BREAKING: IRCC announces 292,000 permits for college and undergraduate students

Recent comments by Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc MillerThe Globe and Mail has revealed that there are approximately 292,000 study permits available to international students enrolled in colleges and undergraduate degrees this year.

The following are some of the ways to get in touch with us. January 22nd Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada(IRCC) imposed a cap of 360,000 students on the total number of students. study permitApplications that will be approved this year

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

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What has been clarified?

According to the Globe and Mail (a reputable Canadian publication), IRCC clarified in their estimate of 360,000 new permits approved in 2024 that cap-exempt permits were included. Only 292,000 new undergraduate study permits for colleges and universities will be approved in 2019.

The immigration minister is not able to limit the number approved visas. Only the number processed by IRCC.

This was highlighted by comments made by the Minister at the last meeting on Citizenship and Immigration Committee (CIMM).
“I can only cap the applications and not the actual issuance of visas,”He said. “The way it works through the math is that we assume a level of acceptance and rejection at our level, and it churns out a bunch of visas. What we did was cap the intake at a certain level then we distributed it generally by population across Canada.”

In addition, the Minister’s instructions to set an application processing cap of 606,250 permits excluded primary and secondary school and master’s and doctorate level university programs. This would result, if the approval rate was 60 percent on average, in approximately 360,000 study permit approvals in 2024.

This is in contrast to the latest Globe and Mail article that stated IRCC aims only to approve 292,200 new college and undergrad study permits.

In addition, IRCC did not cite at the time that this processing limit also took into account students who would not be impacted by the cap (such as elementary and high school students, or master’s students).

How will Canada implement the cap on study permits?

IRCC has delegated the implementation of the cap on study permits to the provincial governments. To this end, it is the provinces’ responsibility to determine whether international students are eligible for study at a Designated Learning Institution (DLI)* in their jurisdiction, a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL). These letters signify to IRCC that the approved student is authorized under the province or territory their school is located in, to count towards the province’s study permit allocation.

*DLIs are the only schools in Canada that are approved to accept international students.

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

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Address.

The new system requires that applicants for a study permit have both a Acceptance letter (LOA) and a PAL, they can apply to IRCC to get their study permit. Previously, international students were only required to provide the former. The number of allocations will be determined by the population of each province or territory.

Thus far, only two provinces have announced their system to deliver PALs to students—British ColumbiaAlberta. Students will receive PALs from both systems through their DLIs. Once they meet all eligibility requirements, the DLI will submit a request to the province.

The federal government gave all provincial governments an deadline of March 31st 2024PALs are delivered by a system that is developed and implemented by.

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