By Kareem El-Assal
Senior Research Fellow, OLIP
On January 22, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced a cap on international students. IRCC recognizes the many benefits these students bring. However, the the cap aims to ease pressure on housing, health care, and other services. It also aims to protect international students from bad actors and support sustainable population growth.
In 2024, IRCC will approve up to 364,000 study permits. This is a decrease of about 35% from last year’s 560,000 approvals. Some groups are exempt from this cap. These include students renewing their permits, those in master’s or doctoral programs, and students in elementary and secondary education. The cap will last for two years. At the end of this year, IRCC will review the numbers for 2025.
IRCC has set caps for each province and territory based on their populations. Starting January 22, all study permit applications must include an attestation letter from a province or territory. Currently, only Quebec has this process. Other provinces must establish a similar process by March 31.
Another big change is that international students will no longer be eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) if they study at a private college partnered with a public institution, starting September 1. This is important because many international students choose these programs to gain Canadian permanent residence. The PGWP allows students to work for up to three years after graduation. By changing this rule, IRCC hopes to reduce demand from international students.
To help ensure students can support themselves, IRCC is also raising the cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants to $20,635 as of January 1, 2024. These policies will have a major impact across Canada. International students add over $20 billion to the economy each year and support about 200,000 jobs.
They also provide revenue for colleges and universities and are a growing talent pool for employers.
In 2022, Ottawa-Gatineau welcomed nearly 17,500 new international students, up from over 10,000 in 2017. This area receives about 3% of all new international students in Canada. If this share continues, Ottawa-Gatineau could see about 11,000 new students in 2024, plus more who are exempt from the cap, like master’s and PhD students.
The decline in new students could help ease pressure on housing and services after a recent population boom. However, the cap creates uncertainty for prospective students, colleges, universities, employers, and the provincial government. It is unclear how the new attestation letter process will work.
International students also make up a large share of Ottawa-Gatineau’s francophone newcomers and those who transition to permanent residence. We will need to monitor how the cap affects these numbers in the next two years.
Right now, IRCC’s reforms raise more questions than answers. Stakeholders are trying to understand how the caps will function and what they mean. However, IRCC aims to put Canada’s international student population on a more sustainable path. This way, Ottawa-Gatineau and other communities can enjoy the long-term benefits of international students.
