Immigration Minister Marc Miller speaks at a citizenship ceremony for forty new Canadian citizens to mark Citizenship Week in Surrey, B.C., on May 13.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
The federal cabinet could discuss plans as early as next week to provide a path to citizenship for thousands of migrants living in Canada without valid documents, including rejected asylum seekers, so they can remain here legally.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller is preparing a plan for discussion by cabinet before Parliament breaks for its summer recess within weeks.
It would propose that people living in Canada without legal status – including former international students whose study permits have expired – have a chance to apply to regularize their position and gain permanent residence.
Depending on the numbers who apply, the government may consider staggering the granting of permanent residence to undocumented migrants over several years to avoid a sudden surge, granting them work permits first.
Last year, Ottawa froze the number of permanent residents it aims to welcome to Canada for 2026 at 500,000 in the face of shrinking public support for immigration.
The federal government has also stuck with its targets of 485,000 permanent residents for 2024, and 500,000 for 2025.
Polls have shown a sharp drop in public support for immigration as Canadians increasingly associate a lack of affordable housing with an influx of newcomers.
But Syed Hussan, executive director, Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said people who are living and working here already would not apply additional pressure on housing.
He said regularizing the status of migrants who are living here could also lead to the injection of billions of dollars into the economy. He said a program to give status to people living in Canada would be a “litmus test” of the government’s commitment to support migrants.
Many migrants without valid papers have been working here for decades and have children but risk deportation because they overstayed in Canada or have been denied the right to remain.
People who entered the country legally, including as temporary workers, but remained here after their visas expired are among those who could qualify to stay, rather than facing deportation.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail last year, Mr. Miller estimated hundreds of thousands of people may be living in the country without valid documents. He said he plans to present a proposal to cabinet in the spring on allowing undocumented immigrants to “regularize their status.”
Two well-placed sources whom The Globe is not naming because they are not authorized to speak on the matter, said the cabinet is on track to discuss his proposal.
The plan would fulfill the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to former immigration minister Sean Fraser in 2021, which asked him to “further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.”
A number of countries have introduced plans to allow migrants without correct papers to regularize their status.
In Ireland, a program launched in 2022 ran for six months and gave people who had lived there for four years the chance to apply for official permission to remain.
Canada is also expected to insist that migrants have lived in communities for some time, and have not just arrived. People who have committed serious crimes and terrorist offences would also be barred from the program and would still face deportation.