The number of foreign students accepted into Canada will be capped for a period of two years, in particular to alleviate the housing crisis. Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller made the announcement Monday morning, during the Trudeau government minister’s office retreat in Montreal.
In 2024, 364,000 study permits will be granted, a decrease of 35% compared to 2023.
“These temporary measures will be in effect for two years and the number of new study permit applications that will be accepted in 2025 will be reassessed at the end of this year,” added the minister.
Graduate, master’s and doctoral students, as well as primary and secondary studies are not included in the cap. The latter will also not apply to candidates seeking to extend their studies, it is specified.
This ceiling will be weighted for each province based on population. Some provinces will see much greater reductions than others, Miller said.
“We will continue to work closely with these provinces and territories to put these measures in place, as they will be responsible for determining how the cap will be distributed among the designated educational institutions over which they have jurisdiction,” he said. -he announces.
The cap applies to Quebec. “Quebec will have the capacity to increase [le nombre de permis]. This will also be the case for the territories, Alberta and Saskatchewan. » For him, “the problem lies” in the provinces where the numbers are “disproportionate”, such as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia.
Also, international students who begin a program of study that is part of a program licensing agreement will no longer be eligible for a work permit after graduation, starting 1er September of this year.
More details will follow.