Marc Miller, the Minister of Immigration, refugees and Citizenship has announced that he will be offering an extension of the waiver placed on international students whose weekly work hours are not more than twenty.
Canadian government put a limit capping international students not to work above 20 hours off campus per week during academic days. Yet during a temporary pilot program, this limitation was lifted and permitted students to work more than twenty-three hours per week. The policy is set to expire on December 2023.
The new extension waives the period up to April 30, 2024. Therefore, international students who are currently in Canada or have applied for a study permit with a valid work permit before December 7, 2023, can still work off-campus regardless of the twenty-hour limits.
According to the news release, the government is also discussing additional policy alternatives such as increasing the off-campus work ceiling to thirty hours per week for the academic terms.
The Canadian work caps are stringent. For such students as are guilty of overstepping the limits, not only does the question arise about loss of student status, but also on a refusal for future study or work permissions and even deportation as well.
Today, Canada also increased its cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants at a level that was previously set as $10,000 but is now pegged at $20,635—which translates into about 75% of a low-
From September 2020 to September 2022, international students could count online learning in their programs which account for less than 50%. This would only apply to those students in their courses that started prior to September 1st, 2024.
Furthermore, an interim plan of granting an additional 18-month work permit to graduates of Canadian institutions holding Post-Graduation Work Permit will cease to exist after this year’s final day – i.e., December 31st, 2023
