Canada continues to tighten regulations to cut international students and stay opportunities

Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller announces new measures to cut international students in 2025-2026

PHOTO: SCREENSHOT

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently announced that it will continue to limit the issuance of study permits for international students in 2025 and 2026, continuing the move that has been underway since the beginning of this year. Specifically, Canada will only issue 437,000 new study permits from next year, a 10% decrease compared to 2024 and this level is only 42% compared to the more than 1 million study permits issued in 2023.

In addition to the above regulations, Canada also requires master's and doctoral students to have a provincial or territorial endorsement letter (PAL) in their study permit application from 2025, instead of the previous exemption. "We will reserve about 12% of the quota for this group to recognize the contributions they bring to the Canadian labor market," IRCC informed.

From November, the agency will also require applicants for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) to submit an English or French language certificate according to the Canadian Language Benchmark (CBL) at level 7 for university students and level 5 for college students. The agency will update the PGWP program this fall to better align with immigration goals and labor market needs.

In addition, graduates of public colleges are still eligible for PGWPs for up to three years if they study occupations that are in long-term labor shortages. Canada also tightens regulations for accompanying relatives, only granting work permits to people whose spouses are studying for a master's degree in programs lasting at least 16 months, or to spouses of foreign workers working in specialized jobs, or at the management level, or in fields with labor shortages.

The changes are the latest in a series of measures Canada has taken over the past year to maintain the integrity of its international student system. Previously, the financial proof requirement for a study permit was doubled from CAD 10,000 to CAD 20,635. The Canadian government also warned educational institutions to only offer admission if they could arrange accommodation for international students and announced other tightening regulations.

IRCC Minister Marc Miller said that not everyone who wants to come or stay in Canada can. "We are taking steps to strengthen our temporary residence programs and develop a more comprehensive immigration plan to meet the current circumstances. Canada's immigration system must be fair, effective and sustainable, and we will do everything we can to achieve this," Miller said.

Previously, according to a report from ApplyBoard (Canada), the cut policy has affected the "Canadian dream" of many international students around the world . This unit cited data from IRCC in the first quarter of 2024 to show that the number of study permits issued from January to April was 76,307, with an approval rate of 50%. This rate is 8% lower than the average of 2023 and 4% lower than 2022.

According to a report from IRCC, Canada attracts more than 1 million international students to study in 2023. IRCC statistics also show that the number of Vietnamese students in Canada has been on a continuous downward trend, from 21,480 in 2019 to only 16,140 in 2022. But in 2023, Vietnamese students in Canada increased slightly, to 17,175 and ranked 8th in number.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/canada-tiep-tuc-siet-quy-dinh-de-cat-giam-du-hoc-sinh-va-co-hoi-o-lai-185240919143448015.htm