Newcomers and their Needs: Understanding Immigration, Policy Changes, and What it Means for CALPs

As an approachable place for learning and support throughout Alberta, it should come as no surprise that Alberta’s CALPs are often the first place new immigrants and refugees go for assistance. Sometimes that support is for English and essential skills—well within scope and expertise!—but increasingly, CALP staff and volunteers are confronted with complex immigration challenges.

Canada’s immigration landscape is always in flux, and in the last 18 months, has undergone dramatic changes impacting many newcomers. Below, we will identify some of the biggest new changes, and what they mean for clients and CALPs alike.

Immigration Categories: Citizens and Permanent Residents

Canada has three main immigration statuses: citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents.

Canadian Citizens can have a Canadian passport, vote in Canadian elections once they turn 18, and run for public office. Anyone who is born in Canada is a citizen by default—this is also true in many other countries of the Western Hemisphere. You can also become a citizen through naturalization (taking an exam), or by inheriting residency from your parents. If you are born a Canadian citizen, you will be a Canadian citizen for life. If you are naturalized as a Canadian citizen, it can be rescinded but this only happens under extreme circumstances (usually ID fraud or terrorism).

Permanent Residents (PRs) are people who have come from another country, either willingly or due to displacement, and has been given the right to live in Canada permanently by Canadian authorities. Economic immigrants can be PRs, and refugees can also be PRs—both have the same status. Permanent Residents are identified by their Permanent Resident Cards (PR Cards). PR Cards are like driver’s licenses. The cards need to be renewed every few years, but the residency status itself does not expire. Once you are a PR, you can live in Canada for the rest of your life if you so choose.

In Canada, citizens and Permanent Residents can access basically all the same programs. For example: Alberta Health Care, K-12 education, daycare subsidy, supports for children with disabilities, supports for seniors/retired people, financial entitlements, supplemental provincial benefits (health, dental, etc.)

Alberta does not draw distinctions in eligibility for citizens and PRs. While there have recently been significant political discussions about Alberta’s services for immigrants, these do not concern Permanent Residents.

Immigration Categories: Temporary Residents

As the name suggests, Temporary Residents have the right to work or study in Canada on a Temporary (time-limited) basis. How long the person is entitled to stay in Canada to work or study depends on what program they are participating in. When their residency expires, the Temporary Residents must leave Canada.

Temporary Residents often seek assistance at CALPs, as they are prohibited from accessing many social programs. While their visas are active, Temporary Residents can access Alberta Health Care, and their children can attend K-12 schools. When their visas expire, they are no longer permitted to access these government services and will be expected to pay for their use. Even with an active visa, Temporary Residents are not permitted to access additional supports like disability services, senior supports, subsidy programs, and so on.

There are three kinds of Temporary Residents: workers, students, and asylum seekers.

• A temporary foreign worker has come to Canada to work for a specific amount of time—often 1, 2, or 3 years. When their visa expires, they must return to their country of origin.
• An international student has come to Canada to study. They can be adults in college or university, or children under 18 in Alberta’s K-12 schools.
• Asylum seekers are asking Canada’s protection. They go to a specialized tribunal, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), where judges hear their case and determine if they are eligible to become refugees. If IRB agrees that they are persecuted beyond safety in their country, they become refugees and can remain in Canada. If IRB disagrees, they are deported back to their country of origin.

Most Temporary Residents want to become Permanent Residents. In the past, this was much more common and simple, but heading into 2026, Permanent Residency is a highly competitive process, prioritizing fluency in English and/or French, higher education, high-skilled employment experience, and age.

Most Temporary Residents will not become Permanent Residents, and will be expected to leave Canada when their visas expire.

Context and Changes

At the end of 2024, there were 3 million temporary residents in Canada—about 7.5% of Canada’s population. This was unusually high, both in Canada’s history and internationally; it became politically and socially controversial.

Since then, the Government of Canada implemented significant changes to temporary residency programs. Fewer work and study visas have been issued, and there were significant (and ongoing) changes to Canda’s asylum system.

The current goal is for Canada’s population to be less than 5% temporary residents by December 2026. This means that more than 1,000,000 people will be expected to leave Canada by that time.

We are already seeing the impacts: from July to October 2025, Canada’s population dropped by 0.2%. Approximately 175,000 Temporary Residents left Canada during this period. This is the biggest population drop in Canada’s history, and this trend is expected to continue through 2026.

How to Best Support

As mentioned, most Temporary Residents hoped or intended to become Permanent Residents. They may have spent significant time and money on their immigration journey to Canada, and are often quite devastated to hear that they will be expected to return home. While this is incredibly emotional and challenging, it is in the best interest of Temporary Residents to comply with their visa expiries.

As CALP staff, it is key to understand:

•  Immigration’s course cannot be easily altered. Families may ask you to write letters of support or advocate. This will not do any harm, but it is extremely unlikely to help the family’s case.
• Encourage compliance with legislation. If a family is asked to leave, and they do, they can apply to return to Canada later; if they do not, they may be permanently barred from the country.
• If abuse has occurred—for example, an employer or an immigration consultant has promised Permanent Residency and charged exorbitant fees—encourage the victims to disclose and report. This can prevent future abuses.