Canada to allow international students to work over 20 hours per week

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has announced a new temporary measure aimed at alleviating Canada's historic labour shortages. Fraser says this will allow over 500,000 international students already in Canada to potentially work more hours.

From November 15, 2022, until December 31, 2023, international students who are in Canada and have off-campus work authorization on their study permit will be allowed to work over 20 hours per week off-campus while class is in session.

This temporary measure will also apply to foreign nationals who have already submitted a study permit application as of today. They will also benefit from this policy if Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada approve their application.

Fraser explained this measure aims to alleviate the labour shortages that are being experienced across Canada.

Canada is grappling with historic labour shortages and an unemployment rate low by historical standards. Earlier this morning, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in September, down from 5.4 percent in August.

Fraser noted this measure would allow over 500,000 eligible international students already in Canada to potentially work more hours.

Canada is among the world’s leading destinations for international students. In 2021, it hosted over 620,000 international students, which has tripled over the past two decades. 

Fraser also pointed out today’s announcement that Canada has already processed more than 452,000 study permit applications between January and August of 2022, a 23 percent increase compared to the 367,000 processed over the same period in 2021. As such, Canada has already broken the record it set last year for study permits processed in a calendar year.

With the live speech of Minister Sean Fraser and with the publication in the last minutes of the exclusive news on the government's official website and Twitter, it was defined that the following cases will benefit from the provisional measure:

- your study permit has already been issued

- your study permit has been approved, but you have not yet arrived in Canada

- you submitted a study permit application before October 7, 2022, and are awaiting approval

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