Canada to cut international student intake by 35%

Under the new rules, each Canadian province and territory will be allotted a portion of the country’s total study permits, determined by population and current student intake. (Photo by Andre Furtado via Pexels)

Canada has announced that it will cap intake of international student permit applications for a period of two years. For 2024, the cap is expected to result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits, a decrease of 35 percent from 2023. The cap for 2025 has not been announced yet.

New eligibility criteria for Post-Graduation Work Permit Program have also been announced. The new rules that came into effect on January 22, 2024, will not impact current study permit holders or study permit renewals.

Under the new rules, each Canadian province and territory will be allotted a portion of the country’s total study permits, determined by population and current student intake. Provinces will then decide how to distribute these permits across their universities and colleges, according to a statement released by Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

“In recent years, the integrity of the international student system has been threatened. 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. Rapid increases in the number of international students arriving in Canada also puts pressure on housing, health care and other services. As we work to better protect international students from bad actors and support sustainable population growth in Canada, the government is moving forward with measures to stabilise the number of international students in Canada,” the IRCC statement added.

According to official data, the number of study permit holders in Canada has tripled in the past decade, from 300,000 in 2013 to nearly 900,000 in 2023. In 2022, Indian students accounted for around 40 percent of all student enrolments, making them Canada’s largest international student group.

Highlights of the new rule:

Current study permit holders will not be affected.

Study permit renewals will not be impacted.

Those pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, and elementary and secondary education are not included in the cap.

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, as of January 22, 2024, every study permit application submitted to IRCC will also require an attestation letter from a province or territory.

Provinces and territories are expected to establish a process for issuing attestation letters to students by no later than March 31, 2024.

These temporary measures will be in place for two years, 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 provinces and territories, designated learning institutions and national education stakeholders on developing a sustainable path forward for international students, including finalising a recognised institution framework, determining long-term sustainable levels of international students and ensuring post-secondary institutions are able to provide adequate levels of student housing.

New Eligibility criteria for Post-Graduation Work Permit Program:

Starting September 1, 2024, international students who begin a study program that is part of a curriculum licensing arrangement will no longer be eligible for a post­graduation 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.

Graduates of master’s and other short graduate-level programs will soon be eligible to apply for a 3-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, hindering master’s graduates by limiting the amount of time they have to gain work experience and potentially transition to permanent residence.

In the weeks ahead, open work permits will only be available to spouses of international 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 eligible.

International Student Program: In the coming months, the Canadian government will provide clear pathways to permanent residence for students with in-demand skills and explore new measures to better transition international students to the labour force.

It may be recalled that recently IRCC had introduced several measures to make sure the International Student Program works for in-coming students, as well as the country as a whole, including:

For 2024, a single applicant will need to show they have $20,635, representing 75 percent of low-income cut-off (LICO), in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs. This change will apply to new study permit applications received on or after January 1, 2024.

Since December 1, 2023, post-secondary designated learning institutions have been required to confirm every letter of acceptance submitted by an applicant outside Canada directly with IRCC. This enhanced verification process protects prospective students from fraud and ensures that study permits are issued based only on genuine letters of acceptance. (In March 2023, 700 Indian students received deportation notifications, as they were found to have arrived in Canada on the basis of forged letters of admission. It was later found that an immigration agent had duped them into paying money for these letters. Canadian authorities then said they would look at each case, and determine which students out of the 700 would not be deported.)

The waiver on the 20-hour-per-week limit on the number of hours international students are allowed to work off campus while class is in session will be extended to April 30, 2024. International students already in Canada, as well as applicants who have already submitted an application for a study permit as of December 7, 2023, will be able to work off campus more than 20 hours per week until that time.

The facilitative measure that has allowed international students to count time spent studying online towards the length of a future post-graduation work permit, as long as it constitutes less than 50 percent of the program of study, will continue to be in place for students who begin a study program before September 1, 2024.