Canada sets a target of 3.64 lakh study permits for 2024. How does it affect Indian students going abroad?

livemint.com:

imposing a cap on study permit applications to curb the rapid increase of international students in Canada. Now the cap will be based on the number of study permits expiring this year, he said. This effectively means the number of international students who will enter Canada in 2024 will be the same as the number of students whose permits cease to continue this year onwards.

The target for this year, the minister said, is 4,85,000. Since nearly 20 percent of students apply for an extension each year, which is 97,000. The authorities kept a buffer of 24,000, thus leaving a remainder of 3,64,000 which will be the number of study permits in 2024.

ALSO READ: As Canada announces 2-year cap, a lowdown on overseas study options for Indian students Since, Canada has an approval rate of 60 percent for study permit applications, there is a target of 6,06,000 (3,64,000 X 100/60) study permit applications to be received in 2024. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that some international students are exempt from this cap, such as primary and secondary school students and even master’s or doctoral degree students. IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) deducted the estimated volume of these groups (140,000 based on 2023 data) from the 2024 target number of approved study permits.

As a result, the target of 6.06 lakh gets further reduced to roughly 3.93 lakh study permit applications. These study permit applications will be distributed to territories and provinces. Some provinces will get more applications, while others would get fewer applications.