COW – International Students – June 9, 2025

Key Facts and Figures

• For 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) target number of study permits issued is 437,000 (a 10% reduction from the 2024 target).
• As of April 30, 2025, there has been a 30% reduction in new study permit intake compared to the same period (January to April) in 2024.
• In 2024, IRCC approved 292,431 new study permits (not including extensions), 41% less than 2023.
• As of December 31, 2024, there were 997,820 study permit holders with a valid permit, a 4% decrease compared to December 31, 2023.
• In 2024, there were 203,363 new Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) holders in Canada, a 15% decrease from 240,561 in 2023.

Key Messages

• While international students make valuable contributions to our communities, unchecked growth in the number of students could not continue.
• IRCC made important changes to better prepare international students for life in Canada and address the changing needs of our country. Enhanced volume controls, economic alignment, and strong integrity measures help prevent fraud and abuse and ensure the long-term success of the International Student Program.
• Reforms have included:
  • Volume controls: Implementation of an intake cap on most study permit applications;
  • Economic alignment: Reforming the PGWP program to better align the program with economic objectives and Canada’s labour needs;
  • Stronger integrity and preventing student vulnerability:
    • Implementing an enhanced letter of acceptance (LOA) verification system to better protect prospective students from LOA fraud;
    • Clarifying that programs delivered through curriculum licensing agreements are not eligible for PGWP; and
    • Introducing new regulations that allow IRCC to take action on non-compliant institutions.
    • Increasing the financial threshold to $20,635 for study permit applicants;
  • Increase diversity: Introducing the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot, to welcome and help retain French-speaking international students in Francophone minority communities outside of Quebec;
• We’re now on course for a stronger and more sustainable program, where international students are set up for success and we are able to focus on attracting top talent to Canada.

Supplementary Information

Enhanced Letter of Acceptance Verification System

• In December 2023, IRCC implemented a mandatory system to verify LOAs from post-secondary Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) before a study permit is issued.
• When a study permit application is received online, IRCC automatically sends the DLI an email to advise that they have new LOAs to verify in the portal.
• A study permit application is not deemed complete until this verification is done. If the verification is not completed within the allotted timeframe, IRCC withdraws the study permit application from processing.

Updated Financial Requirements

• The cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants had not changed since the early 2000s, and was not in line with the current cost of living in Canada, leaving international students in an increasingly precarious situation.
• As of January 1, 2024, a single applicant for a study permit must show they have $20,635, in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs. IRCC will adjust this threshold annually based on Statistics Canada cost of living measures.

Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot

• On August 26, IRCC launched the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP), in partnership with French-language and bilingual post-secondary DLIs outside Quebec.
• The goal is to make access to the program fairer for French-speaking international students from regions where the study permit approval rate is generally lower, namely Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
• FMCSP participants are exempt from requiring a provincial or territorial attestation letter (PAL/TAL) and are not included in the overall cap, IRCC will process a maximum of 2,300 study permits under this pilot project for the first year. Participants are also eligible for a permanent resident pathway upon graduation.

PGWP Program

• On November 1, 2024, IRCC updated the PGWP program to better align the program to economic objectives. Changes included introducing minimum language requirements for all applicants and a field of study requirement for all graduates except those completing bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree programs.
• Beginning May 15, 2024, international students who began a study program delivered by private colleges as part of a curriculum licensing agreement are no longer eligible for a PGWP upon graduation.

Regulatory Amendments

• New regulations have come into effect on November 8, 2024. These changes include:
  • Increasing the number of hours an eligible international student can work off campus each week to 24 hours;
  • Requiring international students to apply for and be approved for a new study permit when they change learning institutions; and
  • Introducing consequences for designated learning institutions that don’t participate in mandatory student compliance reporting and LOA verification.

Approval Rates and Processing Times

• As a result of recent reform measures, new requirements have been introduced such as higher financial requirements, enhanced LOA verification processes and PALs. These requirements result in an application undergoing additional checks.
• An enhanced focus on program integrity and changes to requirements are also affecting approval rates. However, approval rates are expected to stabilize over time.
• IRCC is committed to continue analyzing approval rate trends to better communicate with stakeholders what measures they can put in place to course correct.
• If pressed on IRCC’s processing timelines online: The Department is exploring changes to the way processing times are posted online to better reflect what clients can expect at the time of application. This new approach is in line with our client service strategy to provide meaningful information for applicants to make informed decisions.
• If pressed on processing timelines for study permit extensions: The intake of extensions are currently higher than expected which affects processing times; however, the majority of new extensions are being processed within service standards. We have also re-allocated resources to process the older inventory quickly, and we are near completion. We anticipate the processing times for extensions will reduce by early summer and will enable timely processing of applications for fall intake.
• If pressed on departments’ commitment to improving outcomes for study permit applicants from countries with lower approval rates: The Department continues to analyze data, fine-tune criteria and design tools to improve the decision-making process to ensure program integrity while improving processing efficiency. IRCC is also committed to ensuring that each application is treated fairly and without discrimination.

The Department:

• Maintains a training curriculum to include further unconscious bias, cultural and anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion training.
• Maintains quality assurance measures to achieve consistency in decision making on these applications;
• Continues to work with partners to attract eligible, admissible applicants from a variety of source countries.