Minister Was Warned Lifting International Student Work Limit Could Undermine Program

Allowing international students to work more than 20 hours a week could distract from their studies and undermine the objective of temporary foreign worker programs, public servants warned the federal government in 2022. The caution came in documents prepared for former immigration minister Sean Fraser as Ottawa looked at waiving the restriction on the number of hours international students could work off-campus—a policy the Liberals eventually implemented. The Canadian Press obtained the internal documents with an access-to-information request. Waiving the cap could help alleviate labour shortages, a memorandum for the minister conceded, but it could also have other unintended consequences. “While a temporary increase in the number of hours international students can work off-campus could help address these shortages, this could detract from the primary study goal of international students to a greater emphasis on work, circumvent the temporary foreign worker programs and give rise to further program integrity concerns with the international student program,” the memo said....