- The number of foreign students in Canada has started to decrease following the introduction of stricter visa regulations.
- Canada aims to reduce the number of approved study permits by 35 percent.
- In addition to foreign students, the government plans to impose caps on the number of foreign workers and asylum claimants.
The number of study permit holders in Canada decreased by 24,594 during January and March 2024, compared with a decrease of 16,000 during the same months in 2023, Statistics Canada has revealed.
Such a drop in the number of international students follows stricter study visa regulations introduced by Canada in January 2024, VisaGuide.World reports.
This decrease is also reflected in the overall temporary immigrant figures. During the first quarter of 2024, Canada added 131,810 temporary residents, marking one of the slightest quarterly net increases since 2022, as reported by the Bloomberg newspaper.
Canada Aims to Reduce Foreign Student Permits by 35%
In January 2024, the Canadian government announced caps on the number of approved study permits, aiming to reduce the figure to 360,000 or 35 per cent less than in 2023.
Such a measure was attributed to the increasing influx of foreign students in Canada, among other things. In 2023, the number of foreigners holding a study permit in Canada surpassed the one million figure, according to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
During this period, the highest number of study permits were granted to students from India, China, the Philippines, Nigeria, France, Iran, Nepal, Vietnam and Mexico.
However, Canada may enforce additional restrictions if needed, the Canadian Minister of Immigration Marc Miller warned in an official statement on April 22.
