Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there will be a 35% reduction in the supply of new student visas by 2024.

At the same time, he criticized that the international student program is being exploited by institutions offering “fake” degrees, which has put pressure on Canada’s housing and healthcare systems.

The immigration minister said there are unscrupulous schools that charge foreign students high tuition fees without offering a proper education in return. In some cases, the schools are a way for some students to enter Canada and then take advantage of their visas to obtain permanent residency.

By limiting visas to two years, the government hopes to ease pressure on housing, health care and other services at a time when Canada is seeing record immigration.

Boundary

Now the number of new visas issued will be limited to 364,000. About 560,000 such visas were issued last year.

The government said there are currently about 1 million foreign students in Canada, and if left unchecked, that number will continue to increase.

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The total number of foreign students is more than three times as many as ten years ago.

Canada grew by nearly 1 million people last year, reaching a record 40 million, as many Canadians struggle with rising costs of living, including rents and mortgages. (JO)