The announcement comes as Justin Trudeau's government seeks to reduce the number of temporary residents.
Ottawa:
Canada will further reduce the number of study permits it issues to foreign students and tighten work permit requirements in an effort to reduce the number of temporary residents in the country, the government said Wednesday.
The announcement comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, which is trailing in the polls and suffered a major election defeat this week, seeks to reduce the number of temporary residents – including international students and foreign workers – in the country.
The topic has become one of the most contentious issues in Canadian politics as a federal election is due to be held no later than October 2025.
The changes announced Wednesday would reduce the number of international study permits issued to 437,000 by 2025. Canada approved 509,390 in 2023 and 175,920 in the first seven months of 2024, according to immigration data.
The changes would also limit work permit eligibility for spouses of certain students and temporary foreign workers.
As Canada sees a spike in asylum seekers, the government said Wednesday it plans to review measures to strengthen visa integrity and is “reviewing visa decision-making so our highly qualified officers have the right tools to detect fraud and reduce the number of illegal visitors.”
“The reality is that not everyone who wants to come to Canada will be able to do so, just as not everyone who wants to stay in Canada will be able to do so,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in a statement.
The government has already promised to reduce the number of temporary residents to 5% of the total population, compared to 6.8% in April.
Immigrants are blamed for societal problems including a lack of affordable housing and rising living costs, even as post-pandemic inflation slowed to the Bank of Canada’s target of 2% per year in August.
Migrant rights advocates and some economists argue that the link between migrants and economic distress is an oversimplification and that vulnerable newcomers cannot be blamed for complex economic problems.
Polls show that a growing portion of the population believes Canada is taking in too many immigrants. In addition, Canada, once known for its welcoming attitude toward newcomers, has seen an increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric and attacks.
Yet after years of increasing the number of temporary residents, Canada's federal government is trying to take a step back.
In January, the government imposed a two-year limit on international students, and approvals are expected to fall by almost half this year.
Earlier this month, the government rolled back extensions to the temporary foreign worker program for 2022. In some sectors, it reduced the maximum share of an employer’s workforce that can be made up of low-wage, temporary foreign workers. In some sectors, it also ended low-wage, temporary foreign workers in communities with high unemployment rates.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published via a syndicated feed.)
