Canada caps international student study permits at 606,000 for 2024

Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) Minister Marc Miller recently unveiled details of the national cap on study permits for international students in 2024. This will have a major impact on Indians, as students from India form a major chunk of international students in Canada.

“On January 22, I announced a national cap on study permit applications to address the rapid increase of international students in Canada. Provincial and territorial allocations for 2024 have now been finalised. I would like to take this opportunity to share those figures and explain how we made these decisions,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in a statement.

Miller introduced a plan called the Net Zero First Year Growth Model. This plan aims to keep the number of international students steady.

CANADA’S ZERO NET GROWTH (ONE-OUT, ONE-IN) MODEL

Canada is aiming to welcome 485,000 new international students in 2024. This number is based on the expected number of study permits expiring this year.

Accounting for factors like the 20% of students who apply for extensions annually, resulting in 97,000 permits being subtracted from the target, the revised target stands at 364,000 approved study permits.

“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,” according to the IRCC data.

Certain groups of international students, such as those in primary and secondary schools or pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees, are exempt from the cap.

Adjustments were made based on data from 2023, deducting an estimated volume of 140,000 from the 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.

Allocation of the adjusted number of study permit applications, 393,000, was distributed among provinces and territories based on population share.

CANADIAN PROVINCES ALLOCATION ADJUSTED

Provinces seeing growth exceeding 10% compared to 2023 had their allocation adjusted to limit growth, while those experiencing declines were supported to mitigate negative impacts.

Furthermore, allocations were topped up for provinces with approval rates lower than 60%, ensuring they reach their expected number of approved study permits in 2024.

“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,” stated the IRCC.

Various factors may influence the actual number of new international students arriving in Canada in 2024, including provinces and territories utilising their full allocations, changes in approval rates, and potential in-year adjustments.