Canada Mulls Limiting International Students Intake Amid Housing Crisis

Canada immigration minister Marc Miller has said that capping the intake of international students is something which the federal government will continue considering.

In the light of the ongoing housing crisis, the Canadian government is mulling reducing the intake of foreign students. Canada, Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Saturday said that in the next few months, he will be looking towards reducing the number of international students in the country, as per a CTV report, news agency ANI reported. However, the minister didn’t press on the degree of the limitation which the Canadian government is exploring. 

"This is a conversation the federal government will need to have with provincial governments "to make sure that the provinces that have not been doing their jobs actually rein in those numbers on a pure volume basis,” the minister was reported as saying in an interview to CTV's Question Period host Vassy Kapelos. 

“That volume is disconcerting," Miller said, with reference to the number of international students in Canada. It's really a system that has gotten out of control," he added further. 

In his interview, the minister underlined that the reduction of international students is aimed at keeping the housing demands in check, in both the first as well as second quarters of the year. 

On the exploration of limiting foreign students intake now while the idea to put a cap was floated long back, Miller said that the numbers need to be sorted out on a federal level, before looking into the finer ‘granularity’ of what different academic institutions are doing in different provinces, and probably profiting off bringing in more international students. 

"We need to be doing our jobs and making sure that we have a system that actually makes sure people have a financial capability to come to Canada, that we're actually verifying offer letters," Miller said, adding, "And now it's time for us to have a conversation about volumes and the impact that is having in certain areas,” he said further. However, the minister further underlined that the cap on international students would not be a "one-size-fits-all solution" to the housing crisis in Canada. 

The minister further noted that the number of international students moving into Canada have far outpaced the number of homes the federal government is planning to build. Housing serves as a part of the calculation only while considering immigration targets, he further underlined. 

Without diving into further details, the minister also said that the cap on international students is something that the Canadian government is considering and will continue to consider. 

"We have a sense of what those numbers would look like, what the reduction of those numbers look like, out of courtesy to my colleagues in the provinces, those are discussions that we're first going to have around the negotiating table," he added, underlining that the financial needs of academic institutions is also a factor. 

Notably, as Canada continues to grapple with housing shortages, the federal government has been facing strong criticism for welcoming an increasing number of immigrants. 

The CTV report citing the Canadian Press which further cited some internal documents obtained through an access to information request, underlines that the federal government was cautioned by public servants two years back that its ambitious immigration plan could take a toll on housing affordability in the country. 

Notably, the move from the Canadian government comes in as a storing concern for Indian students, considering the fact that nearly half of the international students in Canada are reportedly from India. As per an Indian Express report citing the Toronto Star, nearly 40% of student visa applications from Indian students were rejected by Canadian educational institutions, in the final quarter of 2023. The high number of student visa rejection from India students also accounts for the highest rejection among all foreign students applying to Canadian Institutes. These rejections were based on reasons categorized as “other” or “unspecified.” 

Recently, several students have also been complaining about their struggles in Canada, pertaining to high living costs, lack of facilities, and opportunities. With high visa rejections, increasing student concerns, and the plan to limit foreign student intake by the Canadian government, Indian students who make up for a healthy proportion of international students in Canada, would be left with no other option than to look out for other countries.

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