Canada Closes Door on Work Permit Applications at US–Canada Border

U.S. and Canada flags near the northern border in Vermont on March 7, 2024. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

Foreign nationals with temporary status in Canada will no longer be permitted to apply for a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) at the border, Canada’s immigration minister has announced.

Marc Miller said the decision to eliminate border applications for this type of permit would reduce “flagpoling,” a workaround method by which temporary residents can bypass long wait and processing times associated with online or paper applications.

These individuals had previously been able to leave Canada and re-enter on the same day, applying for the PGWP at the border crossing and receiving services right away.

“While we continue to support and recognize the contributions of international graduates to Canada’s labour market, ‘flagpoling’ is unnecessary,” Mr. Miller said in a June 21 news release.

“The time and effort required to process applications from ‘flagpolers’ takes officers on both sides of the border away from their crucial role in protecting the safety, security and prosperity of Canadians and Americans.”

This measure will help prevent flagpoling while also “maintaining the integrity of our immigration system,” he added.

Flagpoling is also used by temporary residents applying for permanent resident status, study permits, and permit extensions.

PGWP applicants represented about one-fifth of the foreign nationals who attempted to flagpole between March 1, 2023, and Feb. 29, 2024, according to the news release.

“With this change, we’re taking a measured approach to combatting the issue and putting an even greater focus on maintaining the integrity of our shared border with the United States,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in the same news release.

Immigration Increase

The update comes amid other recent announcements by the federal government targeted at more regulation of immigration.

In January, Mr. Miller said the government would be decreasing the number of study permits issued by 35 percent, to 360,000. He added that the number to be issued in 2025 would be decided after an assessment of the situation later this year.

Information released around that time said that over 982,000 study permits were issued to foreign students in 2023.

Canada’s population surpassed 41 million in the first quarter of 2024, Statistics Canada said in a June 19 news release. The statistical agency said this followed the country reaching the earlier milestone of 40 million people on June 16, 2023.

While Canada is seeing a substantial increase in immigration, it’s not adding numbers to citizenship, according to a StatCan study released Feb. 28. The number of immigrants who have gone on to become citizens has dropped by nearly 30 percent since 1996.

In 2021, only 45.7 percent of recent immigrants sought residency, compared to 75.4 percent in 1996, the study indicated. And Canada’s citizenship rate fell faster between 2016 and 2021 than during any other five-year intercensal period since 1996.

Moreover, some 15 percent of immigrants reportedly move away from Canada within 20 years of arriving, with the majority leaving between three and seven years after they land, a separate StatCan study released Feb. 2.

About 500,000 immigrants are expected to move into Canada in 2024, and it’s a number that is starting to make Canadians feel uneasy, given concerns over lack of housing and access to health care, according to a November 2023 poll from Abacus Data.

“Two in three Canadians (67 percent) believe the current immigration target is too high, increasing by 6-points increase since July,” the research authors said.

Two in five Canadians (40 percent) said the number of new immigrants was “way too high,” while just 2 percent said it was “too low.”

The poll also found that less than a quarter of Canadians (24 percent) believe the present level of immigration is having a positive impact on the country, with 43 percent saying it was having an adverse effect.

Jennifer Cowan contributed to this article.