Government Acts to Further Limit the Number of Temporary Residents in Canada

As the federal government continues its drive to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada amidst continued high costs of living, continued housing unaffordability, and increasing unemployment, particularly amongst youth[1], it has announced new measures[2] to do so. The government target is to reduce the number of temporary residents from 6.5% of Canada’s total population to 5%.

Caps on International Students

As part of the overall plan, the government is clearly reducing the number of international students in Canada and implemented a number of measures earlier this year to do so. It introduced a cap to be distributed across the provinces and territories based on their population sizes. It also implemented a measure requiring study permit applicants to have more funds, at least $20,635, available to meet the cost of living in Canada. Yesterday, the government announced that it intends to reduce the number of study permits issued to 437,000 in 2025.

The government will allocate 12% of study permit spaces to master’s and doctoral students. Master’s and doctoral students will now also be required to submit a provincial or territorial attestation letter when applying.

Changes to Post-Graduation Work Permits

An announcement earlier this year confirmed those foreign students who graduate from a program under a Public College-Private Partnership are not eligible for Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs). Yesterday’s announcement will require those who wish to apply for PGWPs to complete a designated English or French language proficiency test, which includes CELPIP, IELTS, PTE Core, TEF Canada, or TCF Canada, and achieve a minimum level of language proficiency. Graduates of universities will need to achieve a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level of 7, which is roughly equivalent to an adequate intermediate level. Graduates of colleges will need to achieve a CLB level of 5, which is roughly equivalent to an initial intermediate level. This new requirement comes into effect November 1, 2024.

To help address labour shortages, particularly in the skilled trades, the government has announced that graduates of public colleges in fields where there are long-term shortages will now be eligible for PGWPs of up to 3 years.

Open Work Permits for Spouses or Common-Law Partners of Workers

Eligibility of spouses of foreign workers to work in Canada will be limited to those who are working in management or professional occupations or in sectors with labour shortages. Details have not been provided yet, but this could have potentially far-reaching consequences, with many foreign workers choosing to come to Canada to work only because they knew their spouses would be allowed to work as well. As they say, “the devil will be in the details”.  It is possible that eligibility could be limited to TEER 0 (managerial) or TEER 1 (usually requiring a university degree) occupations, but until we receive details from the government, it is difficult to know how significant this initiative will be and how it might impact employers and families. It is also unknown which sectors will be designated as those with labour shortages, but occupations recently being targeted for the purpose of permanent residence are likely to be included; healthcare occupations; science technology, engineering and math occupations; trade occupations; transport occupations; and agriculture and agri-food occupations.

Open Work Permits for Spouses or Common-Law Partners of Students

Earlier this year, the government limited the eligibility of open work permits for spouses of international students to those in master’s and doctoral programs only. The government has now announced a further limitation. Specifically, open work permits will now only be available to spouses of those international students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs that are at least 16 months in duration. Spouses of students in master’s degree programs which are only 12 months in duration will no longer qualify for an open work permit.

An Era of Fewer Immigrants

After record temporary resident and permanent resident levels in 2022 and 2023, the government is clearly focused on reducing the number of temporary residents in Canada. To achieve this, clearly fewer temporary residents, whether foreign students or foreign workers, will be admitted in the first place.  Yesterday’s announcements will certainly have a cooling affect on the popularity of Canada’s foreign student program and potentially the ability of companies to attract foreign talent to Canada. It is unlikely that the permanent resident targets will be significantly reduced when immigration levels are announced on November 1, since another reason to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada is to ensure they are able to transition to permanent resident status.  Unfortunately, though, some foreign students and foreign workers already in Canada will not have a path to permanent resident and will likely elect to leave Canada.  Over the next few years, we can expect fewer overall numbers of temporary residents in Canada.

The government’s policies will make it more difficult for many people to come to Canada and for many people to stay in Canada. Many thousands of temporary residents and employers will be affected by these measures. If you have questions about remaining in Canada for yourself or an employee, you can reach out to us for a consultation. Our Canadian immigration legal professionals can be reached by phone (416-368-1111) or via email: caruso@cilf.ca; fagan@cilf.ca; bonisteel@cilf.ca; ali@cilf.ca; mukherjee@cilf.ca; garciafialdini@cilf.ca.

[1]https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240906/dq240906a-eng.htm?indid=3587-2&indgeo=0

[2]https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2024/09/strengthening-temporary-residence-programs-for-sustainable-volumes.html