Canada announces two-year cap on international students. How will it affect Indians?

Canada is set to slash the number of international student permits by 35 per cent in 2025 as a part of its two-year limit on international student admissions, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced on Monday morning (Jan 22).

While addressing a press conference earlier today, Miller claimed that the move would provide the government with an opportunity to manage the exploitative system of high tuition fees being charged by the institutions.

"These measures are to ensure that as future students arrive in Canada, they receive the quality of education that they signed up for and the hope that they were provided in their home countries. It would be a disservice to welcome international students to Canada knowing that now all of them are getting the resources they need to succeed in Canada. Allowing bad actors to continue their operations would be a disservice to all of the good institutions who pride themselves on providing a top-tier academic experience," Miller said.

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“It is unacceptable that some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking support for students, and charging high tuition fees – all the while significantly increasing their intake of international students," he added.

The cap will slash the number of approved study permits this year to 364,000. The limit of 2025 will reassessed at the end of 2024, reported CTV news.

"For 2024, the cap is expected to result in approximately 364,000 approved study permits, a decrease of 35% from 2023," the immigration minister said.

However, the students applying for master's and PhD programmes will be exempted from the cap.

“Those are the bright people we need to retain,” he added.

He then said that the government would allocate the cap space by province based on population, which means that some provinces will witness much more significant reductions in the number of students permitted.

"In the spirit of fairness, we are also allocating the cap space by province based on population…some provinces will see much more significant reductions. Some provinces will actually have room to [grow] if they so choose but the provinces that have been most heavily affected will have to decrease by about 50% or perhaps even a bit more than 50%, when it comes to new incoming [students]," he said.

How the cap would affect Indians?

Canada in recent years, has received an influx of Indians who form one of the largest groups of international students in the country.

Over 41% - or 225,835 - of all permits were handed over to Indians in the year 2022.

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As per Canadian government statistics, in September 2023, Indians comprised nearly 40 per cent of the international students that were permitted inside the country.

Miller's announcement also comes amid Canada's ongoing housing crisis.

"Right now we have a challenge with the sheer volume" of students coming in, Reuters quoted Miller as saying. "It's just gotten out of control and needs to be reduced - I would say - significantly over a short period of time."

It is pertinent to note that the cap will not apply to the applicants within Canada looking to extend their studies nor to the ones having study permits.

It would only apply to the ones applying for study visas for bachelor programmes or diplomas and students applying for master's and PhD programs will be exempted.

"To be clear, the cap will not apply to applicants within Canada looking to extend their studies as it wouldn't be fair to prevent someone from finishing their programme. Nor will the cap have an effect on study permit holders currently in Canada," Miller said.

(With inputs from agencies)