IRCC tightens study permit cap & modifies PGWP enrolment. Marc Miller earlier stated that the international student cap is here to stay.
Specifically, IRCC will just be issuing 437,000 study permits in 2025. This number is based on a 10% reduction from the 2024 target of 485,000 new study permits issued. It further stabilizes the intake cap for 2026.
IRCC expects this to result in 300,000 fewer study permits being issued to international students over the next few years.
This is just one of the Minister’s many declarations regarding ongoing changes to Canada’s international student program.
Minister Miller stated that not every individual who wishes to come to Canada will be able to—just like not everyone who wishes to remain in Canada will be able to. He further said that the immigration system must preserve its integrity and be sustainable. The Canadian government will do everything to achieve its goal and set newcomers up for success.
Master’s and PhD Students Now Need A Provincial Attestation Letter
IRCC tightens study permit cap & modifies PGWP enrolment. The updated cap will now include master’s as well as doctoral students, who will no longer be exempt from receiving a PAL, i.e., Provincial Attestation Letter.
The department states that it will be reserving approximately 12% of allocation spaces for these students.
Provincial Attestation Letters were introduced earlier this year for many colleges and undergraduate students to help IRCC verify that their applications are authentic and stabilize the number of study permits issued.
Changes To PGWP Eligibility
More changes have been made to the eligibility requirements for a Post-Graduation Work Permit. Candidates who apply after November 1 will now need to demonstrate a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score of 7 for university graduates and a CLB of 5 for college graduates.
Moreover, Miller states that this will result in 175,000 fewer PGWPs being issued over the next three years.
Limits For Spousal Open Work Permits
IRCC is also limiting work permit eligibility later this year to spouses of master’s degree students whose program is at least 16 months in duration. This will result in over 50,000 fewer spousal open work permits in the next three years.
Unrelated to the international student program, Spousal Open Work Permits will also be limited to the spouses of Canadians or permanent residents who have jobs in critical work sectors.
Impact On Temporary Foreign Worker Program
IRCC tightens study permit cap & modifies PGWP enrolment. This has an impact on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program as well.
Canada’s unemployment rate has been increasing since April 2023, rising 1.5 percentage points over that period. ESDC states that the overall unemployment rate has risen from 6.4% to 6.6%. In August 2024, there were over 1.5 million unemployed people, an increase of 60,000 from the last month.
The measures announced today aim to curb the volume of temporary residents in Canada on work permits in the near future.
Moreover, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Official Languages, Randy Boissonault, spoke alongside Minister Miller and echoed many of his earlier remarks surrounding the intent of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. He said that the TFWP should be a last-resort measure and should never replace Canadian workers or suppress their wages.
Still, Minister Boissonault noted that 99% of Canada’s economic growth depends on immigration. This will rise 100% by 2032.
Changes To Temporary and Permanent Resident Levels In Canada
This year has seen considerable overhauls of Canada’s immigration system, with multiple measures introduced.
In January, IRCC implemented the first-ever cap on study permits, initially implemented as a temporary policy that would last until the end of 2025. As part of this cap, each provincial government had study permit allocations for its province. The implementation of this new cap also ushered in the PAL system.
The declaration of the study permit cap was coupled with further restrictions on PGWP eligibility as well as new restrictions on Spousal Work Permits, which were limited to spouses of students in master’s PhD programs.
In March, Minister Miller also declared that the Immigration Levels Plan for 2025-2027 will include temporary resident levels for the first time as the department seeks to reduce the number of temporary residents.
Canada has taken other steps to reduce the number of temporary residents, including:
- Ending the COVID-era policy enabling some visitors to apply for a job-supported work permit from inside Canada
- Pausing the processing of Labor Market Impact Assessment in the low-wage stream of the TFWP for jobs in Canada
- Considering drastic changes to the issuance of Post-Graduation Work Permit to international graduates, tying the issuance of these work permits to educational programs that would allow graduates to work within in-demand sectors of the Canadian economy
Minister Miller has stated that he is also open to looking at options to address permanent immigration levels. The Minister noted that it would be important not to ‘overreact’ to permanent immigration levels. Moreover, the changes/ transitions he was considering would be ‘significant’ and not just ‘cosmetic.’ More information will be there on this front in the coming weeks.
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