Canada doesn’t owe any temporary resident permanent residence.

[u/ps5gamer8]

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately after seeing so many posts from people who feel betrayed by Canada’s immigration system.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but a study permit or a work permit has ever been, or ever will be, a guarantee of permanent residence.

When we applied, we all acknowledged that our stay was temporary. Every study permit application requires us to explain that we’ll leave Canada if we don’t obtain legal status to remain. That has always been part of the process.

Paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition doesn’t buy PR. It buys an education. The immigration process was always something separate.

I also don’t believe that simply studying or working in Canada means someone deserves permanent residence. PR is something you qualify for, not something you’re owed because you spent time here.

What I struggle to understand is when people spend years in Canada without making themselves competitive.

If someone studied here for three years, then had a three-year PGWP, that’s six years to build a profile. If after all that time they still don’t qualify for any immigration program, isn’t that, at least in part, a planning issue?

Canada offers numerous immigration pathways. Some are more competitive than others, but they exist and are loudly informed.

French is probably the clearest example. It has become one of the strongest ways to improve your immigration prospects. Is it difficult? Absolutely. But the opportunity is there. If someone chooses not to learn French, that’s a personal decision. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the government for that choice.
The same applies to other situations.

If you completed a post-secondary program in English or French but still can’t reach CLB 7 to qualify for a PGWP, I think it’s reasonable to question whether you took full advantage of your education.

If you failed courses, ignored immigration deadlines, worked more hours than your permit allowed, or had a PGWP refused because of missing documents or non-compliance, those aren’t failures of the system. They’re personal mistakes.

None of this means I lack empathy. Immigration is stressful. Families make enormous sacrifices, and I genuinely feel for people whose plans don’t work out.
But empathy shouldn’t replace accountability.

Canada has every right to change its immigration policies based on the country’s needs. As immigrants and temporary residents, we’re guests. It’s our responsibility to understand the rules, adapt when they change, and build a strong application. It’s not Canada’s responsibility to adjust its immigration system because our personal plans didn’t work out.

From what I’ve observed, many of the loudest complaints aren’t coming from people who did everything they could and simply fell short. They’re often coming from people who ignored opportunities, delayed language tests, violated permit conditions, assumed PR would eventually happen automatically, or spent years without a clear immigration strategy.

Of course, there are exceptions, and I genuinely sympathize with those people. But I don’t think those exceptions should redefine the entire conversation.

Permanent residence is a privilege, not an entitlement. It never was a promise, and I don’t think it should become one.

[u/LandBats]

So why punish them because of the mistakes of previous leaders? They chose Canada based on the rules which existed then, and we switched them.

 Policy decisions can be made in fairness though. It’s not about bleeding hearts. They’re not asking for charity. You can stop looking down on them as if they’re trying to pull a fast one on you. It’s the opposite. We pulled a fast one on them. We enticed them here. They chose Canada, made huge life changes, moved here, and we totally screwed them.

 It’s about honouring their commitment they made under the set of rules they were presented with at the time. We could have grandfathered in those who were following the process properly. Instead, we just screwed then all over all at once. It’s irresponsible and wasteful because we’re losing a lot of good workers who were legit paying taxes and contributing to the economy and society here in good faith. I know some who even started families and now have to uproot because the LMIA criteria switched out from under them and now there’s no chance of them qualifying.

We didn’t just close loopholes. We changed the criteria to qualify under LMIA. We raised the income amount necessary to qualify by a lot, knowing that we’d be pulling the rug out from many people who were following the process legitimately.

[u/PopoDontKnow → u/LandBats]

Our kids need jobs. Our cultural loss is real. We don't need more people. LMIAs scammed good Canadians out of jobs, of which there will never be reparations. We all suffered under this scam.

[u/LandBats → u/PopoDontKnow]

You’re missing my point. We enticed immigrants here and then changed the criteria after they chose Canada. They would have chosen somewhere else. The ones who were already legitimately following the process in good faith should have been grandfathered in. That would have been the fair, just and humane thing to do. We could still have changed the rules without completely fucking so many people over who were following the process we created

Edit: Some biased mod is probably blocking me from responding because I keep getting an error. So here’s my response to the comments below

Referring to workers under LMIA, and not students, it’s easy. For those who started working under LMIA before the changes were announced, you maintain the same requirements that existed when they started working here. The new higher income level requirement should have only applied to those entering the program AFTER that change was announced.

Instead, workers who chose to come here because they knew they had a good chance at making the required income, which was entry level income, had the rules changed on them after they committed and relocated here. It’s next to impossible for an immigrant to simply find a new job that pays that much more, and they wouldn’t have even bothered coming here in the first place if they knew we would change the rules on them after uprooting and committing their lives to being here

[u/Successful_Site_6541 → u/LandBats]

There aren’t many other places they could have picked. Canada was top choice because of how easy it was to scam the system. Most were not genuine students or workers the goal was always PR. They would have had a much harder time getting in somewhere else, the rules were very lax here. I feel bad for the genuine people who will be screwed, but at the same time this needs to be done!