Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada, Marc Miller has revealed that Canada received significantly less amount of study permits from Indian students last year.
The reason behind this has been stated to be the diplomatic disputes and the expulsion of Canadian diplomats by India.
Here are all the details.
Indian Study Permits To Canada Reduce by 86%
As per reports, the Indian study permits to Canada have reduced by a whopping 86% in Q4 2023. The numbers reduced from 108,940 to 14,910.
In October 2023, we reported that Canada’s decision to pull out 41 diplomats from India and suspend visa and consular services in Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Bengaluru is expected to lead to immigration and visa application processing delays. This was also confirmed by Miller himself.
However, diplomatic tensions have not been the only reason for Indians to explore other universities internationally. As per C. Gurusubramanian, counselor for the High Commission of India in Ottawa, there have been “concerns, in the recent past, regarding lack of residential and adequate teaching facilities” in Canadian institutions.
Indians have contributed to being the largest group of international students in Canada. They made up for more than 41%, or 225,835, of all permits in 2022. This will also result in some major economic effects as internal students contribute as much as C$22 billion annually to Canadian universities.
Background and Rebound of Indian Study Permits
In the wake of the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C, he said Canadian intelligence had evidence suggesting the involvement of “agents of the Indian government”.
This then resulted in the expulsion of an Indian diplomat who was also a senior intelligence officer, and a reciprocal response from India. Further, India suspended visa services for Canadians and paused free-trade talks and a business mission with Canada.
Talking about a rebound in the study permits, Miller seemed skeptical and stated, “Our relationship with India has really halved our ability to process a lot of applications from India.”
Canada is popular among students for further studies as the country offers work permits quite easily.
