Canada to reduce foreign students’ visas, restrict work permits

The Canadian Government has announced a two-year cap on student visas to reduce the intake of international students into the country.

Canada’s Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, made the announcement at a news conference in Montreal on Monday, January 22, 2024.

Miller said the Canadian government will approve approximately 360,000 undergraduate study permits for 2024 which happens to be a 35 per cent reduction from 2023.

He said: “Each province and territory will be allotted a portion of the total, distributed according to population.

“The federal government says this will result in much more significant decreases in provinces where the international student population has seen the most unsustainable growth.

“It is the latest in a series of measures to improve programme integrity and set international students up for success to maintain a sustainable level of temporary presence in Canada as well.

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“We will continue to work closely with those provinces to put these measures in place as they will be responsible for determining how the cap is distributed between its designated learning institutions that they have jurisdiction over.”

Miller, who noted that the cap will be in place for two years, said the number of visas to be issued in 2025 will be reassessed at the end of 2024.

The minister said Canada will also now require international students applying for a study permit to provide an attestation letter from a province or territory.

He added that international students who begin a programme that is part of a curriculum licensing arrangement will no longer be eligible for a post-graduation work permit starting from September 2024.

Miller said: “It’s 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.

“To be clear, these measures are not against individual international students.

“They 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.”

The Star