Canada to allow international students to work off-campus more than 20 hours per week

Published 09 Oct 2022 / Updated 09 Oct 2022

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

Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has announced this measure to help address the labour shortages being experienced all across Canada.

This temporary measure will also apply to foreign nationals who have already submitted their study permit application as of 7 October 2022.

The Minister noted that this measure will allow over 500,000 eligible international students already in Canada to potentially work more hours.

Canada is an extremely popular international study destination, hosting more than 600,000 international students in 2021.

High quality educational institutions, a multicultural environment, a strong labour market, and the permanent residence opportunities available has ensured that demand to study in Canada remains strong.

The minister pointed out that Canada has processed more than 452,000 study permit applications between January and August 2022, which is 23% higher than the 367,000 applications processed over the same period in 2021.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) considers international students a high quality source of future Canadian permanent residents and offers a host of measures aimed at helping international graduates work in Canada and remain here.

A new immigration levels plan will be outlined by the Immigration Minister by 1 November 2022.

Canada has already welcomed more than 300,000 permanent residents in 2022 so far and the Minister has indicated that he can forsee targets as high as 500,000 new permanent residents per year in coming years.