Over 7 lakh international students may have to leave Canada next year

However, not all temporary residents will be required to leave. “Some will receive renewals or postgraduate work permits,” Miller said. Such permits, typically issued for nine months to three years, allow foreign students with Canadian diplomas or degrees to gain work experience needed for permanent residency applications.

Since August this year, students from Punjab have been camping in tents in Brampton to protest against Canada’s shifting policy towards them. Most of them say they had come to the country with the assumption that they would be allowed to stay.

Statistics from the immigration department show that as of May 2023, over one million foreign students were in Canada. Of them, 396,235 held Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs) by the end of 2023—almost triple the number from 2018. But with lakha of PGWPs set to expire in the next one year, students face stiff competition for permanent residency amid tighter immigration policies.

Canada has already reduced international student permits by 35% in 2024 and plans a further 10% reduction in 2025, citing housing market pressures as a key factor.

Earlier last month, immigration minister Miller expressed concern that an increasing number of students are filing for asylum. He had said they would be hastening the process of disposing of such claims to weed out bogus applicants.

The shifting immigration landscape has also sparked political debate. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre criticised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policies, citing government data that nearly five million temporary residents are expected to leave by the end of 2025. Poilievre argued that the Trudeau government’s policies have created uncertainty for temporary residents while failing to address housing shortages effectively.