Tuition hikes, labour-force blow likely if student visas are capped: experts

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the future of international student visas in Canada.

As the country grapples with a housing crisis,  strong wording from the federal government in recent months suggests it is looking to potentially cap the number of study permits issued to prospective international students to help alleviate the housing demand.

“Enough is enough,” said Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship  in December of last year.

“If provinces and territories cannot do this, we will do it for them, and they will not like the bluntness of the instruments that we use,” he said.

Recent reports suggest the minister is ready to impose such limits in select provinces, such as Ontario and British Columbia.

On Thursday, the minister’s office told Global News he was unavailable for an interview. In an email, a representative did not confirm if a cap for study permits is imminent, saying only that there hasn’t been one established yet, “but it is an option being assessed.”

The spokesperson did not answer questions on whether talks have been made with select provinces.

Despite re-iterating the potential for a cap numerous times, the government has not made it clear how it will go about this, says Dale McCartney.

“How will they determine who gets in the cap? Is it first come, first serve? Is it academic? Is it linguistic? Is it financial?,” the assistant professor, who researches international student policy at the University of Fraser Valley, told Global News Toronto.

McCartney notes there have always been limited spaces for the number of people allowed to immigrate to Canada to attend post-secondary institutions. This time, however, would be the first time the country has ever laid out a hard number — 485,000