In order to ease the ongoing labour shortage, the federal government has temporarily lifted long-standing policies preventing international students from working more than 20 paid hours of work.
The federal government says its lifting the 20-hour-per-week cap on the number of hours that eligible post-secondary students are allowed to work off-campus while class is in session.
“With more than 500,000 international students already in Canada available to potentially work additional hours, this temporary change reflects the important role international students can play in addressing our labour shortage, while continuing to pursue their studies.” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said on Friday.
The pilot project will extend from November 15th 2022 and run until December 31st, 2023.
The Minister said that permit holders will still be “expected to balance their study and work commitments, as those who stop studying or reduce course loads to only study part-time are not eligible to work off-campus.”
In addition, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is launching a pilot project to automate the processing of study permit extensions. The pilot will at first start with a small group of people and expand to handle more complex situations.
In September, the unemployment rate in Canada was 5.2% and 4.1% in the Kingston Census Metropolitan area.
