Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller, left, listens to Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Minister Randy Boissonnault, speak during a news conference in Ottawa, on Sept. 18.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Ottawa announced a suite of measures on Wednesday to further shrink the number of temporary foreign residents in Canada, including tightening the cap on international student numbers and limiting work permits of spouses of foreign students and workers.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced an additional reduction in the number of study permits issued to international students from 485,000 in 2024 to 437,000 next year.
The number would not increase in 2026 from the 2025 level, he said at a press conference in Ottawa on Wednesday, adding that “the international student cap is here to stay.”
The changes build on previous moves by Ottawa to reduce foreign resident numbers, and are aimed at meeting a federal target to decrease the proportion of temporary residents to 5 per cent of Canada’s population from 6.5 per cent by 2026.
Mr. Miller said the changes, which include making students seeking postgraduate work permits to first pass an English or French-language test, are unlikely to reduce numbers rapidly.
“This is about slowing down a big ship and it will take time,” he said, stressing that not everyone who wants to come to Canada, or stay here, will be able to. The government also announced that it is taking steps to help immigration officers better detect fraud.
Justin Trudeau said the changes were required to cut down on “bad actors” who abuse Canada’s immigration system. “We’re granting less international student permits this year. And next year, that number’s going down by another 10%,” the Prime Minister posted on X.
“Immigration is an advantage for our economy – but when bad actors abuse the system and take advantage of students, we crack down.”
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced a reduction in the proportion of low-wage employees that can be made up of temporary workers, including in Quebec. He capped at 10 per cent the share of a work force an employer can fill with low-wage temporary foreign workers.
But he made an exception for employers bringing in temporary foreign workers to plug labour shortages in the health care, food processing and construction sectors. The proportion of foreign employees they can bring in stays at 20 per cent of their work force.
The changes precede the setting of annual targets for permanent residents in 2025-27 on Nov. 1, which are not expected to increase from current levels. Last November, Ottawa froze the number of permanent residents it aims to welcome here at 500,000 in the face of waning public support for immigration.
At Wednesday’s press conference, the ministers also announced measures to cut the number of spouses of foreign students and workers who can take jobs in Canada.
They include a tightening of the work-permit rules for spouses of master’s-degree students. From later this year, only those whose partners are in study programs lasting at least 16 months will be eligible for a work permit.
Work permits will also only be given to spouses of foreign workers in professional or management jobs – such as academics and lawyers – or in sectors with labour shortages, such as construction.
In a major shakeup of the postgraduate work program, college graduates will only have access to work permits – valid for up to three years – in sectors where there are shortages of qualified workers.
Students studying medicine, nursing or trades, such as electrical engineering, where there are a shortage of Canadians to fill such positions, would be eligible for a work permit under the changes.
However, university graduates will continue to have access to a three-year postgraduate work permit.
Ottawa also indicated that, within the 2025-26 cap on study permits, around 12 per cent of study-permit allocations will be reserved for master’s and doctoral students.
Henry Lotin, founder of Integrative Trade and Economics and a former federal economist, warned that the reduction in student and spousal visas may not necessarily translate into a comparable reduction in population.
“Expired visa holders do not necessarily leave. Expired student and work visa holders, unable to secure permanent residency, have increasingly applied for asylum within Canada,” he said.
He also warned that overly restrictive measures may discourage highly qualified temporary workers and postsecondary students from coming to Canada. ”Consideration should be given to the most highly qualified applicants adding to Canada’s human capital. That is not necessarily ‘sectors with labour shortages,’ ” he said.
Mr. Boissonnault compared the temporary foreign worker program with an accordion that would “flex with the economy.”
“When we have a high number of vacancies, we can bring in more people, and as the economy tightens, we close the accordion and we make it harder for people to come in,” he said.
Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said the ministers do not seem to care about the rights, working conditions and living conditions of migrants.
“The ministers made no mention, not even once, about workers’ rights, instead continuing to obsess about numbers and cuts,” he said.