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“We are granting 35% fewer international student permits this year. And next year, that number will drop by another 10%,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on September 19. “Immigration is a benefit to our economy — but when bad people abuse the system and take advantage of students, we crack down on them,” Trudeau posted on his social media handle X.
In January, Canada’s immigration minister said a 35% reduction would see 364,000 study permits approved in 2024; now, a further 10% drop would mean only 3,27,000 student permits would be issued in 2025.
One consultant said students could turn to Eastern Europe as Canada cuts permits by more than a third this year.
“About 22% of our students (616 students) go to Canada, while 7-10% go to eastern European countries,” said Vaibhav Gupta, chief marketing officer at overseas education consultancy iSchoolConnect Pvt Ltd. “We will see a rise in admissions for the latter. Colleges from Poland, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania are visiting schools, conducting counselling sessions to attract more students from India.”
Significant decline
Limits on the number of international students and strict work visa rules have forced thousands of students to move to other countries at the application stage. The Indian government told parliament in April that more than 1.3 million students will be studying abroad in 2024.
According to a PTI report quoting government data – out of the 1,335,878 Indian students, 427,000 were studying in Canada, 337,630 in the US, 8,580 in China, eight in Greece, 900 in Israel, 14 in Pakistan and 2,510 in Ukraine.
The consultants said higher education will remain in a state of crisis, and the decline will continue until Canada’s election in October 2025.
The University of Toronto, one of Canada’s largest universities, has seen a 40% drop in the number of applications from India this year. The university’s vice-president (international) Joseph Wong described this decline as a significant drop and said that this decline is a big drop. Mint In May, he said that “the lack of clarity and uncertainty has had a negative impact and this is reflected in the decline in the number of applications received from Indian students this year.”
The students go abroad in two phases – one in August-September and the other in January-February.
Akshay Chaturvedi, founder and CEO of Leverage Edu, said applications for higher education at Canadian universities have declined by more than 40%.
“Canada’s announcement to further limit the number of international students is short-sighted, and I believe this will be implemented very soon,” he said.
Housing problem
Moving to Canada has become more difficult over the past year. The housing crisis in Canada has worsened and there are not enough options available for many incoming students.
Canada has also doubled the GIC (Guaranteed Investment Certificate) to CAD$10,000. 6 Lakh) to CAD$20,635 ( Rs 12 lakh effective from 2024. GIC is akin to a safe investment and is proof that the student has the means to live in Canada and pay for the expenses. One can obtain GIC from any Canadian financial institutions.
The US, Canada, Australia and European countries such as Germany are the preferred destinations for students to study engineering, medicine and science. Both Australia and Canada have curbed the entry of their students through stringent background checks and increased GICs in the last year and a half.
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