Synopsis: Canada’s international student landscape is undergoing a massive shift, with study permit approvals dropping by 45% in 2024. Stricter financial and language requirements, policy changes, and the discontinuation of the Student Direct Stream (SDS) have made it harder for students to enter. Stay updated on these critical changes!
The number of international students arriving in Canada in 2024 is projected to decline by 45% compared to 2023, following the enforcement of stringent immigration policies. The world’s largest online platform for international student recruitment, ApplyBoard, made this forecast late last month after analyzing data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
The Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) established the 2024 cap on international students, representing a 35% reduction from 2023 levels, following adjustments to ensure a proportional allocation across provinces and territories. The final targets were set at 552,095 study permit applications and 291,914 study permit approvals for capped study levels.
However, ApplyBoard projects that the IRCC is on course to approve only 280,000 study permits in 2024, representing a 45% decrease from 2023. According to the report, this would be the lowest number of study permit approvals in a non-pandemic year since 2019, the year preceding the COVID-19 outbreaks.
During the first ten months of 2024, the overall study permit approval rate remained slightly surpassing 50%, representing a decline of 10 percentage points compared to the same period in 2023. ApplyBoard anticipates that this rate will decrease further once full-year data is available, in line with trends observed between 2021 and 2023. Consequently, the average study permit approval rate for 2024 is projected to decline to under 50%, falling approximately four percentage points below the IRCC’s estimates.
Shifting Demographics in Student Populations
- Despite the overall decline, the student populations from Senegal, Guinea, and Vietnam increased during the period of January to October 2024 in comparison to the same period in 2023. ApplyBoard highlights that this growth may position these countries as significant contributors to diversity on Canadian campuses during the cap era.
- The decline in student numbers was more widespread. Among the top 10 student populations of 2023, eight experienced approval reductions exceeding 20%, with five of these groups seeing their new approvals decrease by at least half on a year-over-year basis.
- Students from India, Nigeria, and the Philippines, who together comprised 54% of all study permit approvals during the first ten months of 2023, accounted for only 44% of approvals in the corresponding period of 2024.
- In 2023, Canada admitted 1,040,985 international students, reflecting a 29% increase from the previous year, according to IRCC data. This number exceeded the government’s target of 950,000 students for the year.
- India and China continued to be the largest sources of international students in Canada, with 427,085 and 101,150 students, respectively. The Philippines ranked third with 48,870 students, while Vietnam held the eighth position with 17,175 students.
Issuance of Government Policies
Since late 2023, the government has implemented a series of more rigorous policies for international students to regulate the impact of immigration flows to Canada which include:
- The financial proof requirement has been increased to over CA$20,600 (US$14,000), doubling the previous threshold of CA$10,000. Furthermore, master’s and PhD students are now required to provide study endorsements from their respective province, territory, or region when applying for a study permit.
- Applicants for the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) are now required to provide proof of English or French proficiency, with university students needing a minimum level of B2 and college students a minimum level of B1. Furthermore, international students arriving in Canada after November 1 must enroll in programs designated by IRCC to qualify for a PGWP.
- Canada recently made an unexpected decision to discontinue the Student Direct Stream (SDS) program, which provided expedited visa processing and exempted students from 14 countries and territories from financial proof requirements, including Vietnam.
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