Grace Mustrada’s voice trembles as she is reminded of someone she met whose permanent residency in Canada was rejected.
“I could see her pain. She really was longing to be with her family for a long time, but then the system hinders her to get this application, to get this PR that she’s been wishing or waiting for, praying for,” she says. “It’s just so sad.”
Her own story was not that different, albeit with a happy ending.
She had to wait almost 10 years to be reunited with her family, as she followed her “little Canadian dream.” Mustrada moved to the Greater Toronto Area in 2018 after working in Hong Kong for some time.
When she tried to apply for permanent residence and learned she was ineligible, she paid thousands of dollars to obtain a Personal Support Worker Certificate.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic upended her plans, but in 2022, she was able to take advantage of a program that offered a pathway to PR, and she could finally bring her family over from the Philippines.
“It’s very special to be with my mom again,” says her daughter Leila, who was 18 when she immigrated. “Even sharing a meal with her every now and then – it’s the little things, but really they count a lot, they mean a lot to me.”
Leila says she’s grateful that her mom’s hard work paid off, but feels sad for those who are trying to move to Canada now and might be faced with even greater challenges.
Four in 10 newcomers say Canada should let in fewer than 100,000 a year
Over the past two years, Ottawa has been curbing immigration levels and capping some programs to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada.
The federal budget tabled earlier this month sets the target of new permanent residents at 380,000 per year from 2026 to 2028, and slashes almost in half the number of temporary residents that will be allowed into the country.
The new targets appear to be closer to, though still much higher than, what the vast majority of newcomers want from the federal government, according to a new Leger poll commissioned by OMNI News.
The survey was conducted in October, about a month before Ottawa released its updated Immigration Levels Plan, among 1,510 respondents who were all born outside of Canada.
It found that 67 per cent of newcomers believe Canada should admit fewer than 300,000 new immigrants per year, and four in 10 say the number should be even lower, at less than 100,000.
“I think it’s a terrible shame, quite frankly, that public perceptions with respect to immigration to the country have shifted so dramatically,” says Andrew Enns, Executive Vice-President at Leger.
He explains that while newcomers are largely supportive of the government cutting down on immigration to relieve pressure on housing, health care, and other services, newer immigrants are less likely to agree.
“Those newer to the country, they do put their hand up a little bit and say, ‘Well, hold on. Temporary foreign workers, maybe we need them in some places.’ Because I think they feel they’re the ones impacted when you start making these changes.”
‘We were failed by the system’: Newer immigrants bear the brunt of stricter policies
The OMNI-Leger poll shows that so far, only one in 10 immigrants has felt the repercussions of stricter immigration policies, either personally or through a family member. And while the government’s new measures will likely impact more people as they are implemented, the effects are already hitting home deeply for some.
Abhijit Singh, who came to Canada as an international student in 2019, is now weighing his options after his application for PR under the Ontario Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream was rejected.
“We faced COVID, and at that time the government invited international students to come, study, and work,” he tells OMNI News. “At that time, nobody questioned whether we were taking jobs from Canadians.”
“We were failed by the system,” he says, adding that he waited nearly two years to find out if he could get PR. “Now, most of our work permits are expiring soon, and they say they cannot do anything.”
“When somebody sends you from India or Tunisia to study in Toronto or Vancouver, there is an expectation to stay,” says Alessandra Attias, an immigration consultant in Montreal. “But it’s not everybody’s case. So people feel cheated, in a way.”
She believes that while for years Canada has been very good at marketing itself as a prime destination for newcomers, things are more complicated now, as immigration policies are more dynamic.
Newcomers are divided over the Carney government’s record on immigration
According to the Leger poll, balancing immigration with housing and infrastructure capacity, and supporting economic growth, should be the top priorities for Canada’s immigration system.
However, newcomers are split over whether Ottawa is currently doing a better job on this file.
Four in 10 say they see no difference between the immigration policies of the government led by Mark Carney and those of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – the same percentage of respondents who believe things have improved.
Meanwhile, in Guelph, Ontario, where she is in her third year of university, Leila Nustrada says that while immigrants should be “more realistic of how life now works in Canada,” both Canadians and newcomers should be more empathetic.
“We should foster a more supportive community,” she adds. “We all just want to get a better life for ourselves and our families.”
The poll was completed between Oct. 2 and Oct. 15, 2025, among 1,510 respondents who were all born outside Canada, using Leger’s online panel. No margin of error can be associated with it.
This story is part of a series from OMNI News with data being released throughout the month.
