Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller is expected to present a plan Monday morning to reduce the number of international students granted permits to study in Canada.
This decision will be announced as Justin Trudeau’s cabinet meets for a three-day retreat in Montreal to prepare for the next parliamentary session.
It also comes five months after the last cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, where Miller and Housing Minister Sean Fraser began tossing around the idea of capping international student visas.
Minister Miller has repeatedly promised in recent months to find solutions to the influx of international students which he says is contributing to a housing shortage across the country.
More than 800,000 international students received temporary study visas in 2022, and Mr. Miller indicated last fall that this figure would reach 900,000 in 2023. That’s more than triple the figure from ago barely ten years old.
It’s an increase that Mr. Miller attributes in part to unscrupulous schools that take in students as a source of income, without worrying about providing them with a solid education or ensuring their well-being during their stay in Canada.
In recent years, there have been numerous reports that international students are unable to find safe and secure accommodation.
Mr. Miller warned provinces in the fall that they needed to crack down on abuse and fraud in the system or Ottawa would impose limits on the number of student visas it issues.
“There are, in the provinces, the equivalent of puppy mills, which only produce diplomas, and this is not a legitimate student experience,” argued Minister Miller at a press conference in December .
“There is fraud and abuse, and it must stop. »
Vulnerability to exploitation
At this press conference, Mr. Miller announced a plan to increase the amount of money that foreign students must have to obtain a visa. This year, visas will only be issued to students who can prove they have $20,635, up from $10,000 last year.
The move was intended to ensure that students had a clearer understanding of how much money they would need to live in Canada while studying. Some reports indicate that students arriving without sufficient money are vulnerable to exploitation.
But the minister has also been warning provinces for months that they must do something about schools they have accredited for international students, and which are not providing the expected education.
Ottawa issues visas, but control of schools accredited to admit international students lies with the provinces.
Mr Miller said the system in place led to abuse and fraud, especially as schools came to rely heavily on higher tuition fees paid by international students, with provinces freezing or reducing their financing.