Education

New Canada Immigration Pilot To Welcome More Francophone International Students

Published on August 15, 2024

Canada Immigration Minister Marc Miller unveiled on Wednesday the new Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP) program which will be launched August 26.

The new pilot will exempt francophone international students and their families from having to demonstrate they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay as well as lower the financial threshold.

In its bid to boost the approval rate for these international students, many of whom come from French-speaking countries in Africa, Ottawa is setting the financial threshold to reflect 75 per cent of the low-income cut-off associated with the municipalities where the Designated Learning Institutions (DLI) – colleges and universities – have their main campuses.

“Promoting French is of prime importance to us,” says Miller.

“By welcoming francophone immigrants and supporting them in their integration process, we contribute to the revitalization of these communities, while meeting their skilled workforce needs.

“We are all the more determined to help more francophone international students come to Canada and build a future in our dynamic francophone communities, while contributing to the development of the French-speaking world.”

This pilot program, the flagship of the government’s policy on francophone immigration, is exempt from the annual overall cap on study permit applications set in late January.

The maximum number of study permit applications Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept under the FMCSP is 2,300 for the first year. A cap for the second year of the pilot program will be set by August next year.

“Supporting the vitality of our francophone communities in Canada also means welcoming French-speaking international students and immigrants,” says Randy Boissonnault, minister of employment, workforce development and official languages.

“This is exactly what this pilot program does. It adds to the progress we’re making under the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028 to strengthen francophone immigration and integration in French-speaking minority communities.”

International students taking part in the FCMSP will also benefit from a direct pathway from temporary to permanent status after obtaining their diploma and they will have access to settlement services while they are studying to help them integrate into their communities.

Ten new communities are also being added to the Welcoming Francophone Communities (WFC) initiative, bringing the total of WFC communities to 24.

The 10 new communities being added to the WFC initiative are:

Nanaimo
Red River
Chéticamp (including St. Joseph du Moine)
Belle-Baie (including Bathurst and the Pabineau First Nation)
Caraquet (including Rivière du Nord and Hautes-Terres)
Restigouche West Region (Saint-Quentin and Kedgwick)
Prince Albert
Cornwall
Cochrane District
London

“The WFC initiative is an eloquent example of the commitment of francophone and Acadian communities to the overall success of immigrants,” says Liane Roy, president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA).

Francophone Immigration To Canada Is Showing Strong Growth

“Over the past five years, numerous leaders and volunteers have mobilized locally to create new services for French-speaking immigrants. They have set up activities to promote living together and inclusion, and have strengthened the attractiveness of our communities with the aim of increasing Francophone immigration.”

Through its Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028, Ottawa is investing $50 million to support the success of the Francophone Integration Pathway, which includes $11 million over four years for expansion of the WFC initiative.

International students coming to study in Canada through the FMCSP program will not have to provide a provincial or territorial attestation letter with their study permit application. They will only have to present a letter of acceptance from a participating post-secondary Designated Learning Institution (DLI) to confirm they may participate in the pilot program.

Spouses and common-law partners of the principal applicants may also come to Canada under the pilot program and eventually apply for permanent residence.

The new pilot program to boost the number of French-speaking international students in Canada comes as the country is seeing strong growth in francophone immigration.

French-speaking immigration outside of Quebec more than doubled in the last three years – and that trend continued with 19.9 per cent growth in 2023 alone.

In 2021, only 6,950 French-speaking immigrants became permanent residents in Canada outside of the francophone province of Quebec.

The following year, that skyrocketed to 16,380 new permanent residents, an increase of 135.7 per cent.

Then, last year, francophone immigration outside Quebec swelled to 19,635 new permanent residents.

This year, IRCC data revealed the country was poised to break that record-breaking level of francophone immigration with 9,220 French-speaking new permanent residents in the first five months of this year.

The trend set from January through to May would put Canada on track to welcome 22,128 French-speaking new permanent residents by the end of this year.

Under a shared jurisdiction between Ottawa and the provinces, Canada operates a two-tiered immigration system, offering programs for skilled workers, at both federal and provincial levels.

Through a network of Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP), almost all of Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories can nominate skilled worker candidates for admission to Canada with the specific skills required by their local economies.

Successful candidates who receive a provincial or territorial nomination can then apply for Canadian permanent residence through federal immigration authorities.

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