If you’re new to Canada or if you’re think­ing of set­tling here, you’re not alone.

More than half a mil­lion new­com­ers – per­ma­nent res­i­dents, tem­po­rary work­ers, and for­eign stu­dents – came to live in Canada in 2009.

That’s accord­ing to recently-​​released sta­tis­tics from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

These new­com­ers included 252,124 per­ma­nent res­i­dents — about 30,000 more per­ma­nent res­i­dents than the gov­ern­ment typ­i­cally admit­ted annu­ally in the 1990s — as well as 178,640 tem­po­rary for­eign work­ers and 85,131 for­eign stu­dents, the largest num­ber of for­eign stu­dents ever admit­ted to Canada in a sin­gle year.

According to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada news release, the gov­ern­ment expects that many for­eign stu­dents and tem­po­rary work­ers (admit­ted to the coun­try on a work per­mit) will even­tu­ally set­tle per­ma­nently in Canada, apply­ing for per­ma­nent res­i­dent sta­tus either under the Canadian Experience Class or as a Skilled Worker or Professional.

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) is designed to stream­line the immi­gra­tion process for peo­ple who are already work­ing in Canada. In gen­eral, you can apply under the CEC pro­vi­sions if you are:

• a tem­po­rary for­eign worker with at least two years of full-​​time (or equiv­a­lent) skilled work expe­ri­ence in Canada, or
• a for­eign grad­u­ate from a Canadian post-​​secondary insti­tu­tion with at least one year of full-​​time (or equiv­a­lent) skilled work expe­ri­ence in Canada

To learn more about relo­cat­ing to Canada, see our Getting Started guide, or get lots more details from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Photo by truekkris (flickr)