But association calls for reduced barriers for international students
The ban on the limit on the hours that migrant workers in Canada are allowed to work will see its final days in a few months.
Starting this April, Ottawa will make 20 hours the ceiling for these workers, down from the current 40 hours, according to a Reuters report.
This will improve the overall quality of education and the integrity of the immigration system, says Marc Miller, minister of immigration, in the report.
"The main purpose of international students to be in Canada is to study," Miller says in the Reuters report.
Working more than 20 hours per week is a violation of students’ study permit conditions, according to the federal government.
By doing so, they can lose their student status. They may also not be approved for a study or work permit in the future. Violators may also have to leave the country, Ottawa notes.
Canada's weekly 20-hour working cap for international students was suspended on Nov. 15, 2022.
Solid work opportunity for students
Limiting international students’ work hours is part of the federal government’s measures to address bottlenecks created by a surge in international students coming to the country. And stakeholders are speaking up against such moves.
"We need to have international students coming in. It's a key group working in the industry for us," says Maximilien Roy, vice president of the industry lobby group Restaurant Canada, from Quebec Province, in the Reuters report.
Also, by limiting overseas student work hours, Ottawa is limiting students' ability to gain “a solid work opportunity that match their area of study to help them transition into the workforce," says Pat Chaisang, a former international student from Thailand who founded Isempower, a job-search platform for overseas students, in the report.
Such a move will also hurt students’ earning capabilities.
Bhavjeet Singh Kalra, 21, an undergraduate student seeking a public relations degree at Humber College in Ontario, for example, worked 40 hours a week during the summer break. That helped him fund his tuition after his parents covered the initial deposit of $10,000 for the study permit application and the first year's tuition fees.
"I came to Canada because I wanted to be independent myself and no one should pay for my tuition fees.”
International students in Canada have previously called on the federal government to extend the rule allowing them to work more than 20 hours per week.
