Douglas g todd: Canada rejecting more and more study-visa applicants

Analysis: Immigration officials are turning back two in five young people applying to study in Canada, with Africans suffering by far the worst rate of rejection. Large numbers from India are also getting hit. Immigration officials are turning back two of five people applying to study in Canada, with Africans suffering by far the highest rate of rejection. With Canada now the world’s fastest-growing destination for international students, the Immigration Department has this year been rejecting 39 per cent of study-visa applications, up from a 28 per cent refusal rate in 2014. Immigration officials say one in 10 applicants are rebuffed for apparent fraud. Others don’t make the cut because they’re unable to prove they have enough money to pay high tuition fees and rents in Canada. Others present study plans that don’t appear to make sense. Since 2016, Canada has turned down more than 100,000 study-visa applicants a year. Even though most young people hire agents to make their case for a student visa to Canada, immigration lawyers in Canada confirm some applications are fraudulent and many are poorly put together, causing confusion and wariness among border agents. The rejections are hitting hopefuls from India especially hard, since they have grown into the largest group of foreign students in Canada. Many of India’s 173,000 study-permit holders here hope to eventually obtain permanent resident status so they can get full-time jobs and obtain Canadian citizenship for themselves and family members. Thirty-seven per cent of would-be international students from India are now being rejected by Canadian officials, causing media outlets such as The Times of India to report recently, “Just as Canada became every Indian student’s hot favourite college destination, rejection rates for study permits soared.” There were a total of 572,000 international students in Canada at the end of 2018, which makes Canada the world’s fourth biggest destination for global education. Indian nationals make up 30 per cent of foreign students in Canada, followed by China at 24 per cent, and South Korea, France and Vietnam at four per cent each.