Canada: New Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot Forthcoming

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced it will open a new immigration pilot program – the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot or FMCSP - to welcome more international students from select countries into Francophone communities across Canada on August 26, 2024. Among the benefits, students under the pilot program and their families will be exempt from proving that they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay and have a direct pathway to permanent residence status after they complete their programs. Additionally, the sufficient funds requirement threshold for these study permit applicants will be adjusted to reflect 75% of the low-income cut-off associated with the municipality where the learning institution’s main campus is located. To be eligible, students must be a citizen of an eligible country; have a letter of acceptance from a participating Designated Learning Institution that says they are applying under the FMCSP; be enrolled in a study program that meets certain criteria; have sufficient means to cover tuition fees and living expenses; live outside Canada at the time of the application; and have qualifying French speaking skills, among other requirements. IRCC will accept up to 2,300 students under the program in the first year and set a cap for the second year of the pilot program by August 2025. More details on the pilot program can be found here. The measure builds on the Francophone Community Immigration Pilot announced earlier in 2024 to increase the number of French-speaking foreign nationals settling in Francophone minority communities outside of Quebec.