Canada to further cut International Student, Foreign Worker Permits
The Canadian government announced a further cut in the number of study permits for international students, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying the nation will crack down on “bad actors” if they “abuse the immigration system and take advantage of students”.
In its announcement on Wednesday, the government also said that it would tighten rules for foreign workers in an effort to further bring down the number of temporary residents in the country.
The move comes after several recent rounds of restrictions aimed at taming record immigration levels that pushed Canada’s population past 41 million earlier this year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has pointed to the high immigration as straining the country’s housing sector, jobs market and social services.
“It is a privilege to come to Canada. It is not a right,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller told a news conference.
In 2025, Ottawa plans to issue 437,000 study permits to international students, down from 485,000 this year and more than 500,000 in 2023.
It is also putting new limits on work permits for spouses of some international students and foreign workers. And it will be stepping up checks before issuing travel visas to stem a spike in fraudulent or rejected asylum claims.
Ottawa has already said it would reduce the number of temporary residents to five percent of the population, down from 6.8 percent in April.
AFP
