On December 7th, 2023, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) released Revised Requirements to Better Protect International Students. Within these amended requirements, the IRCC is set to increase the minimum financial requirement for international students to obtain a study permit from $10,000 CAD to $20,635 CAD. This dollar value had not been updated since the early 2000s, and the IRCC says $10,000 is no longer an accurate representation of the cost of living in Canada in the year 2023. The IRCC also stated that the $10,000 requirement is likely to have contributed to the significant financial burden and negative mental health impacts faced by international students today. In addition to this latest revision, the IRCC has also extended the waiver on the 20-hour-per-week limit for international students until April 20, 2024, with a commitment to examine further options in the future.
CSA has listened to several different perspectives in the international student community, and we continue to acknowledge and respect the diversity of opinion and perspective regarding these complex issues. As a provincial advocacy organization representing the collective voice of college students across Ontario, we have a responsibility to the international college student community to respond to the IRCC and provincial government with evidence-based, data driven analysis.
As such, CSA has created a survey with six key questions regarding the IRCC’s revised requirements, and ten additional demographic questions. We encourage all international college students to participate and have their voices heard by key politicians and decision-makers across the province.
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