The official mandate of Canada’s Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) department is to build “a stronger Canada through immigration programs, citizenship services, refugee protection and issuing Canadian travel documents.”
But our research shows how IRCC has become a powerful force in Canadian education policy — an area that is the responsibility of provinces and territories.
Since the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was enacted in 2002 and the International Student Program was developed, IRCC has been responsible for overseeing international students who come to Canada.
Since 2022, however, IRCC’s role in higher education policy has become more marked as it increasingly uses regulations to manage and adjust the International Student Program. A significant policy change occurred in January 2024 when the federal government imposed an unprecedented cap on international student enrolments.
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Intensifying geopolitical events in recent years are directly impacting IRCC. New wars and conflicts, along with ongoing democratic backsliding and political/social turmoil around the world, have had immediate consequences for higher education in Canada.
To better understand IRCC’s policymaking on international students, shaped by both domestic priorities and global geopolitical pressures, we analyzed policy announcements by IRCC between January 2022 and July 2025 on Canada’s global commitments.
Although public-facing announcements appear technical and neutral, we found that IRCC’s statements on different geopolitical issues were inconsistent, reinforcing inequalities in the governance of international students in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Providing humanitarian support
We found that IRCC consistently describes Canada as a “safe haven” for international students affected by humanitarian crises in their policy responses.
Yet, our research indicates that IRCC’s policy choices contribute to the inequalities international students experience. Not all international students who have lived through humanitarian crises or political threats have the same access to the “safe haven” that IRCC heralds Canada as being.
Generally, IRCC adjusts policies to allow affected international students to remain in Canada. In some cases, it also uses the International Student Program as a mechanism to admit people from impacted regions.
In 2022, within a month of the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, IRCC established the Canada-Ukraine Authorization Travel Program to allow Ukrainians to come to Canada temporarily and work and study during their stay.
By April 2024, the program had approved more than 960,000 applications and welcomed around 300,000 Ukrainians to settle in Canada. Although this program is now closed to new applications, IRCC has continuously updated related policies for specific applicants’ status extensions, with the latest update in March 2026.
In 2024, in response to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, IRCC also implemented special immigration measures for international students, which were announced almost three months after the attack on Gaza began and included both Palestinians and Israelis.
The special stream for Palestinians came with conditions: a cap of 5,000 temporary visitor visas for Palestinians with family ties in Canada only, allowing them to apply for international student status and to flee to Canada. This special stream was closed after four months as applications reached the cap.
(AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Promoting ‘Canadian values’
Canada’s foreign policy agenda, last officially reviewed in 2005, emphasizes values related to liberal democracy and the country’s peacekeeping legacy. These “Canadian values” have come into play in IRCC’s responses to human rights violations in Iran and Hong Kong.
In 2023, IRCC introduced a new measure to support Iranian international students in Canada amid escalating political tensions in Iran. It offered status extensions to students facing immediate danger back home without an application fee.
Additionally, the Canadian government has criticized the Iranian government’s crackdown on protesters and imposed sanctions on Iran, including restrictions on academic activities and research collaborations.
Similarly, IRCC was concerned about recent threats to Hong Kong’s democratic system posed by China’s national security law. Rather than directly commenting on the government, as it did in the case of Iran, IRCC framed its announcements around the benefits of recruiting Hong Kong residents to Canada’s labour market, using this emphasis to support its broader rationale of promoting democracy and freedom in Hong Kong.
This was achieved by expanding the eligibility criteria for Hong Kong international graduates to apply for an open work permit and special permanent residency streams.
These different protections are tied to Canada’s international relations policies and shaped by students’ backgrounds, including their international/Canadian experiences.
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Contradictions in policy and discourse
The International Student Program reflects a deeper contradiction in Canada’s approach to international students. Canada encourages international students to come here and support economic growth. However, those students are now also blamed for abusing the system and exacerbating pressures on social services and housing.
For example, a recent House of Commons report suggested international students misuse asylum claims and recommended a cap on applicants from countries with high student application rates, such as India, Nigeria, and the Republic of Guinea.
There is an urgent need for more equitable policies. The way IRCC connects geopolitics and domestic issues with student recruitment legitimizes discriminatory immigration screening based on students’ race, ethnicity and nationality.
Current caps have led to a reduction of more than 60 per cent in international student enrolment. Yet, the recent Auditor General report showed a significant increase in students from European countries even after the enrolment cap was implemented.
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A call for an equitable approach
Our research also indicates that international students’ experiences are being fundamentally impacted by IRCC’s policy approaches in ways that go well beyond study permits.
In 2026, the Auditor General heavily criticized IRCC’s International Student Program reforms and highlighted the ineffectiveness of policy changes aimed at improving the program, such as the enrollment cap and provincial/territorial study permit allocations.
Our research suggests that the failure of reforms to consider and address international student access to humanitarian protections through the program creates further barriers and inequities.
The sharp decline in student arrivals underscores the need for greater accountability and transparency in immigration processes, as well as more equitable policy frameworks that take into account the lived experiences of international students.
