Why Many Immigrants Leave Canada: Findings from a 40-Year Study

Canada continues to lose many immigrants after they arrive, including those with high levels of education and specialized skills. A new report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) and the Conference Board of Canada, The Leaky Bucket 2025: Retention Challenges in Highly Skilled Immigrants and In-Demand Occupations, examines long-term trends in immigrant retention and highlights ongoing challenges.

The report shows that immigrants leave Canada at relatively high rates, especially those with advanced education and professional experience. Highly educated and highly skilled immigrants are leaving at about twice the rate of immigrants with lower levels of education and fewer specialized skills.

This study is the third in ICC’s Leaky Bucket series and analyzes 40 years of data. It finds that about one in five immigrants leave Canada within 25 years of arriving. The highest number of departures occurs within the first five years after landing, suggesting that early settlement experiences play an important role in long-term decisions to stay or leave.

According to Daniel Bernhard, CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, Canada benefits when skilled newcomers choose to build their lives in the country. However, the data shows that many professionals, including engineers, healthcare workers, scientists, and senior managers, eventually move elsewhere. Their skills only contribute to Canada’s economy if they remain in the country.

Key Findings

• One in five immigrants leave Canada within 25 years of arrival.
• Immigrants with higher levels of education leave more often. Those with doctorates are nearly twice as likely to leave as those with bachelor’s degrees.
• High-skilled immigrants leave at about twice the rate of low-skilled workers within the first five years.
• Occupations with strong labour demand, such as business and finance management, information and communications technology (ICT), engineering, and architecture management, show some of the highest departure rates.
• Income growth is closely linked to retention. Immigrants whose earnings increase over time are more likely to stay, while those with limited income growth are more likely to leave. Among doctorate holders, those with stagnant incomes are almost three times more likely to leave than those whose incomes grow.
• Atlantic Canada experiences the highest levels of immigrant departures compared to other regions.
• Most immigrants who leave Canada do so from the first province where they settled, without relocating to another province.

Overall, the report suggests that while Canada has been successful at attracting immigrants, it has more difficulty retaining them over the long term. As immigration levels change and the population continues to age, the departure of highly skilled immigrants can affect economic growth, innovation, and workforce availability in key sectors.

Bernhard notes that when skilled immigrants leave, the demand for their skills remains. The report argues that without improvements in retention, Canada risks continuing a cycle where newcomers arrive but do not stay long enough to fully contribute.

The report outlines several areas that could improve understanding and tracking of immigrant retention. These include creating a national framework to measure retention outcomes, updating settlement and integration programs for highly skilled immigrants, addressing challenges related to professional licensing and credential recognition, and examining workplace practices that influence long-term career growth and stability for newcomers.