By Victor Ing,
Special to The Post

On September 18th this past week, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honourable Marc Miller, announced further aggressive policies designed to reduce the overall number of temporary residents admitted to Canada each year. This latest announcement continues the yearlong trend of implementing drastic immigration changes with little to no notice. From reinstating visitor visa requirements for Mexican nationals to reducing the number of foreign workers Canadian employers can hire under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, virtually no area in Canadian immigration law has been left untouched this year, and it is only September! In this blog, we will review upcoming changes to Canada’s temporary resident program and let you know what to look out for as we approach the end of 2024.

The key details in the Minister’s September 18, 2024 announcement include:

• Further reductions to the cap for new study permits: In 2025, Canada will issue no more than 437,000 study permits, down from the 485,000 cap set for 2024. Furthermore, master’s and doctoral students will also now be included under the intake cap – earlier policies explicitly excluded these students from the cap calculation.

• Introducing eligibility requirements to obtain post-graduation work permits (PGWPs): Effective November 1, 2024, new international graduates will need to pass English proficiency exams to receive their PGWPs, which are open permits valid for up to three years that are issued to international students who have completed their studies in Canada to gain Canadian work experience. The Minister also articulated that PGWPs will no longer be available to international students who graduate from public colleges unless they complete programs in (as yet unannounced) fields of study that align with Canada’s labour market needs.

• Limiting work permit eligibility for spouses of international students: Later this year, Canada will stop issuing open work permits to spouses of master’s degree students if the student's spouse is not attending a program that is at least 16 months in duration.

• Limiting work permit eligibility for spouses of workers: Later this year, Canada will limit the issuance of open work permits to spouses of foreign workers who are in management or professional occupations and those who work in “sectors with labour shortages”.

The matter-of-fact delivery of the announcement about these changes belies the many perils that may lie ahead because we are now traversing uncharted waters. In just a few short paragraphs documented in a press release, the Minister has upended years of stability in the temporary residence program, taking a sledgehammer to pillars of the program that offered predictability for students, workers, and the spouses who accompany them to Canada.

As a Vancouver immigration lawyer, I am concerned with the policies underlying these rapid changes. While some of these changes appear desirable and well thought out, others do not. For example, attaching language requirements to obtain PGWPs is something that is, in my view, long overdue. For years, Canada’s international student population grew to unsustainable proportions because many were misinformed that studying in Canada is a “guaranteed” pathway to becoming permanent residents because they would become eligible to apply after working in Canada for as little as one year after graduation under a PGWP. This misleading messaging is at least partially combatted by introducing some requirements to obtain the PGWP, especially since language requirements are one of the most important criteria to qualify for permanent residency. Therefore, we can at least say that the recent policies surrounding international students are rationally connected to the broader immigration goal of ensuring that we invite them to come to Canada based on their likelihood to succeed in their studies and transition to becoming permanent residents.

On the other hand, limiting eligibility for open work permits for spouses of foreign workers is entirely unprecedented and deserves more of an explanation from the Minister about why it is necessary, other than simply pointing out that this will help Canada reach the overall goal of reducing temporary residents in Canada by approximately 100,000 workers over the next three years. This is a precarious policy that could lead to unintended consequences, including harming Canada’s global standing as a country that welcomes immigrants. To make things worse, we do not know when the Minister will share details about the sectors that will be affected by these changes.

Just in the past few weeks, I have had several clients express their trepidations about the current state of Canada’s immigration programs. Foreign workers and international students alike are looking over their shoulders wondering what is coming next and how they will be affected. As we all wait for further details to bring clarity to these policies, the speed of recent changes emphasizes the importance of being prepared and seeking advice from reputable legal counsel to help navigate the changing immigration tides.

As we head into the Fall, all eyes will be on the Minister when he delivers his annual Immigration Levels Plan to Parliament on November 1, 2024, which will, for the first time, address targets for both temporary and permanent residency. In previous years I would expect to hear that permanent residency targets in Canada are either rising or remaining relatively stable – it would have been unheard of to hear about a decrease in immigration levels, given years of consistent messaging that virtually all of Canada’s economic growth is owed to new immigrants. What this year has shown, however, is that we all need to be prepared for the unexpected.

Victor Ing is a lawyer of Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre. He provides a full range of immigration services. For more information go to canadian-visa-lawyer.com or email victor@sasanding.com.