Feds Impose New Limits on International Students - Immigration Minister Marc Miller has announced new limits on international students Wednesday, saying Canada is facing an untenable number of people wishing to come here.

Enrolment cuts, work permit restrictions will further slow population growth. Immigration Minister Marc Miller has announced new limits on international students Wednesday, saying Canada is facing an untenable number of people wishing to come here.Canada will reduce the annual cap on study permits by another 10 per cent in 2025 and restrict eligibility for international graduates' work permits to better meet labour market needs, amid continuing public pressure to tame runaway population growth.

- By Nicholas Keung

Canada will reduce the annual cap on study permits by another 10 per cent in 2025 and restrict eligibility for international graduates' work permits to better meet labour market needs, amid continuing public pressure to tame runaway population growth.

Two days after losing a seat in a byelection in Quebec, the Liberal government said it will cut the study permit application intake from 485,000 in 2024 to 437,000 next year, and keep it at that level for 2026.

Changes will also be coming this fall to the post-graduation work permit program to align immigration goals and labour market needs.

The pace of immigration has changed and our immigration programs are facing new threats, Immigration Minister Marc Miller told a news conference on Wednesday.

“We are facing an untenable number of people wishing to come to Canada. There’s a lot of people who want to come to Canada as a dream, but it is in fact a privilege, not a right.”

Canada’s population surpassed 41 million earlier this year, and the government has been partially blamed for not adapting quickly enough to adjust the immigration levels given the affordable housing crisis and rising cost of living, and the strain on public resources such as health care.

Earlier this year, Ottawa imposed a 35 per cent reduction in new study permit applications processed, and tightened rules to bring down temporary residents’ share of the overall population from the current 6.1 per cent to five per cent over three years.