Canada Immigration Rule: Canada is bringing a new ‘Immigration Plan’, what will be the impact on Indian students and employed people

Canada Immigration Plan: Canada’s ‘Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada’ (IRCC) department is going to bring a new immigration plan for 2025 to 2027. This plan can be released any time before November 1. Many important changes have been made in this regarding people coming to Canada. Earlier, Canada’s immigration plan contained information only about those people who wanted to settle in Canada permanently. But for the first time, people coming to the country for some time will also be included in it.
People coming to the country for some time are called temporary residents. These include those people who come to Canada to work, study or travel. Canada releases its immigration level plan every year. This plan tells how many people will be allowed to come to Canada in the next three years. This plan of Canada also affects its population, social system, tax system, shortage of houses, health services and job market.

Canada wants to reduce temporary residents

Canadian Immigration Minister Mark Miller said the inclusion of temporary residents in the plan is a big change. About 2.5 million temporary residents will come to Canada in 2023, which is 6.2% of the country’s population. Miller said that our aim is to reduce this number to 5% in the next three years. However, it has not been decided yet how many people will be allowed to come to Canada in the next three years. But from some old announcements of the government, we can know what is going to happen in the new plan.

Limited number of study permits

IRCC announced in January that it was limiting the number of study permits. The government had decided to approve applications for only 6,06,000 student visas in 2023. Of these, about 3,60,000 applications were expected to be approved. This is 35% less than in 2022. This decision was taken when Mark Miller himself was against reducing the number of international students. Then in September this year, the government reduced the number of student visas for 2025 even more.

The government has set a target of approving only 4,37,000 study permits in 2025. Earlier, students doing Master and PhD were kept out of this limit, but now the same rule will apply to them also. Of the total people coming to Canada in 2023, 42% came on study permits. In such a situation, it is expected that in the new immigration plan, a certain number will be fixed who are going to be given student visas. In such a situation, it is going to have a direct impact on Indians.

Changes in open work permit

The Canadian government is also going to make changes in the open work permit rules. This includes Post Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) and Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP). The government is now making the language test mandatory for people applying for PGWP. The government aims to reduce the number of PGWPs to 1,75,000 in the next three years. The government also wants to reduce its number by 50,000 by changing the rules of SOWP.

Now only those people will get a chance to apply for SOWP, who have done specific courses or who have experience in the required areas in Canada. However, those whose spouses are highly skilled will continue to receive SOWP. Overall, the Government of Canada wants to reduce the number of open work permits of all types by 325,000 over the next three years. In such a situation, the Indians who earlier used to go to Canada to study and their spouses got the opportunity to work there, will no longer be able to do so.

Tightening of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Canada’s Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault has announced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). According to the new rules, now no company will be able to hire more than 10% of its total employees under TFWP. Apart from this, people coming under TFWP for low-paid jobs will now be able to work for only one year instead of two years.

In areas where the unemployment rate is more than 6%, new people will not be allowed to be hired under TFWP. Randy Boissonnault says TFWP should be used as a last resort. he/she has appealed to the companies not to depend too much on TFWP. In this way, the Indians who used to go to Canada for work under TFWP, it is going to be difficult for them to go.

Target set for permanent resident

Canada has set a target in its 2024-2026 immigration plan that 5,00,000 people will be made permanent residents every year by 2025 and 2026. Of these, 60% are expected to come to Canada through job or business. However, Mark Miller has indicated that the government may make some changes in this. This change will happen because people in Canada are facing shortage of homes, pressure on healthcare and changing ideology regarding immigration.