WENR

International Student Pathways to Permanent Residence in Canada: Canada Research in Brief

Over the past seven years, Canada’s international student flows have increased 119 percent [1]. This surge has become an important source of skilled immigrants, whom many Canadians view as one answer to a dwindling workforce, especially in less populous and aging provinces.

The Government’s Role

A decade of Canadian government policies that ease international students’ transition into Canadian society has provided powerful motivation. Such policies include increased [2] hours that international students can work and be paid; increased duration of post-graduation work permits [3] (certain conditions apply); the development of provincial immigration programs [4]; and more importantly, the awarding of additional points [5], under the current immigration point system, for being an international graduate of a Canadian college.

The Post-Graduation Work Permit program, which allows graduates to work and extend their stay in Canada, nearly doubled the number of permits issued [7] from 18,000 in 2008 to 34,000 in 2015. More recent IRCC data [8] show that in 2017 there were 114 thousand permit holders, up from 15.6 thousand in 2008. Also worth noting is the latest report from the Canadian Bureau for International Education’s A World of Learning, [7] which states that “… many international students transition to permanent residency after entering the workforce through a post-graduation immigration pathway.”

But questions remain about other factors that motivate prospective students from abroad to come to Canada with the intent of staying after graduation.

Two charts, one showing whether prospective international students plan to apply for permanent residency, the other showing whether prospective international students plan to work in Canada after graduation [9]

Other Factors Behind Prospective Students’ Desire to Stay: New Insights

To shed further light on these prospective Canadian students from abroadWorld Education Services [10], in partnership with the Canadian Bureau for International Education [11] (CBIE) and Pathways to Prosperity: Canada [12], surveyed more than 1,100 self-identified international students in late 2017. Almost 300 respondents identified as prospective students. We analyzed their responses to better understand three main questions:

Early Insights

Responses confirmed, at the broadest level, what has long been clear: A large percentage of prospective international students plan to work in Canada after graduation (65 percent), and to apply for permanent residency (68 percent).

But researchers also obtained some deeper insights. For instance, many students seek to stay because Canada offers a better standard of living than many students’ home countries (59 percent); and Canada has better job opportunities (52 percent). (These findings align with those of Statistics Canada [13], which previously found that a student’s country of origin affects transition rates.)

Of students who intend to apply for permanent residency, 59 percent expect their educational institutions to help them make professional connections in Canada.

Regarding other predictors of intentions to seek permanent residency, the researchers found several other factors that correlate with intent to stay in Canada as permanent residents:

With this information, public policymakers and international admissions officers at higher education institutions can reassess their views and practices. For example:

Further Research

The research partnership intends to explore several other areas of study; for example, the role student satisfaction with the institution or program plays in students’ plans to pursue permanent residency.

The partners believe that to effectively address long-term integration of students and labor gaps, it’s critical to understand postgraduate employment success. To facilitate that understanding, this project will dig deeper into the different paths immigrants take, and how those paths contribute to differences in the labor outcomes of international students and those of other immigrants.

The full report, “Retaining International Students in Canada Post-Graduation: Understanding the Motivations and Drivers of the Decision to Stay [14],” is available on the CBIE website.