Canada has become a top choice for international students who are looking to study and work while living abroad. Many students arrive with study permits, allowing them to work part-time during their studies and start earning right away. After graduation, the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) enables them to stay in Canada longer, often to eventually gain permanent residency.

However, recent changes and tightened restrictions in Canada’s immigration policies are now making it more challenging for students to settle in the country long-term.

In recent years, Canada has seen a major increase in temporary residents, largely driven by a surge in international students and temporary foreign workers. In response, the Canadian government is now implementing measures to limit the influx of international students, temporary workers, and new permanent residents in the country.

According to Google Trends, searches for “settling in Canada from India” have decreased over the past five years. Interest spiked when Canada reopened immigration post-COVID-19, but the trend has been gradually declining since.

The number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has surged from 437,000 in 2019 to over 1.2 million in 2023. In response, the Canadian government plans to reduce the proportion of temporary residents from 6.5% to 5% of the total population over the next three years. This marks a historic shift, as Canada will now include targets for temporary residents in its annual immigration plans alongside those for permanent residents. As the government strengthens its temporary resident programs, significant decisions are anticipated in the 2025 and 2026 immigration planning.

Additionally, the trend for the search term “Canada from India” reached its peak in April 2021 but has been on a downward trajectory since then.

In 2023, Canada hosted over 900,000 international students. However, from January to August 2024, there was a notable decline, with over 200,000 fewer international students arriving—a 38% drop compared to the previous year. Additionally, Canada has reinstated restrictions on off-campus work hours for international students, limiting them to 20 hours per week, with a new cap of 24 hours set to take effect later this fall.

Meanwhile, the search interest for “Canada Study Permit” showed an upward trend until October 2022, but has since seen a decline in interest.

Canada has raised the cost of living requirement for international students and introduced new regulations for the thorough verification of acceptance letters from designated learning institutions. These measures aim to safeguard students from potential fraud.

Canada’s cap on international students has become a major topic of discussion, and the government has confirmed that it will remain in place.

In a significant policy shift, Canada plans to issue 10% fewer study permits in 2025 and 2026 compared to 2024. This translates to a limit of up to 437,000 study permits for each of those years, marking a 36% reduction from the figures in 2023.

Additionally, starting in 2025, master’s and doctoral students will also count towards this cap. With this change, Canada is incorporating temporary residents into its immigration planning and will set annual targets specifically for international students going forward.

Starting November 1, Canada will implement a new language proficiency requirement for applicants seeking post-graduation work permits, aligning it with standards for permanent residence streams.

Effective November 1, 2024, applicants must demonstrate a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level of 7 for university graduates and CLB level 5 for college graduates.

For students applying after this date, the eligibility for a post-graduation work permit will also depend on the level of their studies. Graduates with bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees will continue to qualify for a work permit of up to three years. However, graduates from public college programs will only be eligible for a work permit of this duration if their field of study is related to areas experiencing labor shortages in Canada.

Canada is anticipated to implement additional measures to restrict eligibility for spousal open work permits. These changes will limit work permit eligibility for spouses of students enrolled in certain doctoral and master’s programs, select professional programs, and specific pilot programs. Over the next three years, these adjustments are expected to result in around 50,000 fewer work permits issued to the spouses of student groups.

Moreover, Canada will restrict work permit eligibility to the spouses of highly skilled professionals, including C-suite executives, scientists, engineers, lawyers, professors, and technicians, as well as workers in sectors facing critical labor shortages. However, spouses of workers in essential fields such as healthcare and construction will still be eligible for work permits. This is projected to lead to about 100,000 fewer work permits for this group of spouses over the next three years.

Additionally, Canada has introduced a controlled Immigration Levels Plan for the period from 2025 to 2027, targeting both temporary and permanent residents, including international students and foreign workers. The targets for permanent residents will decrease from 500,000 in 2024 to 395,000 in 2025, further dropping to 380,000 in 2026, and finally settling at 365,000 in 2027. For temporary resident arrivals, the targets are set at 673,650 in 2025, 516,600 in 2026, and 543,600 in 2027.

The data clearly indicates a decreasing interest in relocating to Canada.