Post-secondary schools brace for more pain as Ottawa cuts international student visas

As provincial governments wait to hear details of Ottawa's new immigration targets, some are warning that coming cuts to the number of international student visas will put colleges and universities in a tighter financial bind.

"The federal government’s decision to unilaterally proceed with another change impacting international students continues to force post-secondary institutions in Ontario, and across the country, to make difficult decisions regarding their long-term success and sustainability," Spenser Maki, communication adviser for Ontario Immigration Minister David Piccini, said in an emailed statement.

Post-secondary institutions across the country had to cut their budgets this year due to a drop in revenue from international students' tuitions, which tend to be four to five times higher than fees paid by domestic students.

Maureen Adamson, president of Colleges Ontario, said she expects those cuts to continue.

"The steep decline in federal international study permits will cut up to $2.5 billion from Ontario’s colleges, which have already lost 8,000 jobs and 600 programs. At the same time, Ontario needs 33,000 health-care workers and 154,000 tradespeople in the coming decade," Adamson said in an email.

The latest update to the government's immigration levels plan essentially cuts the targeted number of new student visas in half to 155,000 next year, down from more than 305,000 in last year's plan.

Immigration officials expect to release provincial and territorial allocations for student visas in the coming weeks.

Both the B.C. and Ontario governments say they plan to work with the post-secondary sector to establish more sustainable funding models.

The federal government plans to get the number of temporary residents down to five per cent of Canada's population by the end of 2027, after it peaked at around 7.5 per cent in late 2024.

A spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the student visa cap does not apply to masters and doctoral students. This exemption from the cap is meant to recognize "their unique contribution to Canada's economic growth and innovation," said the spokesperson.

To court more international talent in specialized research roles, the new federal budget pitches what it calls an International Talent Attraction Strategy, with $1.7 billion over 13 years to draw researchers from abroad to Canadian universities.

Larissa Bezo, president of the Canadian Bureau for International Education, said Ottawa's strategy seems to be aimed at bringing in more "quality students" who can fill key economic gaps.

"There is a clearly stated objective of trying to align Canada's immigration system with those strategic labour market demands and strengthening pathways that help connect global talent to actual opportunities, national opportunities that exist in the Canadian context," Bezo told The Canadian Press.

"Those are very positive developments." 

The International Talent Attraction Strategy includes a plan to fast-track the processing of immigration applications for PhD students and their families, with a goal of clearing their paperwork within 14 days.

Bezo said making it easier for the families of doctoral students and researchers to come here will go a long way toward making Canada a more attractive destination for highly mobile talent.

"I think for those of us in the sector, we fully appreciate these are critical contributors to driving Canada's innovation and growth agenda at a time when we really need to be leaning into that and further leaning into securing our sovereignty and our future prosperity," she said.

Bezo said that while the talent attraction plan is welcome, the federal government should also do more to bring in people in the skilled trades.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2025.