A change in immigration rules will see half a million foreign students eligible to work full-time in Canada. “It’s good for our economy,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser told the House of Commons..“Canada needs to look at every option, so we have the skills and workforce needed to fuel our growth,” added Fraser. “Immigration will be crucial.”.According to Blacklock's Reporter, foreign students are currently limited to working 20 hours a week under Immigration And Refugee Protection Act regulations. Fraser will lift the cap on hours effective November 15, calling it a temporary measure to expire on December 31, 2023..“There are 500,000 international students living in Canada who can make contributions,” said Fraser. “It is a great day for international students. It is a great day for the economy.”.The change in regulations had been under review for months. “The department is constantly reviewing the rules,” Philip Somogyvari, director general of policy at the immigration department, said told the House of Commons industry committee the department was "constantly reviewing the rules.".Statistics Canada in a June 24 report said about half of foreign students work part time in Canada. The employment rate was 58% for foreign students at trade schools..“Between 2000 and 2019 the number of international students with T4 earnings increased from 22,000 to 354,000, a result of both a higher number of international students and their rising labour force participation rate from 18% to 50%,” wrote StatsCan. “The increases were particularly large at the non-university postsecondary level where the labour force participation rate rose from seven percent to 58 percent and the number of participants rose from 3,000 to 173,000.”.Liberal and New Democrat MPs had advocated for a lifting of the cap on foreign students’ hours. “There are people who really need to be hiring those students,” Liberal MP Andy Fillmore (Halifax), parliamentary secretary for industry, earlier told the industry committee. “There are job vacancies.”.“Those international students pay such high tuition costs most are living in poverty at times, going to food banks or bringing over money just to get by,” said New Democrat MP Brian Masse (Windsor West, Ont.). “Some people think they are all rich people coming over. It’s not true. There are a lot of working class.”
