Federal Auditor General Karen Hogan has found that changes made to reduce the number of new study permits issued by the Department of Immigration has disproportionately affected provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador.

Karen Hogan says just under 150,000 permits were issued in 2024, well below the 350,000 permits forecast.

That disproportionately affected provinces with smaller populations, including Newfoundland and Labrador according to the AG.

“For example, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan were both expected to see an increase of 10 per cent in approved study permits compared to 2023, but instead, experienced a decrease of at least 59 per cent.”

Hogan’s office also found that 800 study permits were accepted, yet afterward were found to have included fake documentation. Information that was flagged, but not followed-up on when those applicants filed for other programs.

She says the federal Department of Immigration introduced methods to verify acceptance letters from educational institutions, “it did not effectively investigate or follow-up on high-risk cases.”

She says more than 153,000 potential cases of non-compliance with study permits were identified, however, the department only investigated a small number of those cases.

“It also did not pursue 800 cases involving fraudulent documentation discovered after permits were approved. Overall, the department needs to act on the information it has, to address integrity concerns in the program.”

NL previously saw cut in economic immigration numbers

In 2024, former Immigration minister Sarah Stoodley was shocked to learn that NL was expecting a 42 per cent cut to economic immigration. A compromise was reached in 2025 allowing the province 1,000 economic immigration spaces in exchange for accepting 100 humanitarian migrants from other provinces.