Follow-Up: Canada's Immigration Minister Confirms 32,000 Hong Kong Places Cover Spouses and Children, Backlog to Be Processed by End of 2027
Markham, Ontario — Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lena Metlege Diab, told a roundtable with Hong Kong community organizations in Markham on November 7 that the 32,000 permanent-residence admissions set aside to clear the Hong Kong pathway backlog cover principal applicants together with their spouses and dependent children, not principal applicants alone.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) confirmed in a November 10 news release that the 2027 admission space aims to process all remaining applications under the Hong Kong permanent residence pathways, which are expected to result in up to 32,000 admissions.
The confirmation answered the Hong Kong community's central question. Landson Chan, advocacy and communications officer at Hong Kong Watch, asked the minister whether the 32,000 figure was counted per application or included family members. Diab confirmed it includes spouses and dependent children. Hong Kong Watch said the clarification gives waiting Hong Kong families a clearer picture of the measure's scope.
IRCC also reiterated its goal of finalizing all remaining Hong Kong pathway applications by the end of 2027. The pathways, introduced in 2021, closed to new applications on August 31, 2026; the time-limited measure covers only applications already in the queue and does not reopen the pathways.
Canada-Hong Kong Link told the meeting the actual backlog may exceed 32,000 cases, noting that publicly available figures date only to May this year. The minister responded that the new measure will cover all Hong Kong pathway applicants. Participants also noted that some open work permit applications have moved quickly while others have waited nearly a year, and urged the department to follow up on case progress. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson and MPs Jean Yip and Michael Ma also attended the roundtable.
As of June 30, 2026, the Hong Kong pathways had 30,315 applications in process representing 48,560 people, and Hong Kong Watch testified before Parliament's immigration committee on October 29 that the category's admission target for 2026 was only 800.
Canada's 2027–2029 Immigration Levels Plan, released November 5, holds regular permanent-resident targets at 380,000 a year and adds a time-limited measure providing up to 200,000 additional admissions in 2027, including up to 100,000 under a humanitarian cohort that covers the Hong Kong and Ukraine family reunification pathways.
(Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada)
Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 加拿大移民、难民及公民事务部长 Lena Metlege Diab。（CC BY 4.0，© European Union 2026，European Commission Audiovisual Center 摄，经 Wikimedia Commons；竖幅原图经模糊延展适配横幅）
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