Canada’s temporary policy allowing international students to work more than 20 hours per week off campus will end today, April 30, the immigration minister has announced.
The work limit waiver was extended in December, with authorities now saying that the initial policy will not be extended again.
However, while government previously said it was considering permitting international students to work up to 30 hours per week while class is in session when it announced the extension last year, it now says it intends to change the number of hours students may work off campus per week to 24 hours from this upcoming fall.
“Working off campus helps international students gain work experience and offset some of their expenses,” Marc Miller, minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, acknowledged.
“As international students arrive in Canada, we want them to be prepared for life here and have the support they need to succeed. However, first and foremost, people coming to Canada as students must be here to study, not work. We will continue working to protect the integrity of our student program.”
As summer approaches, students who have a scheduled academic break can continue working unlimited hours, IRCC confirmed, suggesting that the current cohort of international students will not be impacted.
IRCC said that in developing the change, it assessed the needs of students, policies in other countries, as well as research that has shown that academic outcomes suffer the more a student works while studying.
It said that this outcome “strikes the appropriate balance so students have the option to work without compromising academic outcomes”.
Speaking with reporters on Parliament Hill on April 29, Miller said lifting the threshold originally was important to help local economies, businesses and international students struggling with rising costs
He called it a “successful measure” in helping Canada’s economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and one that is no “longer necessary”.
International students had previously expressed frustrations that the 20 hour per week limit left them open to exploitation and meant many were struggling to afford to live amid spiralling costs.
In Miller’s latest announcement, he defended the decision to allow students to work for 24 hours per week, saying three eight-hour shifts per week “seems reasonable” and that it brings Canada in alignment with other “likeminded” countries.
In the UK, students are permitted to work for 20 hours per week, while in Australia, they have been allowed to work for up to 48 hours every two weeks since July 1, 2023 – a policy backed by students and sector stakeholders.
Australia’s previous government also introduced new work rights during the pandemic as it faced worker shortages.
“We know that 80%+ of students are working over 20 hours. We think it would’ve been unduly burdensome to reduce it to 20 hours,” Miller said this week.
“We know from studies that when you start working in and around 30 hours there is a material impact on the quality of your studies. Being able to work 30 hours a week is as close to a full-time job and it does match with the idea behind the International Student Program which is to study and not to work.
It costs a lot of money to be an international student
“It costs a lot of money to be an international student. It can cost CAN$40,000. We don’t want to put them in undue hardship,” Miller told reporters.
In December 2023, the government raised the cost-of-living threshold that students must meet to be approved for a study permit so they are “financially prepared for life in Canada and are not as dependent on working”.
Meanwhile, IRCC said it will continue to develop the new Recognised Institutions Framework to “reward postsecondary institutions that set high standards for selecting, supporting and retaining international students” and said it will continue to protect Canada’s international students from financial vulnerability, while protecting the integrity of the International Student Program.
