Study permit renewals and family members of temporary residents who hold a work or study permit are among the groups exempt from Canada’s new cap on international students.
Key details published in the official Canada Gazette on February 3 reveal that the cap only applies to applications received after January 22, 2024.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s cap will mean only 606,250 study permit applications will be received in the coming year, the article says.
“The intent of these Instructions is to ensure the number of study permit applications accepted into processing by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration … within the scope of the instructions does not exceed 606,250 study permit applications for one year beginning on the date of signature,” the Canada Gazette reported.
“As stipulated in these Instructions, certain categories of study permit applications are excluded from the conditions set out in these Instructions and the associated application cap established by these Instructions.”
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Exempt from this new cap on international study permits are those international students who already have study permits and are seeking to renew them and the family member of a temporary resident who already has either a work or study permit.
Also exempt from the cap on study permits are:
- members of the armed forces of a country under the Visiting Forces Act, including a person who has been designated as a civilian component of those armed forces;
- officers of foreign governments sent, under exchange agreements between Canada and one or more countries, to take up duties with a federal or provincial agency;
- participants in sports activities or events, in Canada, either as an individual participant or as a member of a foreign-based team or Canadian amateur team;
- employees of foreign news companies reporting on events in Canada;
- people responsible for assisting congregations or groups in the achievement of their spiritual goals and whose main duties are to preach doctrine, perform functions related to gatherings of their congregations or groups or provide spiritual counselling.
Those ministerial instructions were dated Jan. 22.
The cap on study permit applications is expected to reduce the number of study permits by more than a third, The Globe and Mail has reported
“The cap is expected to result in approximately 364,000 approved study permits, a decrease of 35 per cent from 2023,” the immigration minister has reportedly said. “In the spirit of fairness, we are also allocating the cap space by province, based on population.”
Under the cap on study permits, it is expected the provinces and territories will each have a limit on their ability to welcome new international students. The national newspaper reports those proposed limits will allow some provinces to increase their international student population while dramatically cutting it in other provinces, including Ontario.
Miller first floated the idea of a cap on international students in December to address worries that record immigration is contributing to the country’s housing crisis.
“Housing remains a pressing concern, especially in the post-COVID landscape, with the rise in interest rates, supply constraints, and affordability issues,” he said.
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Under the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada is now planning to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, another 500,000 in 2025 and then hold the line on immigration in 2026 with another 500,000 newcomers.
That’s a total of 1.485 million immigrants to Canada over those three years.
Senior economists with Canada’s biggest banks say that level of immigration to Canada has been poorly managed.
“Frankly I’m surprised we screwed it up because we sit in such a privileged position in Canada,” Beata Caranci, chief economist at Toronto Dominion Bank, has reportedly said.
“We designed our own policy, we put it in place, we implemented it, and we still screwed it up.”
Stéfane Marion, chief economist at National Bank of Canada, seems to agree, describing Canada’s immigration policies as a “population trap”.
During the past eight years, immigration by foreign nationals coming to settle permanently in Canada has reached record levels.
Boom In Temporary Residents Being Blamed In Part For Housing Crisis In Canada
But it is the number of temporary residents, including temporary foreign workers and international students, which has created the greatest demand as their numbers have increased at a much faster rate than those of permanent residents.
While Canada saw a net loss of 27,030 temporary residents in the fourth quarter of 2015 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party of Canada swept into power, the country saw a net gain of 312,758 of them in the third quarter of last year, or almost 12.6 times as many, Statistics Canada figures reveal.
There are now more than one million international students in Canada.
Once in Canada, international students are able to work on campus without a work permit while completing their studies if:
- they have a valid study permit;
- are full-time students at a post-secondary public school (college or university, or CEGEP in Quebec), or at a private college-level school in Quebec that operates under the same rules as public schools and is at least 50 per cent funded by government grants, or at a Canadian private school that can legally award degrees under provincial law, and;
- have a Social Insurance Number.
International Students Can Work In Canada While Studying
International students are also usually able to work off-campus without a work permit while completing their studies – when the current liftin of the 20-hour rule is not in effect – if:
- they have a valid study permit;
- are full-time students in a designated learning institution (a post-secondary program, or in Quebec at a vocational program at the secondary level as well);
- their study program is academic, vocational or professional, it lasts at least six months and leads to a degree, diploma or certificate;
- they are only working up to a maximum of 20 hours per week during regular academic sessions, and full time during scheduled breaks (for example, winter and summer holidays or spring break).
Certain study programs include work requirements such as co-op or internships. In such cases, a work permit is required in order for the foreign student to be able to complete the work.
With the work experience and education gained while at Canadian colleges and universities, many international students then apply for permanent residence in Canada under such immigration programs as the Express Entry’s Canada Experience Class Program (CEC).
