at the highest tier it reached between 2023 and 2025, using data from Job Bank, Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey and the census, so the ranking reflects longer-run pay rather than a single year's market movement. The list is reviewed periodically, but an invited candidate's application is assessed against the list in force on the day the invitation was issued.

Also in force on November 3 is the change to the LMIA requirement for job offers. A job offer used to meet program eligibility or to earn CRS points no longer needs a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), and holding an LMIA no longer brings extra points or priority. IRCC stresses that the genuineness of an offer will still be tested through existing checks: an officer assessing a permanent residence application must confirm that the employer is actually operating, is able to honour the terms of the offer, and recruited in line with employment and recruitment law.

The reform was contested from the outset. IRCC's consultation report, released on October 15, found that of about 17,500 respondents, 42.3% supported the high-wage work experience points and 45.8% opposed them; employers backed the measure at 74.2%, immigration lawyers and consultants at 60.7%, and researchers opposed it at 51.0%. Concern about dropping the LMIA centres on one point: the assessment was the most important third-party verification of a job offer, and without it the detection of fraudulent offers will rest more heavily on follow-up review. The 18 days between the minister's confirmation on October 16 and implementation on November 3 left many practitioners arguing that preparation time was too short.

The operational response was just as unusual. Because every profile in the pool has to be rescored under the new rules, IRCC suspended all invitation rounds from November 3 and said the recalculation could take "up to two weeks". As of October 25 the pool held 228,724 candidates, including 20,535 in the 501-600 band and 787 above 601; the 351-400 band, at 47,911 candidates, was the largest. On a two-week ceiling, draws can resume no earlier than around November 17, which breaks the fortnightly rhythm.

Across the year, 2026 has been a year of targeted invitations. As of October 28, IRCC had held 65 draws and issued 149,409 invitations to apply, all of them category-based, with no general all-program round. French-language proficiency led with 60,500, followed by the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) at 57,750, health and social services at 11,500, the PNP at 10,814, trades at 6,500, senior managers at 1,000, physicians at 891, transport at 450 and military recruitment at 4. The most recent CEC draw, on October 15, had a cutoff of 519; the PNP draw on October 26 sat at 761, and the French draw on October 27 at 407. Whether those cutoffs remain comparable after the recalculation will only become clear with the first resumed round.

Representative penalties: registered on October 23, published on November 4

The administrative penalty regime for unlicensed or fraudulent immigration and citizenship representatives is now in place. Its authority is section 91.1 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a provision written into law by a budget implementation act in 2019; the supporting regulations took seven years to arrive. The regulations (SOR/2026-220) were registered on October 23 and came into force on registration; IRCC announced them on October 28, and the final text appeared in the Canada Gazette, Part II, Volume 160, No. 22, published on November 4.

A fine is calculated as a base amount plus aggravating factors plus disgorged fees, multiplied by a factor for the number of violations: $5,000 per violation for paid representation by an unlicensed agent; $15,000 per violation for a statement the representative knew to be false or misleading; a further $15,000 where that statement led to an error in administrative processing; and the fees already charged are disgorged. The multiplier is 0.5 for a first violation, 1.0 for later ones and 1.5 for multiple violations, and a single notice of violation is capped at $1.5 million. Refusing to cooperate with an inspection, or failing to produce documents, draws a separate $10,000 penalty.

The regime covers licensed professionals as well as unlicensed representatives, including those operating outside Canada. It targets paid representation; unpaid help from family and friends is unaffected.

IRCC plans a searchable public registry of representatives in violation for 2027, listing name, business name, address, date of the violation, the provisions involved, the amount of the penalty and whether it has been paid. Nothing is published until the 30-day review period has ended, and an entry is removed if the finding is overturned on judicial review.

The design has not gone unchallenged. The regulations' impact assessment report records that law societies and lawyer groups argue IRCC has no jurisdiction over lawyers and that the scheme amounts to duplicate regulation; practitioners worry that public naming will cause reputational damage that cannot be undone, and criticise a review process that runs on the written record alone and admits no new evidence. IRCC's answer is that the regime "is not regulation", does not touch a lawyer's licence to practise, and is "complementary" to existing oversight by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) and the provincial law societies. Only four groups may charge for representation: CICC-licensed consultants, lawyers in good standing with a provincial law society, notaries of the Chambre des notaires du Quebec, and licensed paralegals in Ontario.

For applicants, the practical advice is unchanged and basic: before paying anyone, confirm that the person is a CICC-licensed consultant or a lawyer with a provincial law society.

Twenty-six land crossings get new hours on November 1

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) adjusted hours at 26 land ports of entry from 2:00 a.m. on November 1: nine in British Columbia, four in Alberta and 13 in Manitoba. In Alberta the crossings affected are Aden, Carway, Del Bonita and Wild Horse. The new schedule runs until 2:00 a.m. on March 14, 2027, when the spring timetable is adjusted again.

The immediate cause is that three provinces have abandoned the twice-yearly clock change. British Columbia made its last change on March 8, 2026 and from November 1 stays on Pacific Time (UTC-7) permanently; Alberta moves to year-round "Alberta time" (UTC-6); Manitoba ended seasonal time change by order-in-council. The groundwork at the provincial level dates back years: a 2019 public consultation in British Columbia drew 223,000 responses, 93% of them in favour of year-round daylight time, with the Interpretation Amendment Act of that year as the legal basis, though the move was shelved for years because it depended on coordination with the west coast states.

The agency's explanation is that the American side still changes its clocks twice a year, so without a matching adjustment the two sides' opening windows would sit an hour out of step, a mismatch that is especially sensitive when an inadmissible person has to be removed immediately. The CBSA advises travellers to use a nearby crossing instead and says it has spoken with emergency services on both sides of the line.

Friction at the local level is real. Kenora, Ontario sits in the Eastern time zone but has close ties to Manitoba, and residents are now unsure which side's schedule to plan around. For cross-border commuters, truck drivers and tourists who rely on small crossings, checking the agency's directory of ports and services before setting out has become a necessary step this month.

Remote border permits end late on November 30

The RABC permit system terminates at 11:59 p.m. on November 30 and closes formally on December 1. After that, travellers entering through designated remote areas of northern Ontario, or through the Northwest Angle into southern Manitoba, must report in person at a port of entry or use a designated telephone reporting point. A CBSA notice on August 10 stopped accepting new applications and made clear that telephone reporting will follow Memorandum D2-5-12.

The system covers five areas: the Northwest Angle; the stretch from Pigeon River to Lake of the Woods; the Canadian shore of Lake Superior; the lock system above Sault Ste. Marie; and Cockburn Island. About 11,000 permit holders use it each year, roughly 90% of them American citizens. Three reasons are given for the closure: border integrity, aligning reporting standards with the rest of the country, and matching the practice of US Customs and Border Protection in remote areas. The permit regime was first announced for cancellation on December 19, 2025, with a closure originally set for September 14, 2026 and postponed to November 30 to leave holders a full summer.

For the cottage owners, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts who have long depended on the permit, 2026 is the last season in which a crossing can be made without reporting. Failure to report can bring fines, seizure, or even criminal prosecution under the Customs Act.

Work permits waiting on an LMIA: the 90-day limit is gone

IRCC updated its internal guidance on October 28 and removed the 90-day limit that applied to in-Canada work permit applications while an employer's LMIA was pending. The earlier guidance held that applications eligible for "parallel processing" would not be decided until 90 days had passed from the date of submission, a grace period that had itself been extended from 60 days to 90 days on August 21, 2026. The new guidance is more direct: an officer must wait for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to reach a final decision on the LMIA before processing the work permit, with no administrative time limit, and applications involving a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) must wait for the certificate to be issued before a decision is made.

The eligibility conditions are unchanged: the existing work permit expires within two weeks; the employer filed a complete LMIA application far enough ahead to match published processing times; the LMIA is still pending; and the applicant applied in Canada under the parallel processing rule. IRCC notes that an LMIA application filed only as the permit runs out will be brought into parallel processing in exceptional cases only, and ESDC advises applying at least four months in advance.

The effect for applicants cuts both ways. Those who qualify and apply to extend before their permit expires can keep working under maintained status; but the LMIA requirement itself has not been withdrawn, and a work permit under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program still depends on an approved LMIA. What was removed is an administrative deadline, not the substantive test.

Temporary measures for three countries expire on November 27

Temporary measures covering foreign nationals whose country of last residence is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan expire at 23:59:59 Eastern Time on November 27. They were first imposed on May 27, 2026 in response to an Ebola outbreak and were extended by 60 days on September 28 to the end of November. The measures suspend the issuance of visas and electronic travel authorisations (eTAs) to those nationals, and suspend the use of temporary resident visas, eTAs, temporary resident permit counterfoils and permanent resident visas already issued; applications continue to be received but no final decision is made.

The test is the country of last residence, not nationality, and the status of people already in Canada is unaffected. Exemptions must be sought case by case, with the applicant showing 21 days outside the affected countries and providing a public health risk assessment. When the measures end, suspended documents become valid again automatically, but their validity period is not extended. Separately, since July 20, foreign nationals who have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the previous 21 days may not board a flight to Canada.

The government may extend or adjust the measures again before they lapse. Affected applicants should watch for IRCC announcements around November 27 and should not book travel or file applications that depend on those documents before the expiry date.

The dates to remember this month

The eight changes look scattered, but they share an obvious trait: the rules moved before the processes did. The CRS has a new algorithm while draws wait for the recalculation to finish; the penalty regime is in force while the public registry waits until 2027; crossing hours have changed while the American clock has not caught up. For applicants, employers and travellers, what matters is not memorising every provision but holding on to a handful of dates, and having the paperwork ready before each one.