Federal data shows the number of study permits issued to foreigners is already outpacing the historic record set last year, despite contradictory promises from the Trudeau Liberals. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) statistics indicate an unprecedented 216,620 international study permits were issued between January and May 2024 despite a federal government pledge to reduce the number of temporary foreign residents, including international students. Reports have shown many foreign students live together in big groups in small apartments, rely on local food banks for sustenance and use the visa system to stay in Canada to work rather than study. Many end up living in homeless shelters or on the streets, per the National Post, with one student from Conestoga College in Kitchener, ON, found camped out under a bridge in the east end of Toronto — which is more than an hour’s drive from campus. As of January 1, there were 2.6 million non-permanent residents in Canada. Statistics Canada in a report earlier noted steeply increasing numbers of temporary residents, which comes as the country faces a housing shortage and affordability crisis. A total of 800,000 non-permanent residents, including temporary workers, refugees and foreign students were allowed visas in 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal administration approved this many applications despite an earlier pledge to cap the skyrocketing number of foreign study permits allowed each year. Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in January the international student permit cap would be slashed 35% from 2023. He promised in 2024 the federal government would approve only 360,000 study permits. During the same months in 2023, 200,205 study permits were handed out to international students, many of which abandon study and take up service jobs at companies like Time Hortons instead, as the case in PEI in recent months. In total in 2023, 682,420 study permits were granted, of those, the vast majority, 278,335, were given to Indian students. The second highest population granted permits, 58,230, were Chinese students, and 37,575 went to Nigerians, 33,830 Filipino and 15,920 Nepalese. By contrast, from January to May 2024, 91,510 Indians got permits, compared to the 85,805 in the first five months of 2023. Chinese students received 21,240 permits in the first five months of 2024, compared to 15,565 in the first five months in 2023, Nigerians 12,450 compared to 8,150 by May 2023, and Filipinos 10,140 permits, up from 9,300 in the same period last year. Nepalese permits were up 4,655 as of May compared to 3,575. IRCC spokesperson Rémi said it was “too early” to tell the full impact of the data. “Given the changes to the international student program have not yet seen the traditionally busiest season for study permit processing — summer and early fall — it may be too early to fully assess the data and analyze the impacts, including the intake cap on study permit applications,” said Larivière, per the National Post, adding various factors influence the process. “As education is a provincial and territorial responsibility, IRCC consulted governments at the provincial and territorial level frequently as the allocations were established,” Larivière said.“IRCC distributed the adjusted number of study permit applications based on the population share, 2023 volumes and approval rates of each province and territory.”Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec blamed the last nine years of the Trudeau government for the problem of too many temporary residents for the system to handle.“It is so bad that the current Liberal immigration minister himself said the broken system is ‘out of control’. The previous immigration minister admitted that the system is a ‘complete mess’. Even Trudeau acknowledged their shared failure, calling the system ‘broken,'” he said.“The Liberal government first allowed corrupt consultants and phoney educational institutions to bring students here under false pretences. Then they promised to fix the mess and bring it under control only to see things become worse amid a growing housing crisis of their making.”
Federal data shows the number of study permits issued to foreigners is already outpacing the historic record set last year, despite contradictory promises from the Trudeau Liberals. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) statistics indicate an unprecedented 216,620 international study permits were issued between January and May 2024 despite a federal government pledge to reduce the number of temporary foreign residents, including international students. Reports have shown many foreign students live together in big groups in small apartments, rely on local food banks for sustenance and use the visa system to stay in Canada to work rather than study. Many end up living in homeless shelters or on the streets, per the National Post, with one student from Conestoga College in Kitchener, ON, found camped out under a bridge in the east end of Toronto — which is more than an hour’s drive from campus. As of January 1, there were 2.6 million non-permanent residents in Canada. Statistics Canada in a report earlier noted steeply increasing numbers of temporary residents, which comes as the country faces a housing shortage and affordability crisis. A total of 800,000 non-permanent residents, including temporary workers, refugees and foreign students were allowed visas in 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal administration approved this many applications despite an earlier pledge to cap the skyrocketing number of foreign study permits allowed each year. Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in January the international student permit cap would be slashed 35% from 2023. He promised in 2024 the federal government would approve only 360,000 study permits. During the same months in 2023, 200,205 study permits were handed out to international students, many of which abandon study and take up service jobs at companies like Time Hortons instead, as the case in PEI in recent months. In total in 2023, 682,420 study permits were granted, of those, the vast majority, 278,335, were given to Indian students. The second highest population granted permits, 58,230, were Chinese students, and 37,575 went to Nigerians, 33,830 Filipino and 15,920 Nepalese. By contrast, from January to May 2024, 91,510 Indians got permits, compared to the 85,805 in the first five months of 2023. Chinese students received 21,240 permits in the first five months of 2024, compared to 15,565 in the first five months in 2023, Nigerians 12,450 compared to 8,150 by May 2023, and Filipinos 10,140 permits, up from 9,300 in the same period last year. Nepalese permits were up 4,655 as of May compared to 3,575. IRCC spokesperson Rémi said it was “too early” to tell the full impact of the data. “Given the changes to the international student program have not yet seen the traditionally busiest season for study permit processing — summer and early fall — it may be too early to fully assess the data and analyze the impacts, including the intake cap on study permit applications,” said Larivière, per the National Post, adding various factors influence the process. “As education is a provincial and territorial responsibility, IRCC consulted governments at the provincial and territorial level frequently as the allocations were established,” Larivière said.“IRCC distributed the adjusted number of study permit applications based on the population share, 2023 volumes and approval rates of each province and territory.”Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec blamed the last nine years of the Trudeau government for the problem of too many temporary residents for the system to handle.“It is so bad that the current Liberal immigration minister himself said the broken system is ‘out of control’. The previous immigration minister admitted that the system is a ‘complete mess’. Even Trudeau acknowledged their shared failure, calling the system ‘broken,'” he said.“The Liberal government first allowed corrupt consultants and phoney educational institutions to bring students here under false pretences. Then they promised to fix the mess and bring it under control only to see things become worse amid a growing housing crisis of their making.”
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