- Premier Smith stated international graduates with expired visas must go home if they lack residency.
- Over four hundred eighty Portage College graduates were refused post-graduation work permits recently.
- A provincial referendum on increased immigration control is scheduled for October nineteenth, twenty twenty-six.
Premier Smith told reporters in Red Deer on July 30, 2026, that international graduates with expired visas and no permanent residency need to go home. She spoke beside Prime Minister Mark Carney at a joint press conference. The comment landed amid Portage College protests over denied post-graduation work permits. Some students had already turned to a hunger strike.
Smith did not hedge. She said, “Our view is that if you come here as an international student and your visa expires, and you don't have permanent residency, you need to go home.” In the same exchange, she added, “I think perhaps Portage maybe overstated the pathway to permanent residency.” The message was blunt. No one softened it.
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The trigger was permit refusals. Upwards of 480 graduates tied to Portage, delivered through the Canadian Institute of Osteopathic Therapy, reported refusals for Post-Graduation Work Permits. About 1,000 former international students joined protests in Calgary and Edmonton. Some gathered at the Genesis Centre in Calgary, where the hunger strike took shape. The fight moved fast. It moved beyond campus.
Sukhmani Kaur said students enrolled in 2024 were told work permits would follow, and now sit in “limbo”. Jaspinder Kaur said her parents spent “a lifetime of savings” on her education, and she has filed for a judicial review in Federal Court. Several students represented by immigration lawyer Laura-Anne Goulding have also started judicial reviews, arguing the “non-credit” rule was an unpublished policy change. The filings are underway. The dispute is now in court.
Jaime Davies, Portage College's communications manager, said the college is “seeking clarification” from the government. He also said the closure of partner campuses in Calgary and Edmonton was a planned transition starting in May 2024. That dates the dispute, not just the protests. The record reaches back.
Alberta's nomination pool is smaller than the demand
The figures show the mismatch.
| Figure | What it refers to | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 6,400 | Alberta | permanent residency nomination spots per year |
| 40,000 | Alberta | people who have applied for those spots |
| 480 | Portage College graduates | PGWP refusals reported after graduation |
| 1,000 | former international students | protest participants in Calgary and Edmonton |
| $30,000 to $32,000 | affected students | tuition reported for two-year programs |
Smith has argued Alberta should have more authority to select immigrants based on labour-market needs and to create clearer pathways for graduates with in-demand skills. She is pressing for more room. The Alberta Advantage Immigration Program worker stream application fee was adjusted to $1,500 on April 1, 2025. The line costs more now.
June 24 narrowed the permit route
Briannah Dale of IRCC Media Relations said a June 24, 2026, website update clarified that “non-credit” programs are generally ineligible for Post-Graduation Work Permits. Students say the change reached them after they finished their studies, and they argue it worked like a retroactive rule. Under the federal framework, temporary status does not let a person remain in Canada once the authorized stay ends unless another valid immigration status is in place. The rule is narrow. So is the path.
The dispute is pulling in health warnings and Ottawa
Dr. Rachel Talavlikar of the Calgary Refugee Health Clinic warned that rhetoric about temporary residents could “whip up xenophobia” and affect mental health among vulnerable people. The warning landed beside the students' complaints. Carney said he was not familiar with the specific hunger strike case. He said people without authorization to stay, and without the right to claim asylum, would follow a process. He also said the federal government had taken back control of immigration over the past 16 months, with student permits reduced by two-thirds under his leadership.
The ballot arrives on October 19
Smith has already announced an Alberta referendum for October 19, 2026. Question 1 asks whether the province should take “increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels,” and another question would restrict government benefits to citizens and permanent residents only. The ballot lands in October.
