Canada Moves To Further Slash International Student, Foreign Worker Permits

Canada has announced its decision to reduce the issuance of international student permits for the upcoming year.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government also announced stricter regulations on foreign workers to decrease the influx of temporary residents within the nation.

Naija News understands that this decision follows a series of recent measures introduced to manage the unprecedented surge in immigration levels, which resulted in Canada’s population surpassing 41 million earlier in the year.

The Canadian government attributed the rapid increase in immigration to the strain it places on the housing sector, job market, and social services.

“It is a privilege to come to Canada. It is not a right,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller told a news conference on Wednesday.

In the year 2025, the Canadian capital intends to allocate 437,000 study permits to international students, a decrease from the current year’s figure of 485,000 and a significant reduction from the over 500,000 issued in 2023.

Furthermore, the government is implementing new restrictions on work permits for the spouses of certain international students and foreign workers. Additionally, there will be an increase in the scrutiny of applications for travel visas to address a rise in fraudulent or rejected asylum claims.

It has been announced that the number of temporary residents will be capped at five percent of the population, a reduction from the current figure of 6.8 per cent as of April.