The pathway to permanent residency has turned into a maze
Laura Morales Padilla // Video Production Manager
Annika Macfarlane // Illustrator
Despite an increase in international tuition fees, unaffordable housing options and long bus lines, the number of international students continues to grow at post-secondary institutions in Canada. So, why do international students put up with these unfair conditions? According to the latest survey conducted by the Capilano Courier, it is because they want to become permanent residents.
“[I] wanted a better life so yeah, if I’m paying so much I need PR,” stated one of the 60 international students surveyed. The results show that 70 per cent applied for a study permit with the intention of obtaining permanent residency (PR), and 68 per cent indicated that if having a Canadian post-secondary education did not increase their chances of getting PR, then they wouldn’t have chosen to study in Canada. So, where did these expectations come from, and how feasible is Canadian post-secondary education as a pathway to PR?
In 2012, the Advisory Panel on Canada’s International Education Strategy provided a report about Canada’s “opportunity and capacity for strong growth in attracting international students.” The panel envisioned attracting 450,000 students by 2022, double the number they had at the time, with the rationale that immigration through international education is, “one of the safest immigration paths, as students can demonstrate their capabilities to adapt and succeed through their education period.” A Statistics Canada report released in 2022 examined international students as a growing source of labour and found that they “face fewer obstacles with respect to credential recognition and language proficiency, are familiar with the culture, and have already built social networks in Canada.” When the minister of IRCC Marc Miller announced that Canada was to host around 900,000 international students in 2023, the public concern around housing and immigration started to grow, and so did the scapegoating of international students. So, how does this system work and why has it become unsustainable?
If an international student finishes a two-year program (or longer) at a Canadian Designated Learning Institution, and then works for one year under a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), they can apply for permanent residency. Word choice alert: They can apply, meaning that PR is far from guaranteed. Still, 82 per cent of interviewed international students knew about this PR formula as it is commonly pitched to them by recruitment agencies. The question is, how feasible is Canadian education as a pathway to PR nowadays?
The Canadian Government selects the best candidates for permanent residency by sorting them into programs and giving them a score depending on factors such as age, spousal status, level of education, work experience and language fluency. For international students, the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program managed through Express Entry is the most frequent pathway to permanent residency; they become part of the CEC pool of candidates by following the PR formula. The highest-ranking candidates receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for permanent residency in “rounds of invitations.” The number of ITAs are tied to the needs of the labour market. What are the probabilities of an international student finding themselves among the lucky few? Along with the number of ITAs issued at a particular round, the score of the lowest-ranked candidate invited is available to the public. This is our best indicator of how competitive it is to get an ITA; bigger numbers of ITAs issued and smaller scores of lowest-ranked candidates mean higher probabilities.
Take a CapU student who followed the PR formula—meaning they finished a two-year degree and worked for one year—their score as a CEC candidate would be 437 out of 1200, if they are under the age of 29 and secured the maximum score in their English proficiency test. Now, for a student who finished a bachelor’s degree and worked for three years, the score would be 510. Additional points are granted for those with French language skills, arranged employment, and other case-by-case factors. The question is, are these points competitive enough?
In the CEC specific rounds that happened in 2021, the score of the lowest ranked candidate invited ranged from 357 to 462. At the time, the score of a former international student who followed the PR formula was enough to get an ITA. However, in the CEC rounds that took place in 2024, the scores of the lowest-ranked candidates invited ranged between 507 and 547. So, the scores from two and four-year programs paired with only one year of work experience are currently not enough to make the cut, while the number of candidates for Express Entry with scores between 501 and 600 have more than doubled from 7,633 in 2021 to 16,495 in November 2024.
For an international student who wants to get PR, the solution is not as simple as changing from a two-year to a four-year program. By the time they graduate and gain work experience, they are likely to find the minimum score has increased. Moreover, it is hard to predict what the needs of the province will be next year, let alone four years from now. As the Canadian government, post-secondary institutions, and recruitment agencies market Canadian education as a pathway to PR, they fail to communicate that the chances of an international student becoming a permanent resident have more to do with labour market needs and public opinion around immigration than with their scores.
If international students lack a reasonable chance of becoming permanent residents, new questions arise: should international students continue to trust the system? Or is the post-secondary education system exploiting this trust? There has been very little incentive for these institutions to improve conditions for international students, but without PR as bait, they will have to assess if what they are offering is enough.
