Roughly 360,000 study permits expected to be approved this year
The federal government is limiting the number of international students it will allow to come to the country this year in hopes of addressing the holes in the way things are today.
Ottawa is putting a cap on roughly 360,000 approved applications for 2024, a decrease of 35 per cent from 2023.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will allocate a portion of the cap to each province and territory, who will then distribute the allocation among their designated learning institutions.
To implement the cap, every study permit application submitted to IRCC must include an attestation letter from a province or territory, effective Jan. 22. Provinces and territories are expected to establish a process for issuing attestation letters to students by no later than March 31 this year.
Ottawa will re-assess the number of new study permit applications by the end of this year to come up with the cap for 2025.
The government will also consult with provinces and territories, designated learning institutions and national education stakeholders on developing a sustainable path forward for international students. This includes finalizing a recognized institution framework, determining long-term sustainable levels of international students and ensuring post-secondary institutions are able to provide adequate levels of student housing.
‘Lucrative’ system ‘opened a path for its abuse’
The move comes as “in recent years, the integrity of the international student system has been threatened,” says the federal government.
“International students are vital to Canada and enrich our communities. As such, we have an obligation to ensure that they have access to the resources they need for an enriching academic experience. In Canada, today, this isn’t always the case,” says Marc Miller, minister at IRCC.
Ottawa notes that some institutions have “significantly increased their intakes to drive revenues” and more students have been arriving in Canada “without the proper supports they need to succeed”.
International students arriving in Canada in bunches puts pressure on housing, health care and other services, the government explains.
“Today, we are announcing additional measures to protect a system that has become so lucrative that it has opened a path for its abuse. Enough is enough,” says Miller.
“Through the decisive measures announced today, we are striking the right balance for Canada and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system while setting students up for the success they hope for.”
The ban on the limit on the hours that migrant workers in Canada are allowed to work will see its final days in a few months. Starting this April, Ottawa will make 20 hours the ceiling for these workers, down from the current 40 hours, according to a previous Reuters report.
Canada's weekly 20-hour working cap for international students was suspended on Nov. 15, 2022. International students in Canada have previously called on the federal government to extend the rule allowing them to work more than 20 hours per week.
New eligibility criteria for international students
Also, in order to better align the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program, the federal government is changing the eligibility criteria:
Starting Sept. 1, 2024, international students who begin a study program that is part of a curriculum licensing arrangement will no longer be eligible for a post-graduation work permit upon graduation.
“Under curriculum licensing agreements, students physically attend a private college that has been licensed to deliver the curriculum of an associated public college. These programs have seen significant growth in attracting international students in recent years, though they have less oversight than public colleges and they act as a loophole with regards to post-graduation work permit eligibility,” explains the government.
Also, graduates of master’s and other short graduate-level programs will soon be eligible to apply for a three-year work permit.
Under current criteria, the length of a post-graduation work permit is based solely on the length of an individual’s study program, and this limits the amount of time they have to gain work experience and potentially transition to permanent residence, according to the government.
Job seekers from outside Canada have shown far greater interest in coming to work in the country, according to a previous Indeed report.
