Canada Tightens Student Visa Norms; But Wait, The Best Are Still Welcome!
In what may change the study-abroad landscape for international students, including Indian students, Canada has revealed its plans to ‘reduce’ the number of study permits every province issues to students. The decision, which has been announced by Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller, may affect the plans of Canada-aspiring students over the coming two years.
Canada student visa: Latest news update
According to official accounts disclosed by reports citing Canadian officials, Ottawa has said that it plans to reduce the target for approved study permits for the year 2024 to 4.85 lakh.
“On January 22, I announced a national cap on study permit applications to address the rapid increase of international students in Canada. Provincial and territorial allocations for 2024 have now been finalized. I would like to take this opportunity to share those figures and explain how we made these decisions,” Miller said in a statement.
Canada Student Visa Changes
The strategy, which has been named the – Net Zero First Year Growth Model – necessarily aims to keep the floating population of post-secondary students in Canada at a stable level. The complex calculations for the national cap were arrived at after examining how many of the existing students sought an extension of the permit. This, according to estimates by Canadian authorities, stands at 20 per cent. This means that 20 per cent, OR about 97000 individuals from the existing lot of students already studying in Canada.
Canada Student Visa Rejection Rate/ Success Rate
Subtracting this number from the initial target, the authorities arrived at a revised target of 3.64 lakh study permits for 2024. The current approval rate for Canadian study permits is 60 per cent. This means, that in order to limit the new intake of approved study permits target at 3.64 lakh, the number of applications that will be accepted for 2024 would be 6.06 lakh.
Given that students seeking primary and secondary degrees and advanced degrees such as master’s and doctoral programmes are exempt from this cap, the final target of 2.36 lakh approved study permits has been determined. This translated to 3.93 lakh student permit applications.
