According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada has seen one of its biggest drops in the number of international students enrolled, with about 300,000 foreign students leaving during the previous two years.
The number of overseas students decreased by 27.5%, from almost one million to roughly 721,000, between December 2023 and November 2025.
The decline comes after the government implemented measures to restrict temporary residents in early 2024, such as student enrollment restrictions, more stringent post-graduation work permit regulations, and increased study permit rejection rates.
Between January and September 2025, student arrivals decreased by 53% from the year before, and this trend is predicted to continue.
Aiming to lower temporary residents—including students and foreign workers—to less than 5% of the population by 2027, Canada’s 2026 Immigration Levels Plan only calls for 155,000 new international students, down from 293,100 arrivals in 2024.
According to Statistics Canada, as of October 2025, there were 2.85 million non-permanent residents, or 6.8% of the total population.
While the number of students has drastically decreased, the number of temporary foreign workers has only lately started to decline, underscoring the necessary modifications.
