Skilled and talented immigrants are leaving Canada in droves. Over the past 25 years, Canada has lost one in every five immigrants to onward migration.
A new report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) and the Conference Board of Canada finds that immigrants continue to leave Canada at near-record rates, with highly educated and highly skilled immigrants leaving Canada at twice the rate of those with less education and lower skills.
Based on 40 years of data, it was found that one in five immigrants leave Canada within 25 years, with the highest losses occurring just five years after arrival. Five years after landing in the country, these individuals are more than twice as likely to leave Canada as lower-skilled immigrants.
Who All Are Leaving Canada
The study found that too many engineers, healthcare professionals, scientists, and senior managers were part of the population that was leaving Canada.
What also emerged from the study is that highly educated immigrants are leaving faster. Those with doctorates are nearly twice as likely to leave as those with a bachelor’s degree.
According to the report, the fastest-growing occupations that have the greatest labour needs face the weakest retention rates, as business and finance managers, Information and Communication Technology professionals, engineers, and architecture managers show the highest departure rates.
Overall, within the first five years, high-skilled immigrants leave at twice the rate of low-skilled workers.
Why Are Migrants Leaving
One of the possible reasons, according to the report, is income growth. Immigrants with low income growth are far more likely to leave, while among doctorate-holders, those with stagnant incomes are nearly three times more likely than those whose incomes grow while in Canada.
The report paints a troubling picture for the Canadian economy. The authors of the report believe that Canada’s immigration system is doing a good job of attracting talent, but not keeping it.
As immigration levels stabilize and the population ages, losing highly-skilled newcomers comes with real economic costs for all Canadians – slower growth, weaker innovation, and fewer workers in key sectors, states the report.
Canada’s New Immigration Plans
In 2023, Canada experienced its highest population growth rate since the post-war baby boom, driven almost entirely by permanent and temporary immigration.
The federal government responded by decreasing immigration targets by up to 24 per cent in its 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan.
Canada’s 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan aims for 155,000 new student arrivals in 2026-2028, which is 49% fewer than last year’s target. Also, Canada plans to hire 230,000 foreign temporary workers between 2026 and 2028, a 37% decrease from the previous year’s target.