Canada to Further Limit Number of International Students

The Canadian government announced a 10 per cent reduction in new international student study permits for 2025, decreasing the target from 485,000 to 437,000. This follows a prior reduction in 2024, aiming to manage the growing number of temporary residents as Canada's population surpasses 41 million.

Ottawa: The Canadian federal government has announced a further reduction of international students to manage the volume of temporary resident arrivals.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said in a news release on Wednesday that in 2025 new international student study permits will be reduced by 10 per cent from the 2024 target of 485,000, which means reducing study permits issued to 437,000, Xinhua News agency reported.

The number of study permits issued in 2026 will remain the same as in 2025, the release said. This announcement followed a previous measure back in January when the federal government said it would approve about 360,000 undergraduate study permits in 2024, a 35 per cent reduction from the nearly 560,000 issued in 2023.

Canada's population surpassed 41 million people in the first quarter of 2024 with a sharp rise in temporary residents. Earlier this year, IRCC announced a decrease in the number of temporary residents, from 6.5 per cent of Canada's total population down to 5 per cent by 2026.