Earlier this year, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it will implement measures to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada, from 6.5% of Canada’s total population to 5% by 2026. These measures included capping the number of international students coming to Canada, as well as, limiting work permits to the accompanying spouses of most students.
In an announcement on September 18, 2024, IRCC introduced additional measures to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada.
To meet the target reduction in temporary residents within Canada, IRCC has laid out a series of changes to be implemented in the coming weeks and months:
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- Reduction on Study Permits Issued: For the 2025-2026 study permit intake, master’s and doctoral students will now be required to submit an attestation letter to confirm they fall under the international student cap allocated for the province or territory in which they will study. IRCC announced that it will reserve approximately 12% of allocation spaces for these students. Master’s and doctoral students are currently exempt from the provincial/territorial attestation letter requirement to obtain study permits.
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- Changes to the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program: IRCC advises that the PGWP program will undergo changes to align more closely with labour market needs. Starting November 1, 2024, PGWP applicants will be required to demonstrate minimum language proficiency in English or French, with a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) score of 7 for university graduates and a CLB of 5 for college graduates. In addition, public college graduates who completed a program in a field of study where occupations are facing long-time shortages will remain eligible for a PGWP of up to three years. Currently, there are no occupational/sectoral requirements to obtain a PGWP.
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- Limiting Work Permit Eligibility – Spouses of Master’s Degree Students: spouses of master’s degree students will only be eligible for work permits if the master’s program is 16 months or longer.
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- Limiting Work Permit Eligibility – Spouses of Foreign Workers: Open Spousal Work Permits (OSWP) will now only be available to spouses of foreign workers in management or professional occupations or in sectors with labour shortages. Currently, the spouses of most foreign workers are eligible for open work permits, regardless of the foreign worker’s occupation, with limited exceptions.
It is not yet clear when exactly most of these changes will be implemented. Some other questions also remain: which specific occupations will be eligible for OSWPs, and which ones will be excluded? Which occupations will be considered to be in long-term shortage for the purposes of college graduates applying for PGWPs? How will PGWP applicants be required to demonstrate their English or French language proficiency – will their transcripts be enough, or will they need to write language tests? We hope to receive answers to these questions in the weeks to come.
To discuss how these changes may affect you, please contact us for more information.
