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Facts and figures 2008 – Immigration overview:
Permanent and temporary residents

Permanent residents

Canada – Permanent residents by category (principal applicants)

Number
Category 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Spouses and partners 30,144 32,422 34,272 29,434 33,852 38,301 39,755 39,446 39,754 39,628
Sons and daughters 3,521 3,502 3,522 3,215 3,260 2,855 3,082 3,011 3,209 3,111
Parents and grandparents 7,629 9,316 11,076 11,440 9,927 6,706 5,729 9,588 8,011 8,518
Others 2,162 2,012 2,047 2,136 2,392 2,220 2,160 1,932 2,082 1,461
Family class 43,456 47,252 50,917 46,225 49,431 50,082 50,726 53,977 53,056 52,718
Skilled workers 41,544 52,123 58,911 52,974 45,377 47,894 52,269 44,162 41,251 43,360
Entrepreneurs 1,668 1,658 1,608 1,176 781 668 751 821 581 447
Self-employed 833 795 705 636 446 366 301 320 203 164
Investors 1,138 1,390 1,768 1,234 972 1,671 2,591 2,200 2,025 2,831
Provincial/territorial nominees 151 368 410 680 1,417 2,086 2,643 4,672 6,329 8,343
Live-in caregivers 1,959 1,759 1,874 1,521 2,230 2,496 3,063 3,547 3,433 6,157
Economic immigrants 47,293 58,093 65,276 58,221 51,223 55,181 61,618 55,722 53,822 61,302
Government-assisted refugees 2,927 4,278 3,392 3,021 3,007 2,813 2,683 2,762 2,789 2,770
Privately sponsored refugees 1,009 1,416 1,654 1,343 1,611 1,436 1,449 1,545 1,627 1,560
Refugees landed
in Canada		 8,120 8,948 8,391 7,483 8,412 11,181 13,776 10,646 8,023 4,880
Refugee dependants 1,048 1,340 1,405 1,535 1,650 2,630 2,179 2,444 2,262 1,895
Refugees 13,104 15,982 14,842 13,382 14,680 18,060 20,087 17,397 14,701 11,105
Retirees, DROC and PDRCC*** 561 260 109 — 50 34 13 11 7 2
Temporary resident permit holders 0 0 0 — 73 114 88 96 80 90
H and C** cases 0 0 0 464 1,691 2,062 2,046 2,462 2,546 2,021
Other H and C cases outside the family class /
Public Policy		 0 0 0 2,928 6,291 3,479 3,190 5,383 6,293 6,616
Other immigrants 561 260 109 3,476 8,105 5,689 5,337 7,952 8,926 8,729
Category not stated 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
Total 104,414 121,587 131,145 121,304 123,440 129,012 137,768 135,049 130,505 133,855
Percentage distribution
Category 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Spouses and partners 28.9 26.7 26.1 24.3 27.4 29.7 28.9 29.2 30.5 29.6
Sons and daughters 3.4 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.6 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.5 2.3
Parents and grandparents 7.3 7.7 8.4 9.4 8.0 5.2 4.2 7.1 6.1 6.4
Others 2.1 1.7 1.6 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.4 1.6 1.1
Family class 41.6 38.9 38.8 38.1 40.0 38.8 36.8 40.0 40.7 39.4
Skilled workers 39.8 42.9 44.9 43.7 36.8 37.1 37.9 32.7 31.6 32.4
Entrepreneurs 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.3
Self-employed 0.8 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1
Investors 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.0 0.8 1.3 1.9 1.6 1.6 2.1
Provincial/territorial nominees 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.6 1.1 1.6 1.9 3.5 4.8 6.2
Live-in caregivers 1.9 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.8 1.9 2.2 2.6 2.6 4.6
Economic immigrants 45.3 47.8 49.8 48.0 41.5 42.8 44.7 41.3 41.2 45.8
Government-assisted refugees 2.8 3.5 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.1
Privately sponsored refugees 1.0 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2
Refugees landed
in Canada		 7.8 7.4 6.4 6.2 6.8 8.7 10.0 7.9 6.1 3.6
Refugee dependants 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.3 1.3 2.0 1.6 1.8 1.7 1.4
Refugees 12.6 13.1 11.3 11.0 11.9 14.0 14.6 12.9 11.3 8.3
Retirees, DROC and PDRCC*** 0.5 0.2 0.1 — 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Temporary resident permit holders 0.0 0.0 0.0 — 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
H and C** cases 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.4 1.6 1.5 1.8 2.0 1.5
Other H and C cases outside the family class /
Public Policy		 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4 5.1 2.7 2.3 4.0 4.8 4.9
Other immigrants 0.5 0.2 0.1 2.9 6.6 4.4 3.9 5.9 6.8 6.5
Category not stated 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

*** Deferred removal orders and post-determination refugee claimants in Canada
****Humanitarian and Compassionate

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Date Modified: 2009-08-25

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