New Canada Study Permit Regulations to Safeguard International Students: Crackdown on Loopholes
The Government of Canada has announced strict regulations in a move to protect international students from misuse of study permits. According to the proposal, such new regulations will have an increased system whereby monitoring and tracking of the status of enrollment, as well as the conditions of study permits for international students, will take place to ensure that the procedure is more safe and secure. This blog explains what exactly these proposed regulations are and what they mean for international students coming to Canada.
New Regulations Put Forth to Monitor Study Permits
Where institutions or colleges cannot adequately verify the enrollment of international students attending college or university in that country, the Canadian government will stop processing study permits. This will mandate colleges and universities to report to the federal Immigration Department regarding a student’s attendance and compliance with study permits.
Key Changes under New Regulations
Mandatory Reporting by DLIs: State whether students are enrolled and adhering to regulations governing study permits by designated learning institutions.
New Study Permits for Transfer of Schools: A student is required to obtain a new study permit for transfer of schools prior to the start of their new study programme.
Verification of LOA: DLIs must verify the Letter of Acceptance (LOA) submitted with the application.
Processing the Application: Applications for study permits shall not be processed when a DLI does not verify the student’s acceptance. The application, along with all supporting documents and fees, is returned to the student.
Accompanying Family Members: The accompanying family members of the student would not be required to have LOA verification if their permit applications are approved to enter Canada before their application, but then while changing their status to study, to attend a post-secondary DLI, they would be required to have a verified LOA.
Consequences for Foreign Students
The new regulations Explicitly and only apply to post-secondary DLIs and foreign students attending the institutions. The critical points for such implications are
Continuous Enrollment: A student who obtains a study permit is expected to be enrolled continuously at the learning institution indicated on the permit to complete a course of study.
Off-Campus Work: The current 20-hour threshold for off-campus work during a regular academic session will be increased to 24 hours per week.
Invalid Study Permits: When a holder is no longer enrolled at the DLI shown on the permit, then a study permit is automatically considered invalid.
Measurement of Compliance and Transparency
Responsibilities for the administration of the International Student Programme are shared by IRCC and the provinces and territories of Canada. One of the critically new features of the proposed regulation is that it would impose an obligation on DLIs to report on compliance regularly to the IRCC. The institutions shall respond to requests made to them within the prescribed time limit and in the form and manner set out in the regulation.
The Effect on Indian Students
Over the years, many students from Punjab who went to Australia seeking education based on admission letters provided by fraudulent middlemen were cheated. Only when these students sought to apply for permanent residency status did they come to know about the cheating. The new rules are aimed at preventing such scams and rehabilitating students from fraud.
Current statistics and trends
As of December 2023, international students have crossed the mark of ten lakh in Canada. In 2022 alone, Canada admitted 5.5 lakh new students from 184 countries. The contributions of 2.2 lakh new students came from India. There was a drastic fall in the number of Indian students in 2023, where the number of study permit applications processed between July and October dropped by 40 percent as compared to the corresponding time in 2022.
Conclusion
These new regulations on study permits within Canada are needed to protect the safety and welfare of international students in the country. The government, through its tightening of monitoring processes and stricter compliance with DLIs, has ushered in a much more secure and transparent atmosphere for international education. Keep yourself posted about these changes to gain clear thinking when studying in a country of opportunity like Canada.
