Classified report reveals how India’s Bishnoi gang uses Canada’s student visa program

2026/08/07 Leave a comment

Another example of policy failure:

…A classified intelligence report obtained by Global News reveals the Bishnoi gang’s Canadian franchise has relied heavily on Indian youths who, like Brar, entered the country on student visas.

Written by the Canada Border Services Agency, the report cites the gang’s “growing operational presence in Canada” and “demonstrated use of Canada’s immigration programs for criminal purposes.”

“Investigations increasingly identify Indian foreign nationals on study permits and work permits as participants in these organized criminal activities,” the CBSA’s Intelligence and Investigations Directorate wrote.

“The sustained expansion of Bishnoi-linked extortions and the involvement of student permit and work permit holders raises significant concerns for CBSA operations.”

The “Tactical Guide,” titled “The Bishnoi Gang: An Emerging Threat in Canada,” was circulated in December 2025 to help immigration officers tackle the crime group as it preyed upon the country’s South Asian communities.

Although classified, a copy made public by the court shows how the government’s controversial foreign student program may have contributed to Canada’s Indian gang problem….

Source: EXCLUSIVE: Classified report reveals how India’s Bishnoi gang uses Canada’s student visa program

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Why hundreds of international students are suddenly being denied Canadian work permits: ‘We have done nothing wrong’

2026/08/04 Leave a comment

Necessary correction and a reminder that governments and stakeholders need to be more mindful of raising expectations and avoid creating situations that require reversals or tightening:

…Government says update was to ‘clarify’ criteria 

In 2024, Ottawa made drastic changes to the international student program amid a public backlash against the soaring temporary resident population, in part by restricting access to the coveted postgraduation work permits. 

International graduates must meet new language proficiency requirements and those completing public college diploma programs will only be eligible for postgraduation work permits if their field of study is linked to labour market shortages in Canada.

According to data obtained recently by Vancouver immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens, the approval rate for postgraduate work permits has dropped by 8 percentage points from 87 per cent in 2023 to 79 per cent as of November 2025.

The Immigration Department said there have been no changes to the eligibility criteria for the post-graduation work permit (PGWP) program, and the website was updated just to “clarify” the existing rules involving non-credit programs.

“To be eligible for a PGWP, applicants must complete a program of study that leads to a degree, diploma, or certificate from a designated learning institution,” it explained in an email. “This long-standing requirement does not include general interest programs, ESL/FSL programs, and other types of non-credit programs.”

The department said it does not track data specific to non-credit study programs and therefore couldn’t provide the number of postgraduation work permit refusals based on this ground.

Source: Why hundreds of international students are suddenly being denied Canadian work permits: ‘We have done nothing wrong’

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Indian students arranged marriages of convenience for spouse work permits to Canada, warned New Delhi migration official

2026/07/29 Leave a comment

The warnings were there:

The number of Indian undergraduate students applying to come to Canada has dropped over the past few years, in part because Ottawa ended a program granting the spouses of international students work permits, an internal government communication shows. 

The communication discloses how marriages of convenience by some Indian students had enabled their spouses to accompany them to this country to work and to help them pay for their studies.

A 2025 e-mail report, obtained under access to information laws, to immigration department officials from Canada’s High Commission in New Delhi discusses a number of integrity issues involving Indian students, including marriages of convenience.

Marriages linked to immigration to Canada were advertised in Indian newspapers and dating apps, according to the report.

But a change in the rules in 2024 by then-immigration minister Marc Miller closed this avenue to Canada for international students’ spouses. …

Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer who obtained the e-mail through an access to information request, said Canada can pick who it wants to come here to study and “that should mean only the people who can afford to study in Canada without working.”

“Study permits should not be a dating trampoline to Canada,” Mr. Kurland added. 

The number of Indian study permit holders dropped to 93,840 in 2025 from 188,125 in 2024 and 277,950 in 2023, according to IRCC figures, reducing a key revenue stream for many colleges and universities. 

Syed Hussan, executive director at Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said he thought the drop in numbers was because “people are choosing not to go to countries where they cannot go with their families.”…

Source: Indian students arranged marriages of convenience for spouse work permits to Canada, warned New Delhi migration official

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ICYMI – Urback: Canada does not owe international students a path to residency

2026/07/28 2 Comments

Suspect this represents a majority view even if federal and provincial governments, along with education institutions, were complicit:

…None of this is fair in the very colloquial sense of the word. The Canadian government was explicitly marketing student visas as a path to permanent residency by inviting foreigners to “study, work and stay in Canada,” and prospective students responded in droves. In 2023-24, there were 428,077 student visa-holders in Canada, which was up nearly 50 per cent from just before the pandemic. And the reason why that number exploded was not because people from Punjab were suddenly ecstatic about the opportunity to learn hairdressing at the Eikonic Academy in Mississauga, but because everyone knew it was an easy way to start a new life in Canada. You could even work as much as you wanted while you ostensibly studied for a degree to take back home.

The Canadian government cannot and should not do anything now to placate the international students protesting for PGWP access, even though Ottawa played a major role in setting their expectations in the first place. Canadian residency cannot be for sale, even if the Canadian government dangled the prospect just a few years ago. This is an unfortunate outcome for those who risked everything to start a new life in Canada, but the process was always that: a risk. 

Source: Canada does not owe international students a path to residency

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Canada’s immigration policies are creating new barriers for international students

2026/06/24 Leave a comment

Good example of leanings of immigration scholars, many of whom remain in denial over some of the abuses:

…The International Student Program reflects a deeper contradiction in Canada’s approach to international students. Canada encourages international students to come here and support economic growth. However, those students are now also blamed for abusing the system and exacerbating pressures on social services and housing.

For example, a recent House of Commons report suggested international students misuse asylum claims and recommended a cap on applicants from countries with high student application rates, such as India, Nigeria, and the Republic of Guinea.

There is an urgent need for more equitable policies. The way IRCC connects geopolitics and domestic issues with student recruitment legitimizes discriminatory immigration screening based on students’ race, ethnicity and nationality.

Current caps have led to a reduction of more than 60 per cent in international student enrolment. Yet, the recent Auditor General report showed a significant increase in students from European countries even after the enrolment cap was implemented.

Emma Harden-Wolfson Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, McGill University

Source: Canada’s immigration policies are creating new barriers for international students

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Annual Summary of Total Immigration 2019-25

2026/06/17 Leave a comment

Someone asked me whether there was an easy table summarizes total immigrants, temporary and permanent. Generated this table using the annual totals in the various IRCC open data sets. 2023 was the highest total for all categories save for Permanent Residents. Greatest increase from pre-pandemic 2019 to peak 2023 was IMP, followed by TFWP and then international students. Greatest decrease from peak 2023 was for international students followed by IMP.

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International students: Secondary and less share growing

2026/06/11 Leave a comment

Although not that surprising given the cuts to post-secondary international student levels, nevertheless striking how the share of secondary and less of all students has grown dramatically over the past number of years as per the following charts:

The numbers of secondary or less have stayed relatively stable, 2023-25, between 115,000 and 125,000. In contrast, numbers of post secondary fell from 544,000 to 263,000 and other studies from 47,000 to 21,000.

Unfortunately, appears to be few studies on this part of the education sector. ChatGPT did find this Global Affairs study that had the following conclusions:

“1. Global Affairs Canada – Elementary and Secondary Schools Sector Paper (2023)

This is probably the best national overview.

Key findings include:

  • Approximately 92,000 study permit holders were at the “secondary or less” level in 2022.
  • About 30,000 fee-paying international students were enrolled in Canadian public schools.
  • Most international students are concentrated at the secondary (high school) level.
  • British Columbia and Ontario account for more than 80% of K–12 international students.
  • School boards reported increasing competition for spaces due to population growth and immigration. “

Unfortunately, can’t find the actual study on the GAC website.

Seems like there may be some good masters thesis possibilities in this under-covered sector.

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StatsCan: Racialized postsecondary Canadian students

2026/06/11 Leave a comment

Useful data visualizations broken down by new entrants and enrolled, visible minority group, gender, age, field of study. Some interesting variations by group, gender and field of study.

In terms of enrolled, Chinese have the highest percentage in STEM (40 percent) with Black’s the lowest (20 percent), followed by not visible minority (22 percent). For new entrants, similar pattern but with tighter percentage in STEM, Chinese (49 percent), Black (27 percent), not visible minority (29 percent).

Worth exploring.

Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/71-607-x/71-607-x2024020-eng.htm

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Scott Stinson: Spending scandal at Conestoga College is a reminder of Canada’s shameful international student boom

2026/05/14 Leave a comment

Yep:

…But the Liberals in Ottawa weren’t the only guilty party. The provinces did request an influx of potential workers during the pandemic, and then no one seemed to realize that the huge increases in foreign students in post-secondary institutions were not going to address those labour shortages, since they were largely in low-paying, unskilled jobs. The kind that didn’t require a college degree, in other words.

Indeed, the federal Auditor General issued a report this week that said immigration officials made little to no effort to investigate fraud within the student visa program, saying that they were overwhelmed by the large numbers.

More than 150,000 such cases were identified in 2023 and 2024 alone, with many of them flagged to the department because visa holders might not have been following the requirements of their study permits, as can happen when they do not attend classes, for example. A tiny fraction of those cases were even investigated, and in almost half of those that were, the student in question did not respond to inquiries from immigration officials. 

It is, in sum, a hot mess. 

Opposition politicians in Ontario sought to pin most of the blame this week on the Ford government, saying the Progressive Conservatives’ 2019 tuition freeze forced the post-secondary sector to look abroad for needed funds. “Now communities, workers, and students are dealing with the fallout while the government tries to act like this is all someone else’s fault,” said NDP MPP Catherine Fife, who represents Waterloo, after the Conestoga news was announced. “What did they think was going to happen?”  

It’s a fair question, but as was the case when the Ford government took over various public school boards after allegations of lavish expense mishaps, Conestoga College at this moment in time does not make a particularly sympathetic victim.

Mostly it stands as a symbol of a truly wild time in the post-secondary education sector in Ontario, when a lot of people who were supposed to be minding the store were doing the opposite.

And a time that a considerable number of politicians, at multiple levels, would rather we all forget.

Source: Scott Stinson: Spending scandal at Conestoga College is a reminder of Canada’s shameful international student boom

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New international student numbers in Canada down significantly, but overall decline more moderate, study says

2026/05/07 Leave a comment

Of note:

Ottawa’s measures to cut foreign students may have dramatically reduced the number of new cohorts entering the system in the last two years, but the decline in total international student enrolment has been “more moderate,” says a new report.

The study by Statistics Canada on international enrolment in public post-secondary institutions estimated that the number of new students had dropped by 64 per cent from 216,867 in the 2023-24 academic year to just 77,939 in the current school year.

Over the two-year period, colleges saw their new international student intakes nosedive by 102,188 or 75 per cent, while universities saw a decrease of 36,740 or 46 per cent, it said. 

However, the agency’s estimates showed that the total number of international students decreased by only four per cent in 2024-2025 and by 26 per cent in 2025-2026. Over two years, it represented a loss of about 124,000 students, bringing the population back to nearly 300,000, levels similar to the second academic year of the pandemic (2021-22).

“These measures may have significantly reduced the size of new cohorts of international students (-64 per cent) in 2025/2026 and, more moderately, the total number of international students in public postsecondary institutions,” said the report released on Tuesday.

“A steady decline in the number of international students is anticipated in Canada.” …

Source: New international student numbers in Canada down significantly, but overall decline more moderate, study says

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