Facing a severe labor shortage, Canada’s government has lifted the 20-hour-per-week limit for International students as they can now work full-time. This temporary provision will start from November 15, 2022, until Dec 31, 2023. Canada currently has around half a million International Students studying in various colleges and Universities across Canada and this will be welcome news for Students as well as employers looking to hire labour post Covid era. Foreign nationals who have already submitted a study permit application, as of today, will also be able to benefit from this temporary change, provided their application is approved. As per Stats, IRCC processed nearly 119,000 study permit extension applications in 2021, with an approval rate of 97%. From January 1, 2022, to the end of August 2022, more than 135,000 were processed, with an approval rate of 96%.
IRCC is also automating the process of study Permit extensions. This will be a pilot program and the types of applications being included in this pilot have a consistently high approval rate, as all applicants have previously been approved to study in Canada.
Quick Facts: From January 1, 2022, to the end of August 2022, more than 452,000 study permit applications have been processed. During the same period in 2021, which was a record year, 367,000 applications were processed. This represents an increase of 23%.