BC issues provincial attestation letters for foreign students. International students must submit a PAL to prove that they are accepted by a DLI within the limits of its allocation. The government of British Columbia states that the provincial government issues PALs to institutions that further issue letters to the international applicant.
In addition, the province states that it has been granted a total collection of 83,000 undergraduate study permit applications from IRCC. Further, BC notes that based on previous acceptance rates, the federal government expects this to result in approximately 50,000 approved study permit allocations for 2024.
Comparatively, last year, there were around 97,000 study permit applications for undergraduate programs in BC, resulting in approximately 60,000 approved study permits.
The province says that over 53% of PALs will be for public post-secondary institutions & the remaining 47% will be for private institutions, representing 27% fewer study permit applications for private institutions than in 2023 BC. It notes that the reduction is meant to counter unsustainable growth.
BC’s PAL system is the first to be released since IRCC introduced a cap on the number of study permits it would issue in 2024. Other provinces are envisioned to follow suit shortly to meet the March 31 deadline.
IRCC’s Cap On Study Permit Applications
As BC issues provincial attestation letters for foreign students, IRCC stated that it will now issue up to 360,000 new study permits in 2024, a 35% reduction over 2023 levels.
Study permit renewals aren’t affected by the cap, nor are master’s or doctoral degrees.
During the declaration, IRCC said study permits would be allocated to the provinces based on population. According to population data from Statistics Canada, BC is Canada’s third most populous province, with approximately 5.6 million people.
Alongside the cap, the department also announced changes to the eligibility criteria for Post Graduation Work Permit & upcoming changes to SOWP. The partners/ spouses of international students pursuing an undergraduate degree will no longer be eligible for a SOWP. However, this hasn’t yet been implemented.
Unsustainable Growth
The implementation of the cap came after several years. There were around one million active study permits in Canada in 2023, at a time when the nation is coping with a lack of affordable housing. As a result, many international students are living in poor conditions or, in certain cases, experiencing homelessness.
The minister explained that there are diplomas equivalent to puppy mills that are just churning out diplomas & this is not a legitimate student experience.
Further, the minister said that because of permissive DLI models in some provinces, international students were not being offered adequate support despite paying significantly higher tuition fees than domestic students. According to IRCC, the cap will target bad actors within the system by reducing their source of income.
Other Changes To BC’s International Student Program
BC notes that it expects the cap to have the biggest impact on private institutions, which typically have less oversight than public institutions. Further, earlier this year, the province introduced its own suite of measures to combat the unsustainable growth of provincial international student programs.
For instance, the province is pausing approvals for new post-secondary institutions seeking to enroll international students until February 2026. It says that it will also ensure private degree programs meet higher standards of approval, including higher assessment criteria for degree quality, demonstrated labor-market need for graduates, & appropriate resources & student support.
This is in addition to new minimum language requirements for students at private institutions, a measure aimed at ensuring that students are better prepared for life as students in the province.