In 2025, new student arrivals have declined by 70%, and new worker arrivals have declined by 50%, according to new data published by Canada’s immigration department.
In the period between January and June of 2025, Canada welcomed 88,617 fewer international students and 125,903 fewer foreign workers, compared to the same period in 2024.
This cumulatively has yielded a total decrease of 214,520 fewer new student and worker arrivals over this period, demonstrating that measures taken by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to curb inflows of temporary residents have had a substantial impact.
Current populations
IRCC’s most recent data also shows interesting changes to the population of international students and foreign workers already in Canada.
From January 2024 (the implementation of Canada’s first study permit cap) to June of 2025, the number of foreign nationals in Canada who hold only a study permit has decreased by 133,325.
| Month | January 2024 | June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of study permit holders | 679,887 | 546,562 |
Over this same time period, the number of foreign nationals who only held a work permit has increased by 262,262 permit holders.
| Month | January 2024 | June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of work permit holders | 1,242,311 | 1,504,573 |
This increase has occurred despite multiple reforms to Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) processing, wage thresholds under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), and new field of study requirements for some international graduates pursuing a Post-Graduation Work Permit through the International Mobility Program (IMP).
Lastly, IRCC notes only a slight decrease of 32,014 dual permit holders among the number of foreign nationals who hold both a work permit and a study permit in Canada, over the same time period.
| Month | January 2024 | June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of foreign nationals holding both a study and work permit | 344,044 | 312,010 |
Between these three distinct populations, IRCC data actually shows an increase of 137,851 foreign nationals in the overall number of temporary residents in Canada, between January 2024 and June 2025.
| Month | January 2024 | June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total number of temporary residents in Canada holding either a work permit, or a study permit, or both | 2,225,294 | 2,363,145 |