The federal auditor general is planning to conduct a review of Canada’s international student program, which has seen a surge in admissions that critics say the country was ill-prepared to handle.
A report from the planned audit is expected to be tabled in Parliament in 2026, a spokesperson for Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office told Global News on Monday.
“As the audit is in the planning phase, providing information on scope and timelines is premature,” Claire Baudrey said in an emailed statement.
The Globe and Mail first reported on the upcoming probe, which was also confirmed by The Canadian Press.
Critics, including the opposition Conservatives, have argued Canada’s rapid increase in international student admissions over recent years drove up youth unemployment and worsened the housing crisis.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last week that “we need more people leaving than coming” into Canada for the next couple of years, after calling in June for “severe limits” on the country’s population growth.
He did not specifically mention international students in his comments, but blamed temporary foreign workers for high youth unemployment rates. He said “very hard caps on immigration levels” would let the country’s housing market, health-care systems and domestic employment “catch up.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney told his cabinet ministers in a mandate letter shortly after the federal election that he wants to return “overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.”
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At the same time, there has been a steady increase of international students seeking to gain permanent residency by applying for asylum, rather than through regular immigration streams.
Global News reported in May that international students filed a record 20,245 asylum claims last year, with 2025 on track to surpass that number, according to federal immigration data.
The data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada shows the number of international students seeking asylum last year was nearly double the 2023 figures and six times higher than in 2019.
Even as Ottawa moves to cut the number of study permits it issues, asylum claims by foreign students rose 22 per cent in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, with 5,500 claims filed.
The federal Liberal government put a cap on study permit applications last fall and plans to consult on future student intake levels this summer.
The permit cap has led to a cash crunch for many universities and colleges, with some responding with layoffs and hiring freezes.
— with files from Global’s Sophall Duch, Touria Izri and Marc-André Cossette, and The Canadian Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
