Government of Canada announces big news for international students.
On October 7th, The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, announced that International Students could temporarily work more than 20 hours per week off-campus while class is in session.
Starting on November 15th, 2022, until December 31st, 2023, international students who have a study permit with off-campus work authorization will no longer have a limit on the hours they can work.
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) say students can benefit from this change if:
- “your study permit has already been issued
- your study permit has been approved, but you have not arrived in Canada yet
- you submitted a study permit application before October 7th, 2022, and are awaiting approval”.
This announcement benefits the Canadian economy, employers, and international students.
Canada lacks the population to sustain its economy, despite being the second-largest country in the world which is where immigration comes to play. As a result, this announcement was imposed to help address Canada’s labour shortage.
In 2018, international students in Canada contributed an estimated $21.6 billion to Canada’s GDP and supported almost 170,000 jobs for Canada’s middle class. Lifting the cap on working hours for international students will help the economy.
This announcement will help international students live a decent lifestyle with more financial stability.
However, “study permit holders are still expected to balance their study and work commitments, as those who stop studying or reduce course loads only to study part-time are not eligible to work off-campus,” according to the IRCC.
According to studies conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, students who worked fewer than 20 hours per week had an average GPA of 3.13. In contrast, those who did not work had a GPA of 3.04.
Studies have shown that working a reasonable amount of hours can improve students’ performance in the classroom while working an excessive amount of hours can have detrimental impacts.
According to the BLS’s data, students who worked more than 20 hours per week had grade point averages that were significantly lower – 2.95 on average.
This announcement creates a sense of relief for international students in terms of finances. However, it seems that the purpose of the change is to solve the labour shortage in Canada rather than help international students. Therefore, it could create quite the balancing act for International Students, but only time will tell.
