Canada’s 24-Hour Weekly Work Rule: Over the past year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has introduced several steps to ensure the sustainability of the International Student Programme with the aim of rooting out fraud and protecting students from bad actors and financial vulnerability.

As announced in the 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan, Canada’s temporary resident population will decrease over the next few years to align with our long­-term economic goals and strengthen the integrity and quality of our temporary resident programmes.

Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship today confirmed that new regulations impacting the International Student Programme have now taken effect, including the change to the number of hours international students may work off campus that was proposed earlier this year. With this change, eligible students can now work up to 24 hours per week off campus while their classes are in session.

Moving forward, international students will have to apply and be approved for a new study permit before changing learning institutions. This change is in line with the important work we have been doing to strengthen the integrity of the International Student Programme.

Recently, Canada announced the termination of the Student Direct Stream (SDS) and Nigeria Student Express (NSE) initiatives. For the past six years, Indian students have been among the primary beneficiaries of the SDS, a programme designed to speed up the study permit application process. With the termination of SDS, prospective students from India will now be required to apply for study permits through the regular study permit stream.

Indian students who had already submitted their applications under the SDS before the 2 pm ET deadline on November 8, 2024, will see their applications processed through the SDS, meaning they will still benefit from the expedited processing times. However, any study permit applications submitted after the cut-off will be processed through the regular study permit stream, which may take longer.