Measure should result in a 35% decline in approved study permits

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Aspiring Jamaican and other foreign students in Canada have been dealt a severe blow with yesterday’s announcement by the government to place a two-year cap on the number of foreign students admitted to the country.

The measure, which is an attempt to address pressure on housing and healthcare in the country, should result in a 35 per cent decline in approved study permits. Over 800,000 foreign students were in Canada in 2022, up from 214,000 a decade earlier.

The new measure is also meant to ensure the “integrity” of the system, officials said.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller, who announced the cap yesterday, explained that Canada aims to approve around 360,000 undergraduate study permits this year.

Under the cap, each province and territory will be allotted a portion of that total, determined by population and current student intake. 

The cap represents a significant shift in policy for Canada, which has historically relied on open immigration to fill job vacancies and address its rapidly-ageing workforce. Miller had previously hinted at reducing the number of international students admitted to Canada, drawing concern from some Canadian universities.

Permits across universities and colleges

Provinces will then decide how to distribute these permits across their universities and colleges. The cap will only apply to students in a diploma or undergraduate programme, and will not affect students applying for study permit renewals.

As part of the change, the government will also no longer – as of September – grant work permits for students graduating from colleges that operate under a public-private partnership model, which is most commonly found in the province of Ontario. According to Miller, “it’s unacceptable that some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking support for students and charging high tuition fees, all while significantly increasing their intake of international students.” 

He said the new measures are “not against individual international students” but are meant to ensure future students receive a “quality of education that they signed up for”.

The announcement also comes as the Trudeau government faces growing pressure to address an increasingly unaffordable housing market.

Home prices rising fast

Home prices in Canada now average CAD$750,000 (US$550,000;£435,000) and rent for Canadians has risen 22 per cent in the last two years. Some economists have linked housing unaffordability to a spike in immigration, as home construction has not kept up with Canada’s unprecedented population growth.

In 2022, the country grew by over a million people in one year for the first time – a growth largely driven by newcomers. Last year Canada’s population hit a record of 40 million people.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation – a national housing agency – estimates that the country needs 3.5 million more housing units by 2030 to restore affordability. While population growth is part of the problem, experts have pointed to other pressures driving down the number of housing starts, including high interest rates that make homes less affordable.

In response to Monday’s announcement, Universities Canada, which represents post-secondary institutions across the country, said it welcomed that the cap is not affecting post-graduate students, but is concerned that it will “add stress on an already-stressed system”. However, the organisation is worried that some of the measures will deter students from coming to Canada, driving them to study elsewhere instead.