December 7, 2023 - The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, announced today that effective January 1, 2024, the financial requirement for living expenses for those applying for study permits will be increased. This adjustment aims to ensure that international students can adequately prepare financially for life in Canada. The financial threshold will be annually adjusted in the future as Statistics Canada updates the Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO).

The living expense requirement for study permit applicants has not changed since the early 2000s when it was set at $10,000 for a single applicant. This financial requirement has not kept pace with the cost of living over time, leading to international students arriving in Canada without sufficient funds for their academic journey.

For 2024, an individual applicant will need to demonstrate $20,635, constituting 75% of LICO, in addition to tuition and transportation costs for the first year. This change will apply to new study permit applications submitted on or after January 1, 2024.

Today's announcement builds on significant reforms to the International Student Program unveiled on October 27, 2023, which involved developing a new framework to recognize educational institutions that provide top-quality support, including housing, for international students. Canada aims for these educational institutions to only admit a specific number of students that they can adequately support, including housing options.

Minister Miller also provided updates on three temporary policies affecting international students set to expire at the end of 2023, including:

1. The waiver of the 20-hour per week limit for off-campus work hours for international students while studying will be extended until April 30, 2024. International students already in Canada, as well as those who submitted study permit applications from December 7, 2023, will be able to work off-campus for more than 20 hours per week until that date.
2. Support measures allowing international students to count online learning time toward the post-graduation work permit period, as long as it constitutes less than 50% of the program, will continue to apply to students starting their programs before September 1, 2024. This measure will no longer apply to students starting programs on or after that date. The remote learning support measures were first implemented in 2020 in response to travel restrictions during the pandemic and were scaled back in scope in September 2022. At this time, the majority of international students are studying on-campus in Canada.
3. To address labor market disruptions during the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery, a temporary policy has been introduced three times to provide an additional 18-month work permit for those with expiring post-graduation work permits. Foreign nationals with post-graduation work permits expiring by December 31, 2023, are still eligible to apply. However, this temporary policy will not be further extended.