British Columbia’s provincial attestation letter (PAL) structure started on March 4, 2024. International students must present a Provincial Attestation Letter with their study permit application to ascertain that they have been admitted by a designated learning institution (DLI) within the restrictions of its allocation.
The British Columbia administration states that it allocates provincial attestation letters to schools, which then share them with the foreign candidate.
British Columbia states that it has been awarded 83,000 undergraduate study permit requests from Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Again, the region says that according to previous acceptance rates, the national administration anticipates this to lead to about 50,000 authorized study permit requests for 2024.
Comparatively, in 2023, there were about 97,000 study permit requests for undergraduate courses in British Columbia, leading to nearly 60,000 authorized study permits.
The region states that 53 percent of Provincial Attestation Letters will be for public post-secondary schools and the remaining 47% for private schools, representing 27 percent fewer study permit requests than in 2023.
British Columbia states that the decrement is meant to counter unsustainable development. British Columbia’s Provincial Attestation Letter system is the first to be discharged since Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) presented a restriction on the number of study permits it would allocate in 2024. Other provinces are anticipated to join to satisfy the March 31 deadline.
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IRCC’s Limit On Study Permit Applications
On January 22, 2024, Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) stated it would share up to 360,000 new study permits in 2024, a 35 percent reduction from 2023 levels.
The limit does not impact the continuation of study permits or master’s or doctoral programs. At the time of the declaration, the department stated that study permits would be shared among regions according to population. Based on the population information from Statistics Canada, British Columbia is Canada’s third-most populated region, with about 5.6 million people.
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Together with the limit, the department also declared modifications to the qualification measures for Postgraduate Work Permits (PGWPs) and an upcoming modification to Spouse Open Work Permits (SOWP). The spouses of international students seeking an undergraduate program will no longer be qualified for a Spouse Open Work Permit. Hence, this still needs to be executed.
Unsustainable Development
The limit was implemented after Immigration Minister Marc Miller made numerous comments concerning the unsustainability of Canada’s foreign student course.
In 2023, more than 1 million functioning study permits existed in Canada when the nation was coping with a depletion of inexpensive accommodation. Due to this, several international students resided in poor situations or, in most situations, went through homelessness.
The Minister clarified that there are, in regions, diploma equivalents of puppy mills that only churn out diplomas, and this is not a legal student involvement.
Again, the Minister declared that because of the permissive Designated Learning Institution structures in some regions, international students were not being provided accurate assistance, regardless of paying significantly higher tuition than domestic students. Based on Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the limit will target bad actors within the system by drying up their sources of earnings.
Other Modifications To British Columbia’s Foreign Student Program
British Columbia stated in its publication that it anticipates the limit will significantly affect private schools, which naturally have lower supervision than public schools. Again, earlier in 2024, the region launched its suite of criteria to battle the unsustainable development of the regional foreign student program.
For instance, the region is halting authorizations for new post-secondary schools and looking for ways to register international students until February 2026. It stated that it would also ensure private course programs satisfy higher authorization measures, including higher evaluation measures for program quality, indicated labor market requirements for graduates, and applicable resources and student assistance.
This is added to the new least language conditions for students at private schools, a standard aimed at better preparing students for life in British Columbia.
