Canada’s Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, has stated that over 292000 permits are approved for college & UG students. On January 22nd, IRCC imposed an overall intake cap of approximately 360,000 students on study permit applications.

The cap seeks to curb ‘unsustainable growth’ in Canada’s international student program. This is done by reducing the number of approved study permits by 35% over two years. IRCC also said it would improve the system’s integrity. 

What Has Been Clarified? 

Over 292,000 permits are approved for college & UG students. According to Globe & Mail, IRCC has clarified that cap-exempt study permits were included in their 360,000 estimate of new study permits approved in 2024. Therefore, only 292,000 new college & university undergraduate study permits will be approved this year. 

However, Marc Miller doesn’t have the statutory authority to limit the number of approved visas. 

The immigration minister asserted that only the applications are capped & not the issuance of visas. He further stated that the authorities have assumed a level of acceptance & rejection at their level. What the authorities did was cap the intake at a certain level & further distribute it across Canada. 

Moreover, the Minister’s instructions to set an application processing cap of 606,250 permits excluded primary & secondary school & master’s & doctoral level university programs. This would result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits in 2024, thus using an average approval rate of 60%. 

This contrasts with the latest Globe & Mail report that IRCC aims to approve only 292,200 new college & undergraduate study permits. Furthermore, IRCC did not cite at the time that this processing limit also considered students whom the cap would not impact. 

How Is Canada Looking To Implement This Study Permit Cap? 

IRCC has left the wider implementation of the study permit cap to provincial governments. To this end, provinces are responsible for giving international students eligible to study at a DLI in their jurisdiction a Provincial Attestation Letter. These letters represent to IRCC that the approved student is authorized/ allowed under the province/ territory their school is situated in to count towards the province’s study permit allocation. 

DLIs are the only Canadian schools that are approved to accept international students. 

Based on ministerial instructions, PALs must be written & signed by the territorial/ provincial government & must contain an applicant’s: 

  • Full Name
  • Date Of Birth
  • Address 

Under the new system, study permit candidates will now need both a letter of acceptance (LOA) and a PAL to apply to IRCC for their study permit. Previously, international students only required the former. The number of allocations granted to a territory or province will be based on their respective populations. 

So far, only two provinces have declared their systems for delivering PALs to students: British Columbia and Alberta. Under both systems, students will receive PALs through their DLIs, which will apply to the provincial government once they meet all eligibility criteria. 

The federal government has given all provincial governments a deadline of March 31st, 2024, to create & implement their systems of delivering PALs.