Social media posts mislead on number of new immigrants to Canada in 2025

Changes to Canada's immigration targets last year have led to a projected decrease in overall permanent resident admissions in the coming years, while Canada's population itself is projected to recede. In late May, posts on social media claimed Canada took in more than 800,000 new immigrants in the first four months of 2025, almost 500,000 of which were temporary workers. These figures are misleading. The numbers represent the applications processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada so far this year, which includes work and study permit extensions from temporary residents already residing in Canada.

THE CLAIM

"Canada took in 817,000 immigrants in the first 4 months of 2025!" read a on X, formerly Twitter. "4.9 MILLION have permits that expire in 2025. We keep letting more in. Why? There’s no jobs for Canadians now."

The post – which had more than 1.4 million views and 12,000 likes at the time of publication – also contained an 11-second video clip of mostly non-white people in a "line for jobs" at an LCBO in London, Ont.

Another , which had 313,000 views and nearly 9,000 likes at the time of publication, claimed Canada brought in nearly 500,000 temporary workers in first four months of 2025.

RATING: Misleading

The 817,000 figure appears to have come an Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) highlighting its application processing backlog. In it, the department says it has "finalized 194,000 study permit applications (including extensions) and 491,400 work permit applications (including extensions) from January 1 to April 30, 2025," as well as welcoming 132,100 new permanent residents in that time span.

Those figures added together equal 817,500 processed applications. However, those processed applications include extensions for people already residing in Canada and don't translate one-for-one with the number of new people entering the country. There also may be overlap between those with a student visa and a work permit.

Additionally, it's unclear from the site whether IRCC's reference to finalizing applications for those temporary residents equates to an application approval.

In a , the X user claimed the number of temporary residents was even higher, citing a report from the news site , based in India, saying Canada approved 834,010 temporary resident applications.

This figure comes from a released by the IRCC on new applications and extensions approved for temporary residents in the first three months of 2025.

According to the office of Canada's immigration minister, those approvals factor in visitor visas (which includes tourists), work permits and study permits — including for people extending their visas who are already in the country. They also include approvals for people who are entering the country at a later date.

"At this time, the temporary resident population in Canada has already fallen by 0.2 per cent of Canada’s total population in the first quarter of 2025," a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Lena Diab told ��.

The federal government revised its immigration levels plan in October 2024, dropping the 2025 target for new permanent residents to 395,000 from 500,000, and introducing a 2025 target for new set at 673,650.

POPULATION ESTIMATES NOT YET RELEASED

The social media posts specify their figures reflect the first four months of 2025. While the IRCC application processing backlog web page references that time span, most recent datasets from the federal government reflect the first quarter of 2025 — which only encompasses three months of data, not four.

Statistics Canada, which publishes population estimates — including figures for immigrants and non-permanent residents — is expected to release its data for the first quarter of 2025 on June 18.

The video accompanying the post is also misleading.

The post implies the job-seekers are immigrants, but there's nothing to indicate that in the video.

Also, while it doesn't explicitly give a time-stamp of when it was taken, it is presented in the context of present day, accompanying the claim of there being "no jobs for Canadians now."

However, the video can be traced back as far as March 2024. An Instagram post from the 6ixbuzztv account the video on March 16, 2024, crediting it to an account that is now private.

SOURCES

Claims to X May 30, 2025 (), again () and ()

IRCC applications at a glance: Inventories and backlogs. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada . Accessed June 13, 2025 ()

Statement from the office of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, received June 9, 2025

Canada visas 2025: India leads with 45.8% of 834,010 study, work permits. Business Standard . May 30, 2025 ()

Operational Processing – Monthly IRCC Updates - Source Countries - New Applications and Extensions Approved for Temporary Residents by Month. IRCC . Accessed June 13, 2025 ()

Nojoud Al Mallees, Laura Osman. Trudeau announces massive drop in immigration targets as Liberals make major pivot. �� website. Oct. 24, 2024 ()

Notice – Supplementary Information for the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada . Accessed June 4, 2025 ()

Crazy line up for a job at an LCBO in London, ON. Instagram . March 16, 2024 ()

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