The Canadian federal government has unveiled a decision to drastically reduce the number of new foreign student permits by 65% for 2026.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass gathered that the Canadian government explained that the cut in foreign student permits is aimed at stabilizing the country’s immigration system.
Under the new immigration shift, foreign student permits would be reduced from 437,000 in 2025 to 155,000 in 2026, and 150,000 for the two following years.
Canada’s Finance Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, made this known while delivering the federal budget on Tuesday.
“We are taking back control of our immigration system and putting Canada on a trajectory to bring immigration back to sustainable levels,” Champagne said.
Under the new policy, Canada is set to grant permanent residency in 2026 and 2027 to 33,000 work permit holders who have “strong roots in their communities, are paying taxes, and are helping to build the strong economy Canada needs,” Champagne explained.
There will also be a special initiative to expedite permanent residence pathways for eligible “protected persons,” who have been granted asylum in Canada.
While the immigration plan announced in the budget shrinks the number of international students, it keeps permanent immigration levels largely the same as previously planned. Under the proposal, Canada will welcome 380,000 new permanent residents annually for the next three years up slightly from a previous projection of 365,000 newcomers in 2027.
The 2026-28 plan will allocate 239,800 permanent residence spots for economic immigration, and 84,000 for family reunification programs, including the sponsorships of spouses and parents/grandparents. The share of skilled immigrants will go up from 59 per cent to 64 per cent, while spaces for protected persons and resettled refugees from abroad will drop from 68,350 this year to 56,200 in 2026 and 54,300 in 2027 2028.
Meanwhile, Kyle Hyndman, former chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration law section has disagree with the decision of the government to cut foreign student permits by 2026.
Hyndman said: “It’s through immigration that you bring in skilled people who are going to build, who are going to contribute to the economy, who are going to create jobs. That’s how you build the nation.
“This immigration plan is a giant hole in what appears to be a nation-building budget. It’s going totally the opposite direction. I think it’s more about responding to opinion polls.”
Also, Larissa Bezo, president and CEO of the Canadian Bureau for International Education, said: “The new study permit caps further erode Canada’s reputation. “Unfortunately, today’s announcement sends another signal to prospective international students that Canada is closing its doors.”
Rick Lamanna, a spokesperson for the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association, said: “There’s only one way to really course correct, and that is to stabilize the numbers. That’s really your only option.
“You choke off the biggest driver of the increase on the temporary (resident) side, which is the students. Then you keep the permanent resident numbers overall the same. Now at least there’s a pathway for a lot of these people who are in here right now to become (permanent residents) in the next few years.”
Canada’s new immigration plan comes after study permit approvals dipped by 60% in 2025 compared to 2024.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that official data released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) confirmed that the era of booming international enrollment appears to be ending.
Breakdown of the official data revealed that the number of new international student arrivals plummeted by nearly 69% in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year.
