Canada acts to protect international students

By Mata Press Service

Starting from January 1, 2024, international students planning to study in Canada will be required to demonstrate that they have $20,635 in funds in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs in order to be approved for a study permit.

This is a significant increase from the current requirement of $10,000. The government has also extended the policy that allows international students to work off-campus for more than 20 hours per week until April 30, 2024 and is considering a permanent increase to 30 hours per week.

However, despite calls from student groups, the immigration minister has ruled out allowing students to work full-time permanently.

These measures are part of the government's efforts to address "exploitation" in the international student program and to ensure that students understand the true cost of living in Canada.

The government has also warned institutions to provide adequate support to students, including proper housing, health support, and academic experience, or else visa limits may be imposed. These changes are aimed at protecting international students from financially vulnerable situations and exploitation.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the move to increase funds was to stop students from realizing they don’t have enough money to support themselves once they arrive in the country. The change will apply to new study permit applications received on or after January 1, 2024.

“We are revising the cost-of-living threshold so that international students understand the true cost of living here,” he said. “This measure is key to their success in Canada.”

According to IRCC, the cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants has not changed since the early 2000s, when it was set at $10,000.

The government has also extended the uncapped work rights policy, which allows international students in Canada to work more than 20 hours per week, until April 30 2024, when the current academic year ends.

IRCC is considering permanently increasing the work allowance to 30 hours per week, but Miller ruled out allowing students to work full-time permanently.

The changes are the latest step in a crackdown by the Canadian federal government on 澱ad actors・ in the international education sector. The government previously announced a change to the verification process of admission letters to help tackle fraud.

Miller also warned institutions that they should only accept international students if they have somewhere to live, as Canada continues to face a housing crisis.

He added that the government expects “proper health support and a proper academic experience” to be provided.

“There are, in provinces, the diploma equivalent of puppy mills that are just churning out diplomas,” he said. “And this is not a legitimate student experience.”

He threatened to limit visas if institutions and local governments do not tackle these issues by September 2024.

“We are prepared to take necessary measures, including significantly limiting visas, to ensure that designated learning institutions provide adequate and sufficient student support as part of the academic experience,” he said.

“If provinces and territories cannot do this, we will do it for them and they will not like the bluntness of the instruments that we use.

“The provinces have several tools at their disposal, namely the regulation of the designated learning institutions, that in some cases just need actually to be shut down,” he added.

Immigration Canada has also provided an update on 3 temporary policies affecting international students that were all set to expire at the end of 2023, including the following:

• The waiver on the 20-hour-per-week limit on the number of hours international students are allowed to work off campus while class is in session will be extended to April 30, 2024. International students already in Canada, as well as applicants who have already applied for a study permit as of December 7, 2023, will be able to work off campus more than 20 hours per week until that time. We continue to examine options for this policy in the future, such as expanding off-campus work hours for international students to 30 hours per week while class is in session.
• The facilitative measure that has allowed international students to count time spent studying online towards the length of a future post-graduation work permit, as long as it constitutes less than 50% of the program of study, will continue to be in place for students who begin a study program before September 1, 2024. This measure will no longer apply to students who begin a study program on or after that date. Distance learning facilitation measures were first implemented in 2020 in response to travel restrictions during the pandemic and were reduced in scope in September 2022. At this point, the vast majority of international students are studying in person in Canada.
• In response to labour market disruptions during the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery, a temporary policy was introduced on 3 occasions to provide an additional 18-month work permit to post-graduation work permit holders as their initial work permit was expiring. Foreign nationals with a post-graduation work permit expiring up to December 31, 2023, remain eligible to apply. However, this temporary policy will not be extended further.