Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that the new Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP) program will be launched on August 26, 2024, in partnership with designated French-language and bilingual post-secondary learning institutions (DLIs). Minister Miller also announced the addition of 10 communities to the Welcoming Francophone Communities (WFC) initiative. The Minister made these announcements on the occasion of the Acadian World Congress, in Nova Scotia.

Students in the Francophone Minority Communities Pilot program

Canada recognizes that large pools of French-speaking international students exist in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, and that the study permit approval rate in these regions has been low in the past. Thanks to the new pilot program, we will make access to Canada’s International Student Program fairer for a wide range of international students.

The pilot program is a flagship measure of the Policy on Francophone Immigration announced earlier this year and will benefit FMCs by helping them attract and retain international students. To improve the approval rate, students and their families will be exempted from having to demonstrate that they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay. In addition, the required financial threshold will be adjusted to reflect 75% of the low-income cut-off associated with the municipality where the institution’s main campus is located.

Complete Press Release