Current:Home > InvestCanada is capping foreign student visas to ease housing pressures as coast of living soars-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Canada is capping foreign student visas to ease housing pressures as coast of living soars
View Date:2025-01-12 20:38:03
TORONTO (AP) — Canada announced Monday a two-year cap on international student visas to ease the pressure on housing, health care and other services at a time of record immigration.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there will be a 35% reduction in new study visas in 2024. He said the country’s international students program has been taken advantage of by fraudulent activity and it is putting pressure on housing and health care.
“It’s a bit of a mess and it’s time to reign it in,” Miller said.
The number of new visas handed out will be capped at 364,000. Nearly 560,000 such visas were issued last year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet retreat in Montreal this week will prioritize affordability and housing, according to a government statement.
The government said there are around 1 million foreign students in the country now and without any sort of intervention, this number would have continued to increase. The total number of foreign students is more than three times what it was a decade ago.
Miller said they have been working on stabilizing the number of people entering the country yearly as housing pressures mount.
Canada grew by about a million people last year, reaching a record of 40 million as many Canadians struggle with an increased cost of living, including rents and mortgages.
The immigration minister said there are unscrupulous schools taking advantage of high tuition fees paid by foreign students without offering a solid education in return. In some cases, the schools are a way into Canada for students who can parlay their visas into permanent residencies.
“It is not the intention of this program to have sham commerce degrees or business degrees that are sitting on top of a massage parlor that someone doesn’t even go to and then they come into the province and drive an Uber,” Miller said. “If you need a dedicated channel for Uber drivers in Canada, I can design that, but that isn’t the intention of the international student program.”
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called it a mess and blamed Trudeau for granting study permits to tens of thousands of students who attend fake schools.
veryGood! (52399)
Related
- Kim Kardashian Says She's Raising Her and Kanye West's 4 Kids By Herself
- Crazy Town frontman Shifty Shellshock's cause of death revealed
- First US high school with an all-basketball curriculum names court after Knicks’ Julius Randle
- Kim Porter's children with Diddy call out 'horrific' conspiracy theories about her death
- Denzel Washington Will Star in Black Panther 3 Before Retirement
- 1969 Dodge Daytona Hemi V8 breaks auction record with $3.3 million bid
- San Diego Padres clinch postseason berth after triple play against Los Angeles Dodgers
- Father of teenage suspect in North Carolina mass shooting pleads guilty to gun storage crime
- Bluesky has added 1 million users since the US election as people seek alternatives to X
- Helene's explosive forecast one of the 'most aggressive' in hurricane history
Ranking
- Louisiana mom arrested for making false kidnapping report after 'disagreement' with son
- Wisconsin man charged in 1985 killing of college student whose body was decapitated
- Parkinson’s diagnosis came after Favre began struggling with his right arm, he tells TMZ Sports
- Kenny G says Whitney Houston was 'amazing', recalls their shared history in memoir
- Duke basketball vs Kentucky live updates: Highlights, scores, updates from Champions Classic
- Wisconsin mayor carts away absentee ballot drop box, says he did nothing wrong
- Secret Service failures before Trump rally shooting were ‘preventable,’ Senate panel finds
- Who is Matt Sluka? UNLV QB redshirting remainder of season amid reported NIL dispute
Recommendation
-
American arrested in death of another American at luxury hotel in Ireland
-
Ex-CIA officer convicted of groping coworker in spy agency’s latest sexual misconduct case
-
Travis James Mullis executed in Texas for murder of his 3-month-old son Alijah: 'I'm ready'
-
'The hardest thing': Emmanuel Littlejohn, recommended for clemency, now facing execution
-
Stock market today: Asian shares meander, tracking Wall Street’s mixed finish as dollar surges
-
Houston Astros win AL West after win over Seattle Mariners
-
Court upholds finding that Montana clinic submitted false asbestos claims
-
Woman arrested for burglary after entering stranger’s home, preparing dinner