Canada on Monday (Jan 22) in a bid to tackle the housing crisis and target institutional “bad actors” announced a two-year cap on the intake of international students.
In the year 2023, Canada had granted over a million study permits, which is roughly three times that of what was a decade ago, as per the government data.
The new proposal will slash the intake by nearly a third in 2024 as it aims to approve 364,000 undergraduate study permits, reducing the number by 35 per cent from last year.
The limit of 2025 will reassessed at the end of 2024, reported CTV news.
What did Immigration Minister Marc Miller say?
While addressing a press conference earlier on Monday, Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller highlighted that the move by the federal government would help them with an opportunity to tackle the exploitative system of high tuition fees being charged by the institutions.
“These measures are to ensure that as future students arrive in Canada, they receive the quality of education that they signed up for and the hope that they were provided in their home countries. It would be a disservice to welcome international students to Canada knowing that now all of them are getting the resources they need to succeed in Canada. Allowing bad actors to continue their operations would be a disservice to all of the good institutions who pride themselves on providing a top-tier academic experience,” Miller said.
“It is unacceptable that some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking support for students, and charging high tuition fees – all the while significantly increasing their intake of international students,” he added.
Hen then mentioned that for the current year, the cap will result in the approval of 364,000 study permits, with the country witnessing a reduction of 35 per cent in the approval of visas from what was in 2023.
“For 2024, the cap is expected to result in approximately 364,000 approved study permits, a decrease of 35% from 2023,” the immigration minister said.
He then said that the government would allocate the cap space by province based on population, which means that some provinces will witness much more significant reductions in the number of students permitted.
“In the spirit of fairness, we are also allocating the cap space by province based on population…some provinces will see much more significant reductions. Some provinces will actually have room to [grow] if they so choose but the provinces that have been most heavily affected will have to decrease by about 50% or perhaps even a bit more than 50%, when it comes to new incoming [students],” he said.
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Who will be impacted?
The students who had plans to pursue various courses in Canada would be the worst affected by the new norms announced by the government.
Not only this, many educational institutions that had grown their campuses in the hopes of continuing to attract students may suffer as a result of the move as the Canadian economy receives an estimated yearly contribution of C$22 billion ($16.4 billion) from international students.
As per news agency Reuters reports, restaurants across Canada are struggling with the shortage of labour with approximately 100,000 vacancies as foreign students have so far made up 4.6% of the 1.1 million workers in the food service sector in 2023.
Even Canadian banks have profited from the influx of new students as it is mandatory for each student to have a Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) worth more than C$20,000 so that they can pay for their living expenses.
However, the cap will not apply to students in graduate-level programmes, including master’s or doctoral studies.
Also, the ones having study permits at the elementary and secondary school levels will be exempted.
“To be clear, the cap will not apply to applicants within Canada looking to extend their studies as it wouldn’t be fair to prevent someone from finishing their programme. Nor will the cap have an effect on study permit holders currently in Canada.”
Work-Permit situation
The new measures will also impose certain limitations on post-graduate work permits granted to international students which will most likely push them to go back to their home countries.
Work permits will only be made available to the spouses of foreign students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs. The spouses of international students enrolled in other levels of study, including undergraduate and college programs, will no longer be eligible, Miller said. The acceptance of new study permit applications in 2025 will be subject to reassessment at the end of the current year, he said.
“In the coming weeks we will be announcing that open work permits will only be allowed and be available to spouses of international students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programmes as well as those enrolled in professional programmes, such as medicine and law. Spouses of students enrolled in other levels of study, including undergraduate and college programmes, will no longer be eligible [for work permits],” the Canadian immigration minister said.
In the past, the permits were viewed as a simple way to get permanent residency. Individuals who are enrolled in post-doctoral or master’s programmes will be qualified for a three-year work permit.
How will it affect Indians?
Canada in recent years, has received an influx of Indians who form one of the largest groups of international students in the country.
Over 41% – or 225,835 – of all permits were handed over to Indians in the year 2022.
As per Canadian government statistics, in September 2023, Indians comprised nearly 40 per cent of the international students that were permitted inside the country.
(With inputs from agencies)
