• In Australia, education visas will be restricted, and Canadian businesses will have a harder time hiring temporary foreign workers.
• Immigrants are blamed, at least in part, for higher house prices and joblessness in Australia and Canada respectively.
Australia is capping the number of foreign students it allows in, it announced on Tuesday, after Canada on Monday announced new measures to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers it admits.
Both countries have encouraged specific types of immigration to bolster their economies but now face political pressure to curb immigration due to voter unhappiness about unemployment, property prices, and other issues linked to growing populations.
Australia's government said it would allow a total of 270 000 new foreign students into higher education in 2025.
In the year to mid-2023, that number was 577 000.
International students were Australia's second largest industry after mining, accounting for more than half of the growth in Australia's economy last year, said Universities Australia chair David Lloyd.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the importance of tertiary education as an economic driver for Australia but warned universities not to be overly reliant on overseas students, in part because of the implications for migration.
A large majority of Australians blame foreigners for the country's notoriously high house prices, with nearly 550 000 people moving to the country in 2023.
Education Minister Jason Clare told a news conference that the government would clamp down on "crooks" who exploited immigration visas.
Canada cuts 65 000 foreign workers
On Monday, Canada announced a sharp reduction in the number of people it allows businesses to hire under its Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) scheme.
Such foreign workers should only be hired when there are no suitable Canadian residents to do the job, but "the TFW Program has been used to circumvent hiring talented workers in Canada", the government said.
It vowed to strengthen compliance checks and reduced new limits that will effectively cut down on the overall numbers, promising more new rules to follow.
For those in low-wage positions, visas will drop to a one-year duration from two, alongside other measures that come into effect at the end of September.
The new rules include exceptions for some types of jobs popular among South African applicants, including in agriculture and healthcare.
Combined with changes from earlier this year, the measures are expected to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers by about 65 000, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault told reporters on Monday.
Canada now counts 1.4 million people as unemployed, at an official rate of 6.4%. That represents a sharp rise in recent years, which some parties blame on foreigners.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his cabinet was also considering reductions to the number of new permanent residents Canada accepts.
"We're looking at the various streams to make sure that as we move forward, Canada remains a place that is positive in its support for immigration, but also responsible in the way we integrate and make sure there's pathways to success for everyone who comes to Canada," Trudeau told reporters on Monday.He said the government would present a broader plan on immigration levels within months.