TORONTO – Weeks after the government announced a cap on international students, the details regarding the provincial and territorial allocations and total number of permits have been finalized by Canada.
Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced on Friday the details about the much sought-after cap on study permits.
The minister highlighted that the national cap is based on the amount of expiring study permits in 2024, implying that the number of international students coming to Canada in the ongoing year should be the same as the number of students whose permits expire this year.
For 2024, the target is 485,000 approved study permits, said the minister and added that about 20% of students apply for an extension each year and remain in the country; Miller explained that the government subtracted that amount (97,000) from the target of 485,000 and set aside a small buffer to allow for other variations, resulting in a revised target of 364,000 approved study permits in 2024.
‘Accordingly, based on the national approval rate of 60% for study permit applications, the target of 364,000 approved study permits translates into a cap of 606,000 study permit applications received for 2024,’ the minister announced
As far as the exemptions are concerned, the minister said some international students are exempt from the cap, such as primary and secondary school students and master’s or doctoral degree students.
Miller said that the government has deducted the estimated volume of exempted groups (140,000 based on 2023 data) from the 2024 target number of approved study permits.
‘This resulted in a target of 236,000 approved study permits for 2024, which converts to roughly 393,000 study permit applications to be allocated,’ the minister said.
Regarding the provincial and territorial allocations, it has been announced that the government distributed the adjusted number of study permit applications i.e. 393,000 based on the population share of each province and territory.
The government has announced that under the opted model, some provinces and territories would get more students in 2024 than in 2023, while others would see fewer new students.
‘For provinces that would receive more international students in 2024 than in 2023 based on population share, we adjusted their allocation to limit growth to 10% compared to 2023,’ Miller elaborated.
Marc Miller also elaborated that for provinces that would receive fewer international students in 2024 than in 2023, their allocation has been adjusted to lessen the negative impact in the first year and support broader regional immigration goals.
‘IRCC also topped up allocations for provinces whose approval rate was lower than 60%. The top-ups will help provinces with lower approval rates reach their expected number of approved study permits in 2024,’ stated the minister.
It has also been announced that as a result, a total of about 552,000 study permit applications have been allocated to provinces and territories under the national cap.
‘These allocations are expected to yield approximately 292,000 approved study permits, representing a 28% reduction from 2023 for the groups included under the cap,’ said the minister.
It bears mentioning that the government had announced earlier this year that the entry of international students would be reduced by 35 percent as compared to 2023.
