In 2022, Canada faced around one million job vacancies. To tackle this, the Canadian government planned to invite 1.45 million immigrants to Canada by 2025. International students were quoted as being the “ideal immigrants,” even though they lacked support in food security, affordable accommodation, and faced racism and discrimination. Additionally, being new to the country made them incapable of producing references and a credit score, making them common victims of scams. All these factors, combined with the new policies that the Canadian government has created, makes it more challenging for international students wishing to study in Canada.
In 2024, there are growing concerns among Canadian citizens regarding the increase in the cost-of-living and many people blame both private colleges and international students. Due to this perspective, about 64 per cent of Canadians said that they would like to see less immigration.
On Jan. 22, 2024, Marc Miller, minister of immigration, refugees, and citizenship, stated that the government was aware that some institutions had upped the number of international student intakes to increase their revenue. Miller also stated that international students had no real support system to help them thrive in Canada. So, to protect both the system and international students — from institutions who’d turn immigration into a business and exploit vulnerable individuals for profit — they planned to reduce the number of international students and immigrants allowed into Canada as a whole.
Previously, on Oct. 7, 2022, Sean Fraser, former minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, declared that the limit to how many hours students can work off-campus would be lifted from 20 to a maximum of 40 to tackle labour shortages at that time. This change was only set to be in place until the end of 2022, but it remained until Apr. 31, 2024. The new intended changes were subsequently announced, which would allow international students to work off-campus up to 24 hours per week, a change that is supposed to take place sometime “this fall.” As it stands, international students are only permitted to work 20 hours per week.
The Government of Canada website states that international students who work more than the legally permitted hours are at risk of losing their student status “and may not be approved for a study or work permit in the future.”
On Dec. 7, 2023, the Government of Canada revised financial requirements for international students. Originally, an applicant must have $10,000 in savings to successfully study in Canada. The revised requirements are a response to the increased cost-of-living in Canada, requiring applicants to show a total savings of $20,635, “in addition to first year of tuition and travel costs.” The increase in required funds is the “the first of its kind since the early 2000s.”
On Sept. 18, 2024, the Canadian government issued a news release expressing several changes for future international students, current students seeking a postgraduate work permit (PGWP), asylum seekers, and others. The government sets out to accomplish this by “reforming the International Student Program, tightening eligibility requirements for temporary foreign workers, enforcing employer compliance more strictly, and making labour market impact assessments more rigorous to mitigate fraud and more.” The aims of these changes are to “manage the volume of temporary resident arrivals, uphold the integrity of our immigration system and protect vulnerable people.”
One strategy taken to strengthen the temporary resident program is to make language tests essential when applying for a PGWP. Anyone who wants to stay in Canada after their program is finished must be adequate in either English or French. The individual must pass a level 7 Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) for university graduates and level 5 CLB for college graduates, or its French equivalent, Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC).
The new requirements state that international students who apply for a PGWP after Nov. 1, 2024, will be approved only if they “graduate from a field of study linked to occupations in long-term shortage.” Fields of study that correspond to occupations in long-term shortage are “divided into five broad categories: agriculture and agri-food; healthcare; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); trade; and transport.” The field of study requirements do not affect students who applied for a PGWP before Nov. 1, 2024, but those who applied before that date will need to meet the new CLB or NCLC language requirements.
As November closes in, it remains to be seen how these new requirements and added challenges will affect international students in the long-term. It can only be hoped that it stays true to when Marc Miller said, “International students are vital to Canada and enrich our communities. As such, we have an obligation to ensure that they have access to the resources they need for an enriching academic experience.”
