Canada Reduces Study Permits for Indian Students by 31%

• Canada issued only 30,640 study permits to Indian students in Q1 2025, down 31% from 44,295 in the same period in 2024.
• The overall student permit numbers also dropped from 1,21,070 in 2024 to 96,015 in 2025, following new immigration caps.
• Policy changes, including higher financial proof and capped permits, aim to limit temporary residents to under 5% of the population by 2027.

The number of study permits issued by Canada to international students from India continues to decline, down nearly a third in the first quarter of this year compared to the period from January to March in 2024.

According to the most recent figures obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the number of permits issued to international students from India for the first quarter of 2025, only 30,640, compared to 44,295 in 2024 - a decrease of nearly 31 percent. Overall numbers have also seen a decline - down from 1,21,070 in 2024 to 96,015 in the first quarter of 2025.

This follows the trend of declining intake of international students after the Canadian government started applying brakes on the influx in the last quarter of 2023.

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In 2023, Canada issued 5439 total study permits 7155 of which 8245 were to Indian applicants. Last year, that total slid to 516,275 with the Indian component also sliding to 188,465.

Policy changes were instituted because record immigration was blamed, partly, for housing unaffordability, and pressure on health and transport infrastructure. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney made it clear that the position will not change in the near future as he said temporary residents, including students and foreign workers, will not be more than five percent of the country’s population by 2027.

On September 18, 2024, IRCC stated the cap for issuing study permits for 2025 will be at 4,37,000, down from the target of 4,85,000 for this year. The “stabilising” 2025 figure will also apply for 2026.

Canada started taking measures with regard to international students since late 2023. On December 7 that year, IRCC announced that for new study permit applications received on or after January 1, 2024, a single applicant will “need to show they have CA$ 20,635 (approximately Rs. 12.7 lakh), as against CA$ 10,000 (about Rs. 6.14 lakh) earlier.