Co-authored by Ross Baumann.

Following similar announcements earlier this year focusing on reducing the influx of temporary residents, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has recently announced further changes to a number of temporary residence categories: IRCC News Release: Strengthening temporary residence programs for sustainable volumes.

Key takeaways

  • Canada is making further reductions of 10 per cent to the intake cap on international study permits for 2025 and 2026, in addition to the 35 per cent decrease from 2023 to 2024.
  • Master’s and Doctoral students will now require a provincial/territorial attestation letter, which was imposed for other international students earlier this year.
  • Spouses or common-law partners of international students will only be eligible for work permits if the international student is studying in a Master’s program that is at least 16 months long, in a Doctoral program, in program leading to certain professional degrees, or under an eligible pilot program.
  • Effective November 1, applicants for post-graduation work permits will need to demonstrate proficiency in English or French.
  • Further changes are coming to post-graduation work permits later this fall, which may include limiting eligibility to specific fields of study linked to in-demand occupations.
  • Spouses or common-law partners of foreign workers will only be eligible for an open work permit if the foreign worker is employed in a management or professional occupation, or in certain sectors with labour shortages (to be announced).

Temporary workers

Work permits for spouses or common-law partners of foreign workers

IRCC has also announced changes to work permit eligibility for spouses or common-law partners of foreign workers.

Spouses or common-law partners of foreign workers are currently eligible for an open work permit if their spouse holds a work permit or other authorization to work in Canada, is authorized to work in Canada for at least six months, and is working in a high-skilled occupation or certain lower-skill occupations.

IRCC has announced that changes will be coming later this year to limit work permit eligibility to spouses or common-law partners of foreign workers in management or professional occupations (TEER 0 or 1 in Canada’s National Occupational Classification) or in sectors with labour shortages.

Further information, including information on which sectors may be eligible, is expected later this fall.

International students & Post grad work permits

Student intake cap

Announced in January 2024 and effective September 1, 2024, a two-year cap was placed on international student visas and admissions to Canada.

IRCC has now announced a further reduction of the intake cap on foreign students for 2025, aiming for a further reduction of 10 per cent from the 2024 target. This will reduce the number of study permits to be issued to 437,000 for 2025 and 2026.

This cap will include Master’s and Doctoral students, who will now need to submit a provincial/territorial attestation letter. IRCC is reserving approximately 12 per cent of the intake cap for Master’s and Doctoral students.

This further reduction in the intake cap follows on other changes made earlier this year designed to improve the integrity of the study permit regime including implementing a letter of acceptance verification system to protect students from fraud, increasing financial requirements, and proposed regulatory changes regarding international students changing schools and the hours of work students may work off-campus during their studies.

Limiting work permits for spouses or common-law partners of international students

Further changes have also been announced to the work permit eligibility of spouses or common-law partners of international students studying at the post-secondary level.

Earlier this year, IRCC announced that work permit eligibility for spouses or common-law partners of international students were to be limited to international students studying in graduate (Master’s or Doctoral) programs at universities or polytechnic institutions, international students studying for certain professional degrees, or international students participating in an eligible pilot program.

IRCC has now announced further changes to this limitation that, effective later this year, work permit eligibility for spouses of Master’s degree students will be limited to those whose program of study is at least 16 months in duration.

Spouses or common-law partners of international students at other levels of study, including undergraduate programs, college programs, and Master’s programs under 16 months in duration, will not be eligible to apply for open work permits.

The changes are not retroactive. Therefore, spouses or common-law partners of international students who already have open work permits will continue to be eligible to renew their permits as long as they continue to meet the original criteria.

Post-graduation work permit changes

Earlier this year IRCC announced several changes to the eligibility requirements for post-graduation work permits (PGWPs), including increasing the duration of PGWPs for all graduates of Master’s degree programs to three years regardless of the length of the program, and removing eligibility for PGWPs for graduates of public-private partnership college programs.

IRCC has now announced that further changes will be coming to PGWP eligibility. Effective November 1, 2024, applicants for PGWPs will now be required to show that they meet minimum language requirements in English or French of Canada Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7 for university graduates and CLB level 5 for college graduates.

IRCC says it will continue to update the PGWP program to better align with immigration goals and labour market needs. We expect further changes to be announced later this fall, which may include limitations on which fields of study are eligible for PGWPs to align with occupations that are seeing long-term shortages.

Conclusion

Canada is continuing to reform temporary residence programs and policies with a view towards reducing fraud and abuse, protecting students and foreign workers, mitigating and relieving pressures on the housing and health care sectors, and ensuring the sustainability of the immigration system.

These changes are in keeping with recent announcements which placed restrictions on international students, introduced stronger protections for foreign workers, increased employer inspections, and removed pandemic-era policies to prevent their abuse. Further information on these changes, including details on further limitations on post-graduation work permit eligibility and sectoral-based work permit eligibility for spouses or common-law partners of temporary workers, is expected to be released later this year.

As IRCC continues to reform their programs, employers, foreign workers and current and prospective international students should monitor the changes carefully to ensure they continue to meet changing eligibility requirements.