Well not Canada at least. The Canadian government has reduced the number of international student permits it’s issuing. Anecdotally from the forums I frequent, I’m seeing more inquiries about Europe from international applicants, at least for graduate studies.
NOTE: This post was split from another thread, linked below.
My understanding was that the reduction of visas in Canada is mainly aimed at a tier of universities being used as a stepping-stone to residence in Canada. I’d think that serious students aiming at the kind of names that get mentioned on CC are probably fine. (Yes this is oversimplifying but making a point)
Thinkingbspecifically of US students, they might not be accepted more, but Canadian colleges are becoming more frequent on student lists from the 10 or so high schools I am connected to by friends family colleagues.. Queens College, McGill and University of Toronto’s are popping up more on kids lists than they used to.
Psst, that’s “universities” not “colleges”. Colleges in Canada mostly offer diploma and certificate programs, not degrees (with a few exceptions). Also if you mean the school I think you mean, that’s Queen’s University.
@ SJ2727 All universities (and colleges) saw a decrease in their allocation of international student visas including UofT/McGill/UBC. This past year international undergraduate enrolment fell by 16% at UofT and about 4% at UBC. McGill’s numbers are harder to come by.
I had read an article about a number of universities who were likely to going to have to close down programs or possibly campuses because of the change in visas - I didn’t mean it wasn’t going to apply to all of them, but there was a certain tier that looked like it would be much more affected. I’ll see if I can find the article - I can’t remember quite when I saw it or who published it.
Edit: Google says something like 30-40% fewer student visas? I don’t know how accurate those are but if so, the numbers you mention at Toronto and UBC are much more mild.
And yes. D19 came to me to say “is there something wrong with college - (cousin) seemed surprised that I was going” because where we are from, a college is usually a non-academic vocational-type school.
These aren’t the article I saw but along the same lines re: effect on a lower tier of colleges:
“ The bad news from Ontario colleges came slowly, then all at once. In October, nine months after the federal government put a cap on international students, Seneca Polytechnic announced it was shuttering its Markham campus. A month later, Sheridan College suspended 40 programs. In January, Mohawk College cut over a hundred staff members, St. Lawrence College discontinued almost 40 percent of its offerings, and Centennial suspended 49 programs—axing everything from construction project management to court support services to journalism.”
After the International Student Gold Rush | The Local.
And
“ But already institutions across the country are reporting significant declines in foreign enrolment, typically in the range of -30% to -50% … The impact of these declining numbers of foreign students has been both immediate and dramatic," writes the arbitrator, William Kaplan. “By the spring of 2025, more than 600 programmes were cancelled [or] suspended, or their cancellation/suspensions announced, and four colleges have closed campuses or announced their closure. The list of programme cancellation/suspensions disclosed in these proceedings is, in a word, alarming.” “
Measuring the impacts of the first full year of Canada's foreign student enrolment cap - ICEF Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.
What does this mean in practical terms for my D26? This is the first I’ve heard of the cap on student visas. Does it mean fewer students accepted (but all accepted students would be able to receive visas), or does it mean she has a chance of not receiving a student visa once accepted?
My understanding is that they cut way down or totally visas for-profit or dubious private colleges (ie., CCs). Universities were much less affected but those in Ontario did see a 48% reduction in visa attribution - each province has a set number and Ontario had the most international students. For exchange programs, they must be reduced to a semester and no longer a year (all dual degrees are negotiating since this jeopardizes all of them).
Québec has a new provision regarding French -80% graduates must reach intermediate oral proficiency by graduation, meaning they must be able to understand and speak at a HS level 4 level, something that should not be difficult to reach with free classes offered and living in a bilingual city. However universities have stressed they will not have a French proficiency test to determine graduation.
The real offenders were private career schools. Does an international student really need to come to Canada to study hairdressing?
If an international student was led to believe that they could stay in Canada and work as a hair stylist after graduation? That sounds like the issue to me.
Private career colleges were certainly blamed for the issue, but the truth is that in Ontario at least the really egregious institutions were public colleges. Just 10 Ontario public colleges accounted for nearly 30% of all international study permits issued across the country, and Ontario’s college sector as a whole accounted for 40% of all international student visas issued nationally. There were also a number of “primarily undergraduate” universities that had opened satellite campuses or created public/private partnerships in order to accommodate higher numbers of international students. Two in particular, Algoma and Cape Breton universities, were the worst offenders. Many of these programs were of questionable academic quality and attracted students with lower qualifications. They were in effect “cash cow degree/diploma mills”.
This all came to a head because many of the students enrolled in these programs were actually using them as a means for gaining temporary work permits and/or as a back door to gaining PR rather than being focused on academics. This in turn led to many entry level jobs being filled by international students as employers were exploiting them by paying them less or imposing unreasonable work demands which in turn was contributing to a high domestic youth unemployment rate and depressed wages. It also placed a great strain on housing supply and other public infrastructure.
As a result the federal government was pushed to step in and lower the number of international student visas it was issuing. Each province was given an allocation primarily based on population, but it was up to the provinces themselves to decide how to divvy them up amongst the various PSIs. Initially graduate programs were exempted from the quota, but then they were added too.
In Ontario specifically the visas are being prioritized for students enrolling in programs leading to “in demand” fields predominantly in STEM, health care, and skilled trades. About 80% of the visas are being allocated to public colleges and 16% to public universities. The other 4% is going to language schools and private institutions.
The cuts began in the 2024 enrolment cycle and then the number of permits issued were further reduced for 2025. It’s anticipated that even further cuts will be made for 2026.
Which explains why Ontario was the worst affected in the articles I linked earlier. I’d seen some of that background (not all of it) but couldn’t find the source I’d originally read it in.
So I just asked my GF who is in admissions at a university in Ontario. She said they do not believe there will be a shortage in PAL’s but she advised that if someone is deciding to attend from the US they should start the process to obtain the PAL / Visa immediately upon acceptance. For most schools you will need to accept and put down a deposit to start the process. There should be a section on the University’s Website addressing the steps international students need to take. I also believe that this definitely looking to Target the colleges more so then the Canadian Universities.
As a side note, when this happened several Universities upped domestic acceptances to try to “make up” the loss in revenue from international applicants leading to wide spread on campus housing shortages. I would recommend looking at the average cost of off campus housing when calculating the cost of schools. Most Universities do say the prioritize international for on campus but…..
It’s actually a requirement under the new student visa rules that PSI’s be able to provide guaranteed housing for all international students. It was a measure put in place to help address housing shortages. The effect of course is that it just means that international students displace domestic students for on campus residence spaces as there is no similar requirement to guarantee housing for domestic students.
The other thing that was happening was that money was being laundered. A foreign “student”(who pays a larger tuition) would enroll in a school, pay tuition with dirty money(whose source was not scrutinized by schools not equipped to do so), then would withdraw from courses, enabling them to get “clean” money back from the school a month or so later. The RCMP has been trying to track, and prosecute this for years. I would guess that their input was one of the things that was considered when student visa numbers were lessened.
D25 is going to UBC and had no problem with getting a visa from the U.S. She was admitted in December (like 10 days after applying!), submitted her visa application and all the supporting financial documentation in April, put a deposit down May 1st, and was issued the visa approval in June. I think it took 10 weeks.
There are two horror stories on the Facebook group Parents of U.S. Students at UBC of visa denials. One seems to be that the parents did not submit adequate documentation of financial support. The other, I’m not sure what happened.
Technically, you could plan a trip to the border and apply there.
I’m not sure that’s possible any more. The government said they were going to be cracking down on that loophole.
Technically, everyone gets their visa at the border. My kid only got an approval via email. We get the actual visa at the border. I’ll report back in 5 days.