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Canada announces new measures to reduce temporary residents

Canada announces new measures to reduce temporary residents

Due to the increase in the need for the Canadian immigration system, the Honourable Marc Miller, the minister of immigration, Refugees, and citizenship Canada has come up with special new measures that address the temporary residents particularly the students and the workers.

These measures are part of a larger plan to fight labour shortages, protect the asylum system, and guarantee that temporary residents in Canada have the support needed during their stay.

The recent changes such as those concerning permits for international students studying in Canada or those seeking work permits for employment in Canada relates to increasing challenges of the country in hosting temporary residents.

Minister Miller and the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Official Languages outlined the following steps: “The steps we are taking will help to sustain the immigration programs and protect Canadian workers.”

1. Reduction in Study Permits for 2025

Perhaps the most significant is the decrease in the cut-off for international student study permits to be taken since 2025.

From the government the number of study permits set for 2025 have been cut from 485,000, for 2024 by 10% thus making the total number to 437,000.

This cut is as a result of apprehensions over the increased number of international students in Canada and the implications such a move has on demands for accommodation and other utilities.

The number of the intake for the year 2026 will also stay the same as that of 2025, which means that the new study permits available will all be limited.

The above cuts are meant to allow that foreign students to be well managed as they come for studies as well as future employment in Canada.

2. Updates to the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) Program

Another important reform is the improvement of rules in the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) Program that encourages international students to work in the country after graduation.

New language requirements will come into the PGWP application process from November 2024.

University graduates will be expected to possess CLB level 7 while college graduates will possess CLB level 5.

The purpose of these standards is to improve the qualifications of individuals seeking permanent residency by enabling them to integrate into the Canadian employment market.

Also, only students who graduated from fields of study relevant to occupations that experience short supply in the Canadian employment sphere will be able to apply for a PGWP for a three-year period. This is useful in aligning the program with that of Canada’s labour market and immigration policies.

3. Changes to Work Permit Eligibility for Spouses of Foreign Students and Workers

As part of measures to limit the number of temporary residents, the Canadian government is soon to put in place restrictions on work permits for spouses of international students and foreign workers.

In this year, permits will only be issued to the spouses of the master’s degree students if their program is of a duration of more than 16 months.

Also, only spouses of foreign workers under TFWP and IMP would be allowed work permits for employment in Canada only in case of management, professional occupations or shortage occupations.

All these changes are aimed at protecting Canadian workers while at the same time allowing only the foreign workers who will be deemed necessary in positions that lack a sufficient supply of workers in Canada’s labour market.

Addressing the Growing Volume of Asylum Claims

Besides controlling the flow of international students and the foreign workers, the Canadian government pays attention to the asylum system as well.

There are many more displaced persons in the world now, and thus the number of applications for asylum in Canada is high; this has put pressure on the immigration and temporary residents’ systems in the country.

The government has put in place a number of initiatives to strengthen visa integrity and enhance the asylum process in order to solve these issues:The government has put in place a number of initiatives to strengthen visa integrity and enhance the asylum process in order to solve these issues:

Partial visa requirements for Mexican nationals: This structural change is therefore aimed at regulating entry of non-genuine visitors and also achieving control of temporary residents.

Improved claims processing: In 2024 the government laid down measures which aimed at improving the efficiency of the asylum claims management while at the same time maintaining the cleanliness of the process. These updates seek to accomplish the goal of increasing the efficiency in making the necessary assessments, while at the same time not reducing the effectiveness of the evaluations made.

Review of visa decision-making: The government will also improve decision making procedures on visa grants with a view of providing immigration officers with enhanced tools to identify the fraudsters and decline non-genuine visa applicants.

The government continues to strengthen the asylum system to ensure that Canada remains responsible for offering protection to refugees while regulating the flow of the temporary population.

A Broader Immigration Plan for Sustainable Growth

The current action taken by the Canadian government in controlling and regulating temporary residents are among the many and complex strategies that have been enacted in the overall immigration plan of Canada.

Minister Miller pointed out that Canada remains open for immigrants, saying that though the doors are open, the government has to ensure the immigration system’s integrity and durability.

Speaking honestly, not everyone who wants to come to Canada will be able to—just like not every person, who wants to stay in Canada, will be able to,” said Minister Miller.

“To address the challenges we are implementing measures to enhance our temporary residence offerings and launching a more extensive immigration strategy.

Minister Boissonnault also stated the same in his response by stating that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) was created with the view to addressing issues of shortage of workers when Canadians of similar qualifications cannot be sourced.

But since more and more Canadians meet such qualifications, the government is protecting Canadian workers by making the issuance of work permits to foreigners in the noted sectors, limited to cases where there is genuine scarcity of such personnel.

It will also provide additional measures to safeguard the prospective immigrants and to ensure the cloak of immigration programs.

Some measures include safeguarding international learners and employees against exploitation as well as guaranteeing that no one with the right qualifications should be accorded temporary dwelling in Canada.

Budget 2024: Funding to Support the Asylum System

In order to continue addressing the government’s commitment to building and maintaining Canada’s immigration and asylum systems, Budget 2024 includes $743. 500 thousand every year for five years starting from 2024 –2025 with gression additional $159. 5 million ongoing.

This funding is meant to support the steadiness and the solidity of the asylum system in the country and to guarantee the Canadian government that it is still possible to be a humanitarian country, accepting refugees and newcomers from the less safe parts of the world, but still being in control of the borders.

What the Future Holds

The target of reducing temporary residents to 5% of Canada’s total population in 2027, as set in the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan indicates that the Canadian government is willing to closely regulate the flow of immigration to the country.

The policy, which is expected to be made public before November 1, 2024, will incorporate the new intake caps for international students and other temporary residents.

As seen by the above table, master’s and doctorate students, as well as postsecondary graduates from public college programs, will continue to be an important source of human capital in the Canadian labour market to the degree that they satisfy the new eligibility requirements..

For the success of these individuals the new intake caps for the study permit will allocate 12% of the space for such a group of students.

These changes are a new step in the development of Canada’s immigration policy with emphasising the need of the economic sector and the vulnerability of temporary immigrants.

Such measures will also assist the government in its transition towards a new paradigm of immigration that will make Canada attractive to international students, workers and refugees.

Conclusion

The measures introduced by the Canadian government, such as the cutting of the issuance of international student study permits and new restrictions to work permit eligibility, underscore the need for the development of a more balanced immigration policy that serves the country’s economic purpose.

Yet, the government of Canada puts such measures in place to ensure that the system is not rigged and runs smoothly for receiving the newcomers.

These updates confirm that as the government of Canada evolves its immigration policies for remain modern and effective the country remains farsighted on how it deals with temporary residents and vulnerable people.

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