(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is taking more steps to reduce immigration in a country that has buckled under the strain of explosive population growth.
Canada will bring in even fewer foreign students next year after already reducing 2024 visa issuance, and further cut back on the number of foreign workers and master’s degree students whose spouses are able to apply for a work permit, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday in Ottawa.
For 2025, the intake cap of international students will decrease by 10% from this year’s levels, and that limit will be maintained through 2026. That represents a 36% decline from the 2023 numbers. However, Universities Canada has warned the country is currently on track to undershoot this year’s target as fewer foreign students are applying.
The new measures, although incremental, fill in some of the gaps in the government’s plan to shrink its temporary resident population. That’s a group that includes foreign students, temporary workers and asylum seekers. It had grown rapidly after the pandemic and is a key source of criticisms against Trudeau’s mishandling of immigration policies.
Canada’s strong immigration had helped boost the country’s post-pandemic recovery and lessened the impact of elevated interest rates on growth. But population gains of about three million over the past three years — the equivalent of Qatar’s populace — exacerbated pressures on housing costs and public services and tanked Trudeau’s popularity.
In March, Miller said the government aimed to decrease the share of temporary residents in the country to 5% over the next three years. At the time of that announcement, the temporary resident population stood at 6.2% but has since grown to about 6.8%. That’s partly because the cap on foreign student visas is so far the only major policy to reduce immigration.
The restrictions announced Wednesday are expected to reduce the number of temporary immigrants by an additional 525,000 over three years, the immigration minister said, adding that the further decrease will help the government achieve its 5% goal.
The government will announce the first-ever temporary resident target for 2025 to 2027 by Nov. 1.
The Bank of Canada in July lifted its near-term population growth projections, anticipating the government’s plan to limit inflows of temporary residents would take longer time than previously expected to slow immigration. Still, economists expect the country’s long-run growth to be weaker in the coming years as population growth decelerates, raising prospects of a downturn.
Unlike the US, Canada’s current immigration pressures aren’t coming from undocumented migrants or irregular crossings. The northern nation is instead grappling with the explosive numbers of newcomers who come to study and work under temporary visas but with the goal of seeking permanent residency.
“The reality is that not everyone who wants to come to Canada will be able to — just like not everyone who wants to stay in Canada will be able to,” Miller said in a statement. “Our immigration system must preserve its integrity, and be well managed and sustainable.”
Temporary Workers
At a news conference alongside Miller, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault also announced measures to limit the use of temporary foreign workers in Quebec, a French-speaking province that’s the biggest user of the program so far this year. The government is expanding restrictions announced in August for other provinces to cover Quebec, and the tighter policies include bans on using the program in regions where unemployment rate is 6% or higher.
Polling by Nanos Research Group for Bloomberg News released this month showed the majority of Canadians agreed the government should curb the number of temporary workers. That’s despite three in five respondents supporting the idea that businesses should be allowed to use the program when they claim they can’t find suitable candidates in Canada.
Over the past year, Canada’s immigration-led labor force growth has consistently outpaced the economy’s capacity to create jobs. That pushed up the overall unemployment rate by more than one percentage point since mid-2023, with youth and newcomers bearing the worst brunt. Abuses and fraud within the temporary worker program also grew as government agencies were overwhelmed with the rapid growth.
“Right now, we know that there are more Canadians qualified to fill open positions,” Boissonnault said. “The changes we are making today will prioritize Canadians workers and ensures Canadians can trust the program is meeting the needs of our economy.”
(Updates with more details on the measures in the seventh paragraph.)
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