Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Student visa crackdown begins slowing Canada population gains

Number of people who hold only study permits dropped by 24,594 in the first quarter



Published: June 19, 2024 
The slight reduction also helped slow down the overall growth of temporary immigration.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Canada's crackdown on its higher education industry has started to reduce the number of foreign students, an early sign that its rapid pace of population growth may ease over the next few years.

The number of people who hold only study permits dropped by 24,594 in the first quarter, compared with a decline of 16,003 during the same period last year, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday.

The slight reduction also helped slow down the overall growth of temporary immigration. The country added 131,810 non-permanent residents in the first quarter, one of the lowest quarterly net increases since early 2022.

READ MORE 
Explore your higher education options after Canada student visa cap
India resumes e-visa services for Canadian nationals
India to resume some visa services in Canada
India-Canada travel: How India's visa processing halt is affecting travellers from Canada

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government aims to cut international student permits by 35 per cent from last year in an effort to curb explosive post-pandemic population increases and quell public anger over housing shortages and strains on public services.

While the cap on student visas isn't expected to take full effect until later this year, the latest data showed that the policies may have already been working to break off strings of record-breaking gains over the past several quarters.

The population grew 0.6% in the first quarter to 41 million. That's the same quarterly growth rate seen in the previous three months but a marked slowdown from 1.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2023.

No comments:

Post a Comment