CANADA LOSES NEARLY 300,000 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AMID TOUGHER IMMIGRATION RULES
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
Canada has recorded one of its steepest declines in international student enrolment in recent years, losing nearly 300,000 foreign students over the past two years, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Figures show that between December 2023 and November 2025, the international student population dropped by 27.5 per cent, falling from almost one million to about 721,000 students.
The sharp decline follows a series of policy changes introduced by the Canadian government in early 2024 to curb the growth of temporary residents. These measures include caps on international student admissions, stricter eligibility requirements for post-graduation work permits and higher rejection rates for study permit applications.
IRCC data further revealed that international student arrivals fell by 53 per cent between January and September 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, with projections indicating that the downward trend is likely to continue.
Under Canada’s 2026 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government has set a target of just 155,000 new international students, a significant reduction from the 293,100 recorded in 2024. The move aligns with plans to reduce the proportion of temporary residents — including international students and foreign workers — to below five per cent of the national population by 2027.
Statistics Canada reported that as of October 2025, non-permanent residents stood at 2.85 million, accounting for 6.8 per cent of the country’s population.
While international student numbers have declined sharply, data indicate that the number of temporary foreign workers only recently began to fall, suggesting that further adjustments are still expected as the new policies take full effect.
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