The Globe and Mail states that Canada’s international student population exceeds 1 million at present. It derived all the essential details from IRCC and revealed that nearly 1,028,850 international students in the country were present in Canada in December 2023.
Canada’s international student population exceeds 1 million
According to reports, Ontario had 526,015 international students. Also, there were 202,625 international students in British Columbia, while 117,925 international students were present in Quebec. Other provinces also have an increasing number of designated learning institutions.
Marc Miller informed CTV News and discussed the rising number of international students due to the permissive DLI model in certain provinces. Furthermore, he suggested that the provincial governments talk to DLIs to control the number of these students.
In 2022, Canada witnessed 807,260 international students. Last year, in October, the immigration minister sought to welcome more than 900,000 students toward the latter part of 2023. However, the Globe and Mail reported that Canada surpassed this figure by September 2023. In addition, 1,015,744 individuals possessed a valid study permit in Canada.
Since 2023 summers, there have been ongoing discussions on restricting the number of study permits for international students. In a way, this has pressured the Canadian federal government to decrease the number of new immigrants in Canada. This is due to the acute shortage of affordable housing and stress on the healthcare system.
According to IRCC, restricting their admission will solidify the integrity of Canada’s international student system. This is essential as a few institutions have enhanced their admission capacity for international students. The institutions wanted to increase their revenue without assisting the students that they needed.
Notably, IRCC states that the incoming capacity will add stability to the growth and also protect international students from false immigration agents. These could be fraud consultants providing fake LOA. Further, some institutions might welcome more international students than the permissible capacity.
Canada declared a cap on the number of international students this year
In January 2022, Marc Miller stated that IRCC would only issue 360,000 study permits in 2024. The cap depicts a predictable reduction of 35 percent in the number of international students. However, this is not applicable to renewing study permits or the students under the post-graduate, master, or Ph.D.
The provinces will receive allocations for the permits based on their population. Canadian provinces with significant populations will obtain a higher number of study permits. Hence, it is a temporary initiative that will fall into place for the next two years.
The declaration came with other modifications to the international student program in Canada. Once the applicants acquire a Letter of Acceptance, they must also obtain an attestation letter from the provincial or territorial government with a DLI location.
This is a new initiative in the process of the study permit application. Hence, the provincial or territorial governments showcase a deadline of March 31 this year. This will lead to establishing a procedure for the issuance of letters. Therefore, until the above deadline, no study permits will be issued.
PGWP eligibility criteria will undergo some changes
In addition, IRCC has introduced modifying some of the eligibility requirements for international students. These students pursue continuing to stay in the country on a PGWP once they complete their academic program.
Students with admission in programs at private colleges via the curriculum licensing agreement with a public college will no longer qualify for a PGWP.
Contrarily, international students, on completion of their graduate-level program that is less than 8 months duration, will be able to apply for PGWP. This is the minimum PGWP length for a qualifying program in Canada.
Lastly, IRCC also declared that the spouses of the undergraduate students will no longer qualify for a Spousal Open Work Permit. The department has yet to reveal more information about this measure.
If you still have questions related to the Canadian immigration process, you can access all relevant details through Make Home Canada’s immigration consultants. Write to us at [email protected]
