Limit on work hours for international students
From unlimited to 24 hours/week during the academic term
On top of the Covid/remote-work demand shock, there was a second demand shock, the boom in international students, especially at Ontario colleges.
In August 2023, Mike Moffatt had two suggestions for federal reform to reduce demand to study in Canada, without stepping on provincial jurisdiction:
Strengthen the financial criteria for approval (basically, how much money a student needs to have, to demonstrate that you can support yourself).
Reduce the number of hours that a student can work off-campus (presumably back to 20 hours/week).
The financial criteria had been set back in the early 2000s at $10,000, to show that you can support yourself for the first year, and had basically never changed since then, despite much higher rents. In December 2023, Marc Miller set the requirement at 75% of the low-income cutoff (LICO), which is currently about $20,000.
Pre-Covid, the number of hours a student could work off-campus during the academic term was limited to 20 hours/week. In October 2022, this limit was waived.
Last month, Marc Miller announced that the number of hours a student can work off-campus during the academic term will be reduced to 24 hours/week. (There’s no limit during school breaks.)
In October 2022, we waived the 20-hours-per-week limit for off campus work for international students. At the time, we were recovering from the pandemic, employers could not find workers for positions, and many students were struggling with rising costs. Lifting this limit helped our local economies, our small businesses and international students alike.
In December, I announced an extension of the policy allowing for unlimited, off-campus working hours for international students. At the time, I did not want to make changes in the middle of the study year and put some students in a difficult financial position. However, that policy expires today and it will not be renewed – as it was successful in helping our economy recover from the pandemic, and is therefore no longer necessary.
The limit will be set at 24 hours/week starting in September. Explanation of the limit:
Working in Canada provides a number of benefits for students to help offset expenses and gives them work experience in Canada.
At the same time, as shown by research, we know that increased working hours while studying at postsecondary institutions can lead to declining academic performance and increase the risk that students will drop out of their programs.
Looking at best practices and policies in other like-minded countries, most of them limit the number of working hours for international students. Canada’s rules need to be aligned or we will find our programs attracting more and more applicants whose primary intent is to work, not study.
To be clear, the purpose of the International Student Program is to study, not work.
As most shifts are 8 hours long, the new 24 hours rule means students can work up to three shifts a week.
More
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