Canada plans to target up to 150,000 new international student arrivals a year through 2029, keeping students within a broader temporary migration plan as the government seeks to match arrivals with labor needs and community capacity.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) sets the annual total at 370,000 new temporary resident arrivals, with a planning range of 355,000 to 385,000. The plan assigns 220,000 arrivals to workers and up to 150,000 to students; IRCC expects the two groups to account for about 60% and 40% of new temporary arrivals, respectively.
The student measure covers newly issued study permits for foreign nationals taking programs of at least six months at designated learning institutions in Canada. It excludes permit extensions, so it does not count every international student already in the country.
The 2027 and 2028 student figures appeared as notional targets in the previous plan, which set 155,000 for 2026. Canada recorded 115,180 new student arrivals in 2025, compared with that year's target of 305,900. More recently, the federal government reported that new student arrivals from January through August 2026 were 71% lower than in the same period of 2024, a decline of 156,440.
IRCC says the targets are meant to help provinces, territories, employers and educational institutions plan, address labor needs and align immigration with local capacity. The government also aims to reduce temporary residents to less than 5% of Canada's population by the end of 2027.
The 2028 and 2029 targets and ranges remain notional. IRCC says it will confirm or adjust them by Nov. 1, 2027.
