Ottawa—International students improve our communities and are critical to Canada’s social, cultural, and economic fabric. In recent years, the integrity of the foreign student system has been threatened. Some institutions have significantly increased their intakes to drive revenues, and more students have been coming to Canada without the proper support that they need to succeed.
Rapid increases in international students arriving in Canada also put pressure on housing, health care, and other services. As we work better to protect foreign students from bad actors and support sustainable population growth in Canada, the government is moving forward with measures to stabilize the amount of international students in Canada.
Recently the Honorable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced that the Government of Canada will set an intake cap on international student permit applications to stabilize new growth for two years. For 2024, the cap is expected to result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits, a decline of 35% from 2023. In the spirit of fairness, individual provincial and territorial caps have been established, weighted by population, resulting in much more significant decreases in provinces where the international student population has seen the most unsustainable growth. Study permit renewals will not be impacted. Those following master’s and doctoral degrees, and elementary and secondary education are not included in the cap. Present study permit holders will not be affected.
IRCC will assign a portion of the cap to each province and territory, which will then distribute the allocation among their designated learning institutions. To implement the cap, as of January 22, 2024, every study permit application submitted to IRCC will also need an attestation letter from a province or territory. Provinces and territories are expected to create a process for issuing attestation letters to students by no later than March 31, 2024.
For two years, these temporary measures will be in place, and the number of new study permit applications that will be accepted in 2025 will be re-assessed at the end of this year. During this period, the Government of Canada will continue to work with territories and provinces, designated learning institutions, and national education stakeholders on developing a sustainable path forward for foreign students, including finalizing a recognized institution framework, determining long-term sustainable levels of foreign students and ensuring post-secondary institutions can provide sufficient levels of student housing.
To better align the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program, we are changing the eligibility criteria:
Starting September 1, 2024, international students who begin a study program that is part of a curriculum licensing arrangement will no longer be entitled to 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 a massive growth in attracting international students in recent years, though they have less oversight than public colleges and they act as a loophole with regardsto post-graduation work permit eligibility.
Graduates of master’s and other short graduate-level programs will soon be eligible to apply for a 3-year work permit. Under the present criteria, the length of a post-graduation work permit is based solely on the length of an individual’s study program, hindering master’s graduates by limiting the amount of time they have to gain work experience and potentially transition to permanent residence.
In the coming weeks, open work permits will only be available to spouses of foreign students in master’s and doctoral programs. The spouses of international students in other levels of study, including undergraduate and college programs, will no longer be entitled.
However, they aim to make sure that genuine students receive the support they need and have the resources they need for an inspiring study experience in Canada, while at the same time stabilizing the overall number of students arriving and easing pressures on health care, housing, and other services in Canada.
In the coming months, we will continue to work to provide clear pathways to permanent residence for students with in-demand skills and discover new measures to better transition international students to the labour force.
Recently the department has introduced several measures to make sure that the foreign Student Program works for incoming students, as well as the country as a whole, including:
- On January 1, 2024, the cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants was updated to reflect better the true cost of living in Canada and help to prevent student vulnerability and exploitation.
- Since December 1, 2023, post-secondary designated learning institutions have been asked to confirm every letter of acceptance submitted by an applicant outside Canada directly with IRCC. This improved verification process protects prospective students from fraud and makes sure that study permits are issued based only on genuine letters of acceptance.
In 2024, we plan to implement targeted pilots aimed at helping underrepresented cohorts of international students pursue their studies in Canada.
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