Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his government will bring the number of temporary residents in the country, including international students, to below 5% of the population by the end of 2027.

Canada temporary residents to be cut to 5% of population Canada temporary residents to be cut to 5% of population

His remarks came even as the PIE, a global platform for international education, reported that students from India “have been hardest hit by soaring refusals” with “four out of five” among them “receiving rejections” in the second quarter of 2025, the period from April to June. It cited BorderPass, a lawyer-backed digital platform focused on immigration, in this regard.

Addressing the Liberal Party caucus in Edmonton, capital of the province of Alberta on Wednesday, Carney said his government will “return Canada’s immigration rates to sustainable levels” and that “includes bringing the total number of temporary workers and international students to less than 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2027, down from its peak of 7.25% last year.”

“We are welcoming people to our country. We have to make sure we have the capacity to fulfil that welcome,” the Canadian PM stressed. These targets are likely to reflect in the new immigration plan the government is expected to present before Parliament in the weeks ahead.

PIE noted that overall, 62% of applicants were refused a study permit from January to July this year. While the rate of approval hovered around 60% for the past decade, it declined to 38% this year, 10 percentage points lower than the rate in 2024.

As Hindustan Times reported last month, the number of study permits holders from India for Canadian institutes of higher education crashed by over two-thirds in the second quarter of this year.

According to data released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the number of permits issued to Indians between April and June 2025 stood at 17,885 as against 55,660 for the same period in 2024, a decrease of over 66%.

Indians accounted for nearly 32% of study permits issued during this period as against nearly 45% in the corresponding period in 2024. The decline also translated to the first six months of 2025 for Indian students, as the number fell from 99,950 to just 47,695.

Overall, the total number of study permits dropped by nearly 100,000, from 245,055 in the first six months of 2024 to 149,860.

The sharp decline recorded in 2025 continues a trend that began in 2024 as Canada started curbing the issuance of study permits.

These numbers, according to IRCC, are “preliminary estimates” and subject to change. But they are indicative of the change in acceptance levels of foreign students, including those from India, amid a growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada, political observers said.