(MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK) — Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced on January 19, 2026, that Canada is adding 5,000 dedicated permanent resident selection spaces for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec under the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan.
Metlege Diab made the announcement at 1:00 p.m. Atlantic Time in Moncton, New Brunswick, alongside MP Ginette Petitpas Taylor, positioning the new PR selection spaces as a targeted boost for Francophone immigration beyond Quebec.
The added spaces lift Canada’s French-speaking PR admissions target outside Quebec to approximately 30,267 in 2026, with the plan setting higher targets of 31,825 (9.5%) in 2027 and 35,175 (10.5%) in 2028.
Those figures align with an overall permanent resident target of 380,000 in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028, while the government plans 336,733 non-Quebec PR spots within that 380,000 total for 2026.
In 2026, French-speaking admissions outside Quebec account for 9% of non-Quebec PR spots, rising to 10.5% in 2028, marking a steady expansion in the share of non-Quebec permanent residents expected to arrive through Francophone immigration.
The new spaces focus on federal economic pathways like Express Entry, with French proficiency prioritized as part of the push to meet the outside-Quebec targets.
The announcement sits within Canada’s broader Immigration Levels Plan approach, which maps admissions across multiple years and categories, including economic, family, and humanitarian pathways, rather than relying on a single program to deliver the full Francophone objective.
Canada’s immigration department also tied the shift to recent performance, with IRCC confirming on January 19, 2026, that Canada exceeded its 2025 Francophone immigration target outside Quebec.
That 2025 result, referenced by IRCC as part of the rollout, comes as Ottawa aims to pair higher admissions targets with supports intended to strengthen recruitment and settlement outcomes for French-speaking newcomers outside Quebec.
One of those supports includes a $3.6 million investment through the Francophone Immigration Support Program announced November 27, 2025.
The plan’s targets indicate a multi-year direction: higher French-speaking admissions outside Quebec in each year of the 2026–2028 cycle, and a rising percentage share of non-Quebec permanent residents expected to come through Francophone admissions.
While the plan’s top-line PR target holds at 380,000, the French-speaking targets outside Quebec grow from 30,267 to 35,175 over the three years, signaling an expanded role for French proficiency within national selection and admissions management.
Ottawa’s approach relies on multiple admission channels to meet the Francophone objective outside Quebec, including economic routes such as Express Entry, as well as family and humanitarian admissions.
The distribution across categories matters because the new PR selection spaces are not presented as a standalone program; instead, they add capacity within planning that already spans economic, family and humanitarian streams.
The government’s figures show the scale of the economic channel in 2026, with 239,800 admissions planned in the economic category that year.
Quebec remains outside these outside-Quebec Francophone targets, because the province operates a separate immigration selection framework.
Quebec’s own plan calls for 45,000 PR admissions in 2026, alongside tighter rules that include ending the Québec Experience Program on November 19, 2025, a change that signals a distinct policy direction for applicants considering Quebec-based options.
By setting the Francophone objective explicitly outside Quebec, Ottawa’s plan separates its national Francophone admissions strategy from Quebec’s selection rules and levels planning.
For prospective immigrants, the practical effect is that French skills can carry weight in pathways that operate outside Quebec, where selection can reward language ability within competitive systems.
French proficiency at an intermediate level or higher can boost eligibility and competitiveness in Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Programs, and in targeted sectors outside Quebec such as health and education.
Those are areas where provinces and employers often face recruitment pressures, and where applicants with French-language ability can fit specific priorities tied to community needs beyond Quebec.
In the federal selection system, French-language draws can change how quickly candidates receive invitations compared with broader rounds, depending on the type of draw and the profile of candidates in the pool.
The government’s announcement pointed to recent Express Entry dynamics to illustrate that difference, citing lower Comprehensive Ranking System cut-offs in French rounds.
Examples included a CRS cut-off of 399 in December 2025 French rounds, compared with 511 in January 7, 2026 Canadian Experience Class draws.
Those figures highlight how invitation dynamics can vary across draw types, reflecting factors such as policy focus, category rounds, the composition of the candidate pool, and program-specific selection decisions.
The same contrast underscores why applicants tracking the Immigration Levels Plan often also watch draw results, since invitations can shift over time with changing operational priorities and intake management.
Beyond core admissions planning, the 2026–2028 framework also includes one-time transition measures designed to move specific groups into permanent residence over a limited period.
Those measures include transitioning 115,000 protected persons and up to 33,000 temporary workers to PR in 2026–2027.
Such one-time measures can affect how governments manage admissions across years, because they concentrate processing and selection effort within a defined timeframe while fitting into overall PR capacity.
For applicants already in Canada, the measures signal that transition pathways can play a role in the 2026–2027 landscape alongside ongoing economic, family and humanitarian admissions, even as French-language selection remains focused on the outside-Quebec objective.
The added 5,000 PR selection spaces for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec sit within that broader planning picture, which pairs a higher Francophone target in 2026 with rising levels in 2027 and 2028.
In practice, meeting the targets depends on how admissions materialize across streams rather than through a single intake channel, which is why the announcement emphasized federal economic pathways like Express Entry while also situating the new spaces inside multi-category planning.
For candidates seeking to benefit from French-language selection outside Quebec, the plan also reinforces the importance of aligning profiles with program requirements, particularly around language documentation, education, work history, and where applicants intend to live.
French-speaking immigrants pursuing permanent residence outside Quebec typically face program-specific eligibility rules, with selection criteria differing across Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Programs, and other routes that contribute to economic, family or humanitarian admissions.
That program specificity remains in place even with dedicated PR selection spaces, because the spaces set a planning objective while the selection mechanisms still rely on existing pathways and eligibility rules.
The recent CRS examples cited alongside the plan also show why French-language candidates can experience a different competitive environment than applicants in other draws, though cut-offs can fluctuate and depend on the draw type and pool composition.
In the months ahead, applicants and communities will likely track implementation through the regular release of draw outcomes and any program guidance updates as the government manages admissions to meet the 2026–2028 targets.
Provincial participation also remains part of the picture for admissions outside Quebec, given the role of Provincial Nominee Programs in selecting candidates for permanent residence and in shaping where newcomers settle.
For Francophone minority communities outside Quebec, the plan’s rising targets from 30,267 in 2026 to 35,175 in 2028 tie the admissions objective directly to long-term planning, with the added 5,000 spaces serving as a defined increase within the first year of the cycle.
The government’s numbers, paired with IRCC’s confirmation that the 2025 Francophone immigration objective outside Quebec was exceeded, frame the 2026 expansion as a continuation of momentum rather than a standalone shift.
As Ottawa begins delivering the new Immigration Levels Plan, the outside-Quebec scope remains central: the dedicated PR selection spaces target French-speaking immigrants beyond Quebec, while Quebec runs its own system with 45,000 PR admissions planned for 2026 and policy changes such as ending the Québec Experience Program on November 19, 2025.
For French-speaking immigrants considering Canada, the plan makes clear that French ability can function as an admissions lever outside Quebec, with selection outcomes shaped by program rules, draw type, and how governments manage intake across economic, family and humanitarian categories.
Breaking: Canada Adds 5,000 PR Selection Spaces for French-Speaking Immigrants
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced 5,000 new permanent resident spaces for French speakers outside Quebec as part of the 2026–2028 Immigration Levels Plan. These targets aim for a steady increase in Francophone admissions, reaching 10.5% of non-Quebec PR spots by 2028. The strategy leverages economic pathways like Express Entry and transition measures for temporary workers, supported by multi-million dollar investments in integration and community recruitment.
