International student's news
Canada has recently implemented a temporary policy in response to a significant influx of international students and the resulting economic strain on housing, healthcare, and other essential services. This measure, introduced by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (IRCC), seeks to curb the potential abuse of Canada's international education program. As part of this initiative, Canada will enforce a two-year cap on international study permits, reducing the number of approved permits to 360,000 for the year 2024.
It's important to note that this cap will not impact the renewal of study permits, and certain categories of students, such as those pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as elementary and secondary education, are exempt from this limitation. Existing study permit holders will not be affected by this temporary restriction.
IRCC will assign a portion of the cap to each province and territory. Provinces will then be responsible for distributing this allocation among their designated learning institutions (DLIs).
One immediate change, effective January 22, 2024, is that every study permit application submitted to the IRCC will require an attestation letter from a province or territory. Provinces and territories are expected to establish a process for issuing these attestation letters to students by no later than March 31, 2024.
Further changes are set to be implemented in the future. Starting on September 1, 2024, the federal government will cease issuing postgraduate work permits to international students who graduate from programs offered under Public College-Private Partnerships. Additionally, graduates of master’s and other short graduate-level programs will soon become eligible to apply for a 3-year work permit.
There are also new eligibility criteria for open work permits for spouses or common-law partners of international students. Open work permits will only be available to spouses of international students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs. Spouses of international students in other levels of study, including undergraduate and college programs, will no longer be eligible.
The number of new study permit applications accepted in 2025 will be re-evaluated at the end of the year. Additionally, in 2024, the IRCC intends to implement targeted pilots to assist underrepresented cohorts of international students in pursuing their studies in Canada.
Recent measures have already been put in place, such as an update to the cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants, effective January 1, 2024. Furthermore, since December 1, 2023, post-secondary designated learning institutions have been required to confirm every letter of acceptance submitted by an applicant outside Canada directly with the IRCC.
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