January 26th, 2024 at 06:13 am
Canada Student Visa Rules Changes 2024 | No More Spouse Work Permit
A temporary cap on the number of overseas students granted study visas has been established by the IRCC. The cap is predicted to provide about 360,000 authorized study permits in 2024, a 35% drop from 2023.
Moreover, caps are being introduced by IRCC for every province and territory. According to the department, the caps will be weighted by population and will cause notable reductions in the provinces with the highest rates of unsustainable growth in the population of international students. The caps do not apply to individuals seeking master’s and doctorate degrees, nor will they affect those who currently hold study permits or those who renew them.
An attestation letter from a province or territory will be necessary for every study permit application submitted to the IRCC starting on January 22, 2024, according to the IRCC. It is anticipated that PTTs will set up a procedure for sending these letters by March 31, 2024, at the latest. The department states that in 2025, it will review the cap.
Changes to Eligibility Criteria for Post-Graduation Work Permits
The requirements for qualifying for the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) have also been modified, according to the IRCC. International students who enroll in a study program that is part of a curriculum licensing arrangement will no longer be eligible for the PGWP as of September 2024.
Burke has clarified that students physically visit a private institution that holds a license to teach the curriculum of related public colleges under the terms of curriculum licensing agreements. Even though these programs have drawn international students recently, they are an exemption from the PGWP because they are not as closely regulated as public universities.
International graduates may apply for a three-year work permit after completing a Master’s degree or another brief graduate-level program. The duration of a PGWP is determined by the length of the individual study program under the current requirements. This requirement significantly restricts Master’s students because it shortens their time to obtain job experience in Canada, should they choose to apply for permanent status in the future.
Open Work Permit Updates
The agency will also provide further information about open work permits for overseas students’ spouses in the coming weeks. According to the IRCC, spouses of overseas students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs will be the only ones eligible for open work visas. The eligibility of spouses of international students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs will be discontinued.
Challenges to System Integrity
Immigration Minister Mark Miller first raised the potential of the legislation in public during the summer of 2023, and he did so again in a December release ahead of the September 2024 semester, thus the move was highly anticipated. To guarantee that accredited educational institutions offer sufficient student support as part of the academic experience, we are ready to take the required actions, such as restricting visas.
In an interview with KATV news, he went on to say that he would be revealing policies about temporary residents, especially foreign students. There has been increasing pressure on a crucial to take action about the number of international students in Canada during the first quarter of this year.
According to the minister, the number of students presents a threat to the system’s integrity. In the interview, he noted that certain universities had foreign students paying a premium price in addition to not always receiving the education they were promised.
According to a recent UK release, to boost revenue, some universities have dramatically raised admissions, and more students are coming to Canada without the necessary resources to succeed. It goes on to say that strain is placed on housing, healthcare, and other facilities by the sharp rise in the number of foreign students entering Canada.
International Students in Canada
According to the minister, Canada will welcome more than 800,000 overseas students in 2022 and more than 900,000 in 2023. The minister said to KATV that the IRCC had been trying to get the federal government back under control and that the system was out of control. He also expressed reservations over the provinces’ liberal designated learning institution regulatory structure, stating that the provinces’ governments should engage in vigorous talks with the only postsecondary institutions in Canada authorized to accept international students.
In Canada, there are more than a thousand Lees, with 529 residing in Ontario. Additional modifications to the international student program were introduced in December, such as raising the threshold for the cost of living for foreign students from $10,000 to 20,635.
According to the department, this will assist overseas students in better preparing for the true expense of living in Canada. With Dillis, the IRCC is anticipated to execute a reliable framework agreement on schedule. Eligible Liss will benefit from faster study permit processing beginning with the 2024 academic year.