Ottawa: Canada is further reducing the number of study permits for international students and foreign workers, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government will crack down on "bad actors" if they "abuse the immigration system and take advantage of students". Canada has already granted 35 per cent fewer permits this year and Trudeau promised to further reduce that by 10 per cent in 2025.
"We’re granting 35% fewer international student permits this year. And next year, that number’s going down by another 10%. Immigration is an advantage for our economy — but when bad actors abuse the system and take advantage of students, we crack down," wrote Trudeau in a post on X.
Trudeau's popularity has sagged as voters struggle with a surge in the cost of living and a housing crisis that has been fueled in part by a spike in arrivals of temporary residents including foreign students and workers. Trudeau's Liberal Party, trailing badly to the right-of-centre Conservatives of Pierre Poilievre ahead of the next federal election in 2025, has made it a priority to reduce the number of foreign workers as it has become a hot-button issue.
As per the government, Canada plans to issue 437,000 study permits in 2025, which is down 10 per cent from the 485,000 permits issued in 2024. This number will remain the same in 2026. In 2023, the nation approved 509,390, and 175,920 in the first seven months of 2024.
Canada's plans to reduce temporary residents
Last month, Trudeau, in a social media post, announced a major cut in low-paid jobs and temporary foreign workers. He stressed that the labour market has changed tremendously in recent years and therefore his government will now focus on Canadian workers and youth. This led to massive protests, particularly from Indian students, as thousands faced deportation.
According to official data, Canada has seen a sharp rise in international students, foreign workers and other temporary residents who come to the country on time-limited visas. Although Trudeau's government relied on immigration to drive economic growth and plug labour gaps, however, his government also come under intense political pressure for its immigration policies, with critics arguing that they have exacerbated a housing crunch.
In November last year, the Trudeau government promised to stop ramping up immigration for permanent residents from 2026 onwards. In January this year, Canada announced a two-year cap on the intake of foreign students and said it would stop giving work permits to some students after graduation as it seeks to rein in record numbers of newcomers.
How will it impact India?
In the first week of this month, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said he would convene a meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts in May to finalise the plan. "We need to ensure the number of temporary residents entering the country is at a sustainable level," Miller told reporters in Ottawa. "Starting this fall for the first time, we will expand the immigration levels plan to include both temporary resident arrivals and permanent resident arrivals," he said, referring to the federal government's immigration targets.
"The government wants to reduce temporary residents to 5 per cent of the total population over the next three years from 6.2 per cent in 2023," said Miller. That would be a cut of about 20 per cent from Canada's 2.5 million temporary residents in 2023. The latest announcement by the Trudeau government will definitely have a significant impact on Indians amid the fact a large number of the population is either from India or has Indian origin.
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