Canada Sees First Decline in Foreign Workers and Students in Years

Canada tightened study- and work-permit rules and saw its overall numbers of foreign workers and international students drop for the first time in years between 2024 and 2025, with a net decrease of 14,954 temporary residents, primarily in major metropolitan areas.

New arrivals fell sharply in multiple counts released over the period. Between January and June 2025, there were 214,520 fewer new arrivals than in 2024, made up of 88,617 fewer students and 125,903 fewer workers.

The shift has changed not just how many people are coming, but who is coming. From February to June 2025, work permit holders accounted for 80% of new arrivals, up from 70% in 2024, as student arrivals dropped consistently.

Definitions and stock vs. flow

Temporary residents, often shortened to TRs, include international students, work permit holders and other temporary categories. The recent figures also highlight a basic distinction that can confuse would-be applicants: “stock” is the total number of temporary residents in Canada at a point in time, while “flow” reflects new arrivals over a period.

That distinction matters because a country can see arrivals plunge while the in-country total moves more slowly, especially when many people are already on permits and are seeking renewals or changing status. In the year-over-year snapshot cited alongside the net decrease of 14,954, a total of 120,016 emigrated.

Policy direction and targets

The policy direction was set in the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, announced October 2024 and evaluated October 21, 2025. The plan set targets to reduce temporary residents from 7% to 5% of the population by 2026, alongside permanent resident goals of 395,000 in 2025, 380,000 in 2026, and 365,000 in 2027.

Those targets have become a reference point for applicants and employers trying to understand why processes that once expanded are now being constrained. Changes to temporary programs can also affect how people plan for permanent pathways, because many candidates move from study permits and work permits into longer-term options over time.

Scale of the slowdown

The scale of the slowdown shows up across different time windows. One count cited 53% fewer students and temporary workers from January to September 2025, while another cited 132,505 fewer student arrivals and 146,000 fewer temporary worker permits from January to August 2025.

A further measure described 60% fewer new students from January to October 2025, down 153,820. Each of these tallies reflects the same direction of travel: fewer new international students and fewer new foreign workers entering through temporary routes.

Key policy changes driving the decline (2024–2025)

The central policy levers focused on study-permit caps and tighter entry and compliance rules. For international students, Canada set a 2025 cap at 550,162 applications, with 437,000 issued, about 10% below 2024.

Ottawa also added new documentation and compliance measures that applicants must navigate as a package rather than isolated changes. These measures include changes to attestations, financial proof, verification, and tightening of post-study work rules.

Write-ups and interactive tools will present a concise, itemized view of the specific measures and their timing so readers can explore how each change contributed to the decline.

Study-permit measures

• Provincial/Territorial Attestation Letters (PAL/TAL). New attestation requirements for some applicants.
• Raised financial proof requirements. Higher documented funds needed to qualify.
• Letter-of-acceptance verification. Increased checks on institutional offers.
• Increased compliance audits. More oversight of institutions enrolling international students.
• Tightened Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) eligibility. Narrower qualification routes.
• Revised off-campus work rules. Reduced permissiveness for student work while studying.
• Closed the Student Direct Stream. Removal of an expedited application pathway.

These measures together reduced the pool of eligible student arrivals and altered timing for many applicants who previously relied on faster or more permissive routes.

Work permits: regulatory changes and limits

The work-permit picture tightened across employer-led hiring programs and exemption-based pathways. Key system terms include the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

Notable rule changes include a moratorium on low-wage LMIAs in regions with ≥6% unemployment, a 10% low-wage hiring limit in the TFWP, and other limits affecting employer hiring capacity. These changes were timed to take effect after September 26, 2024, and to constrain low-wage hiring in affected regions.

• Moratorium on low-wage LMIAs in regions with high unemployment.
• 10% low-wage hiring cap within the TFWP.
• Ended COVID-era transitions. Removal of temporary pandemic-era flexibilities.
• Limited Intra-Company Transferees to specialized roles.
• Banned flag-poling. Stopped cross-border re-entry practices to maintain status.
• Restricted Spousal Open Work Permits. Narrowed eligibility for spouses of workers/students.

Employers that rely on low-wage streams face immediate recruiting impacts, especially in metros where cuts were concentrated. Foreign workers found fewer options through some employer-led routes even as other categories remained open.

Changes outside core permits and longer-term effects

Policies beyond student and worker permits reshaped family and permanent-pathway planning. Canada curtailed open-work eligibility for most student spouses and removed Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points for arranged employment in Express Entry after March 25, 2025.

Removing CRS points for arranged employment matters because candidates weighing job offers alongside other factors can no longer count on those points after that date. These shifts affect decisions about whether to pursue temporary options that often feed into permanent residence over time.

Composition of arrivals and monthly patterns

The composition shift toward workers among new arrivals was visible even as total arrivals fell. From February to June 2025, work permit holders rose to 80% of new arrivals from 70% in 2024, coinciding with a sustained drop in students.

The steepest contrast appears in September, when student arrivals in 2025 were 11,390, down from 45,200 in 2024. That same pattern has repeated across other time windows, with student declines often outpacing the overall drop in temporary movement.

IRCC monthly arrivals data (2025) and notable figures

Monthly IRCC data shows how the decline played out across the year and why seasonality matters. The figures cited for 2025 new student arrivals include February (4,080), March (3,810), April (8,525), and May (4,540).

Additional monthly totals reported were June (4,165), July (7,630), August (45,115), September (11,360), and October (3,030). These month-by-month totals show a spike in August followed by much lower figures in September and October.

Interactive tools will present these monthly patterns visually so readers can explore seasonality and the contrast with 2024 month-to-month numbers.

Impacts on education and labour markets

The effects are being felt in education and the labour market, though in different ways. Universities and colleges face multimillion-dollar revenue losses and are diversifying to U.S. and European partners.

In the labour market, labour shortages are expected in hospitality, retail, and entry-level tech through mid-2026. The pressures are not uniform across the country, given that the largest reductions were reported in metropolitan areas.

Why stock fell less quickly than flow

The year-over-year “stock” change helps explain why some communities feel impacts even when the in-country number has not collapsed at the same rate as new entries. Overall TR levels decreased by 14,954 year-over-year, lagging the much larger new-arrival drops as existing permit holders face renewal hurdles.

Put differently, a controlled pullback in temporary inflows can produce large declines in arrivals while the stock declines more slowly because many people remain in Canada on active permits or pursue renewals.

What applicants, employers and families must track

For international students, applicants must account for PAL/TAL attestations, higher financial proof, and letter-of-acceptance verification, as well as tighter PGWP eligibility, revised off-campus work rules, and the closure of the Student Direct Stream.

Foreign workers and employers need to track the moratorium on low-wage LMIAs after September 26, 2024, the ≥6% unemployment trigger for affected regions, and the 10% low-wage hiring limit in the TFWP. They also must factor in the ban on flag-poling, the end of COVID-era transitions, and narrower scopes for Intra-Company Transferees.

Families have faced constraints after Canada curtailed open-work eligibility for most student spouses and restricted Spousal Open Work Permits. The removal of CRS points for arranged employment in Express Entry after March 25, 2025, also alters long-term planning for some candidates.

Conclusion

Taken together, the data points to a controlled pullback in temporary inflows rather than a simple cyclical fluctuation. Canada recorded 214,520 fewer new arrivals between January and June 2025 than in 2024, and the government’s planning framework set an explicit objective to reduce temporary residents from 7% to 5% of the population by 2026.

For international students watching the fall intake cycle, the September comparison offers a clear marker: student arrivals in September 2025 were 11,390, down from 45,200 in September 2024, even as August 2025 posted 45,115. That divergence shows why month-to-month readings can mislead without context in a system shaped by caps, eligibility rules, and compliance controls.

Overall, the policy package and the resulting data explain why Canada’s total temporary resident count declined by 14,954 year-over-year even as the country recorded much larger drops in new arrivals over parts of 2025.