Good analysis of the data and placing it in perspective.
However, makes the mistake of only focussing on the overall numbers and not considering growth rates. For example, an increase of three percent to eight percent over the last 5 years is an increase of about 170 percent, a valid concern particularly if the trend continues given the overburdened refugee determination system (and higher than the overall increase of 150 percent).
While “only one percent” of international students making claims is a small number, given the large number of international students again that understates the issue.
Of course, the media and much commentary focuses on these issues rather than for example, declining naturalization rates. But that’s the reality, and IRCC and Ministers have contributed to that given the policies that got us to this place.
But valid, of course, to assess against low acceptance rates.:
The Canadian government placed a cap on the number of study permits granted to international students earlier this year. The government stated that a rapid increase in the number of international students was putting added “pressure on housing, health care and other services.”
In addition, Immigration Minister Marc Miller criticized some private colleges for the increasing number of refugee claims from their international students, saying the trend was “alarming” and “totally unacceptable.”
Similarly, a recent article in the Globe and Mail stated refugee claims by international students increased by 646 per cent from 2018 to 2023, and raised concerns about students exploiting Canada’s immigration system.
However, focusing on refugee claims, and not refugee claim approvals, obscures the context needed to understand such a complex issue. These comments and statistics are misleading and contribute to fueling xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment.
Given the central place of immigration in heated political debates in Canada, it’s crucial to unpack these claims and understand the implications of perpetuating unfounded criticism of Canada’s refugee and immigration system.
The number of refugee claims in Canada fluctuates over time, largely in response to global events. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic there was a notable decline in refugee claims from 58,378 in 2019 to 18,500 in 2020. However, refugee claims in Canada increased from 55,388 in 2018 to 137,947 in 2023.
While the increase in the number of international students making refugee claims is worth investigation, the impact of this increase should not be exaggerated or taken out of context. In 2018, international students made up three per cent of new refugee claims. By 2023, this figure increased to only eight per cent.
Most importantly, these numbers need to be examined as a percentage of all international students in Canada. In 2023, only one per cent of international students sought asylum.
Data on the number of refugee claims made in Canada between 2018 and 2023.(Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), Author provided (no reuse)
Refugee fraud is rare
The large majority of refugee claims in Canada succeed. In recent years the number of refugee claims approved increased from 63 per cent in 2018 to 79 per cent in 2023.
During this same period, fraud in the refugee determination system has been relatively rare. When Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board encounters a claim that is “clearly fraudulent” the Board has a legal obligation to declare that the claim is “manifestly unfounded.” This occurs only a few dozen times per year.
The result is that most refugee claimants in Canada are determined to have a well-founded fear of being sent back home. As such, most will obtain permanent residence in Canada and be on the path to citizenship.
Dangers of alarmist rhetoric
Statistics Canada data indicate that more than 15 per cent of immigrants are deciding to leave Canada within 20 years of immigrating. Meanwhile less than half of permanent residents are deciding to become citizens. There is also a similar trend among international students. More and more international students are contemplating leaving Canada amid declining affordability and diminishing job prospects.
However, these realities are often not as interesting or enraging as the alarmist rhetoric adopted by politicians and media. The fact that fraud is rare in Canada’s refugee system doesn’t sell newspapers or win votes. Declining citizenship rates are not as compelling as tales of international students exploiting loopholes to stay in Canada.
This kind of rhetoric also overlooks the fact that many students do come from countries experiencing political instability and violence, making their refugee claims deserving of consideration. In the face of migration controls and the absence of safe and legal channels, coming to Canada as a student and seeking refuge may be the only viable option for some people seeking protection from persecution.
With that in mind, politicians and media must be careful regarding how they discuss refugee claimants. It is misleading to imply that it is “alarming” and “unacceptable” for someone to make a refugee claim simply because they are an international student. Seeking asylum is a right they have under both international and Canadian law.
Such rhetoric fosters a climate of suspicion and distrust towards newcomers, fueling xenophobia and hostility towards those in need of protection. Instead, politicians, media and the public in general, should recognize that Canada has processes that are well-placed to examine these claims. These include one of the world’s most well-regarded refugee determination systems that assesses each claim on its merits.
When politicians engage in rhetoric that plays into anxieties about migration, the media must act as an informed voice that scrutinizes their comments, instead of amplifying reactionary claims about fraud and the spectre of bogus refugees.
The poster child for the abuse of the international student program reflecting complicity of the federal government, Ontario government, and educational institutions. Good in-depth reporting:
The smell of South Asian spices wafts from the “Blends and Curries” food counter.
Conversations in Hindi and Gujurati flood the bustling hallways, which quickly get packed as students pour in and out of classes.
Cliques of Indian youth, who appear to make up a majority of the student population, take full advantage of common areas to study, lounge around or wait for class to begin.
Everywhere you look at the main campus of Conestoga College, there’s ample proof of an explosion of international students.
The school has become a poster child for aggressive international student recruitment.
Its efforts have brought in a flood of new money — a stark contrast to the financial pressures students themselves face — but also raised questions within the institution about the sustainability of that growth, and the motivations behind it.
And as the federal government seeks to stem international student flows with a two-year cap on study permits, even the immigration minister has singled the college out.
The southwestern Ontario college had 37,000 study permits approved and extended in 2023 — the most in Canada — which marks a 31-per-cent increase from the previous year.Click here to post your thoughts
Its student population has more than doubled in four years to about 45,000, and international students now vastly outnumber domestic ones. The main campus in Kitchener, Ont., alone is now home to more than 20,000 students.
Faculty and students seem to agree things have gone too far.
“No organization can grow at that pace, and do it right, that quickly,” said Leopold Koff, a union leader representing faculty, counsellors and librarians at Conestoga.
Faculty members have turned into nomads with no fixed desks, a change the union says was prompted by the college’s desire to build more classrooms to accommodate a larger student population. The college says the change reflects a post-pandemic hybrid working model.
At the student union office, more than a hundred students come in and out within an hour to grab a free snack — one of many programs Conestoga Students Inc. offers to help a growing number of food-insecure students.
Instructors are complaining that many students lack fundamental skills, which in turn makes their jobs more difficult, said Koff.
“They don’t have the basic three Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic,” he said.
Making matters worse, Koff said students have been too busy working to focus on their studies. He singled out Ottawa’s decision during the pandemic to temporarily allow international students to work more than 20 hours a week.
“That is opening up a huge catastrophe for the students,” he said. “They will take advantage of that. … They need the money.”
Vikki Poirier, another union leader who represents support staff, conceded the college has hired more people to keep up with the school’s growth.
But she said new hires need time to get up to speed, and in the meantime, staff are facing massive workloads as they process more students.
Both union leaders said they have raised concerns with the school’s administration — but they don’t feel heard.
“Our perception of administration of the college these days … is that it’s a river of money. And if you get in the way of that river of money, you’re going to be plowed over,” Koff said.
Conestoga’s finances have been generously padded by international student tuition fees, which can sometimes be three times more than those for Canadian students.
Financial statements show the public college had a $106-million surplus for the 2022-23 year. That’s up from just $2.5 million in 2014-2015.
Conestoga declined a request to interview its administration.
In a statement, the college defended its recruitment levels.
“Colleges and universities across the country have been welcoming international students as part of their financial viability strategy given the flatlining of public funding in recent years,” the statement said.
“Students who come to Conestoga from other countries have enabled us to reinvest our surplus in new buildings and in-demand programs, both of which drive economic growth. Domestic and international students now enjoy best-in-class facilities funded by the surplus.”
Conestoga also touted the contribution its students make to the regional economy and the role they play in filling labour shortages. It also defended its admissions standards, noting its requirements are “similar to, or higher, than other colleges.”
The individual stories of international students at Conestoga suggest many of them are experiencing hardship, at the same time as the college amasses a fortune.
While some students are lucky enough that their parents can afford to pay for their tuition and living expenses, others must take out loans and rely on employment to pay their bills.
Bijith Powathu and Fredin Benny both took out educational loans in India to pay for their first-year tuition.
Now, they’re working full-time jobs at a factory and warehouse, respectively, to pay for their second-year fees.
The young men said balancing work and school means sleep often goes to the wayside.
When Powathu is scheduled for a night shift at his factory job in Mount Forest, Ont., he drives 85 kilometres directly to class in the morning.
“Straight from work I have to come here to manage. Sometimes sleepless nights,” Powathu said.
Many Indian students describe how challenging it is to find work back home, where youth unemployment is sky-high. According to the Centre for Indian Economy, the unemployment rate for youth aged 20 to 24 in India was 44 per cent between October and December 2023.
But jobs are becoming harder to find for young people in Canada, too.
Nelson Chukwuma, president of Conestoga Students Inc. said that’s top of mind for students right now.
“Our students are having a hard time finding jobs,” he said.
Some Conestoga scholars attribute the scarcity to the increase of students in the region.
“A couple years ago, the condition was different. But now it is entirely changed. Mainly the job market,” Powathu said, describing the plight of his unemployed peers.
“So based on that, they just want to go back (home).”
Several students with anxious faces described handing out resumes on a consistent basis since arriving to Canada last September, with no success. They said there’s significant guilt in relying on their parents for support.
Chukwuma used to be an international student himself, and he has watched the campus change over time — and that change has been dramatic over the past five years amid unprecedented growth.
“We don’t think it’s sustainable,” he said.
Although his organization has financially benefited from the higher enrolments, Chukwuma said it is constantly playing catch-up when it comes to meeting students’ needs.
“I think the college needs to definitely re-evaluate their strategy because (of) the flack that we’ve gotten, not just from the professors (and) staff, but also just from the community,” Chukwuma said.
He noted that local governments didn’t have the housing and transit infrastructure to accommodate the influx.
Conestoga said it invested in eight new properties last year to address housing needs.
Many at the college also lay blame at the feet of long-term provincial underfunding coupled with few federal limits on the international student population.
For decades, a cost-of-living financial requirement tied to student permits sat at $10,000 — an amount that significantly underestimates the amount students spend on basic housing and food.
As part of a broader effort to rein in the number of temporary residents in Canada — a political liability for the Liberal government because of its impact on housing affordability — Immigration Minister Marc Miller has more than doubled the amount to $20,635.
Miller also announced that work permits for international students’ spouses would only be available for those in master’s or doctoral programs.
And in January, Miller announced that Canada would impose a two-year cap on study permits, reducing the number of new study visas by 35 per cent.
At Conestoga, this will mean a massive reduction. The Ontario government has allocated the public college just 15,000 permits out of its national share — less than half of what was approved the previous year.
While many international students have applauded the changes, the shifting goalposts are also causing anger.
One 29-year-old Nigerian student said the spousal work visa change means his wife and two daughters can’t join him in Canada as he expected.
“I’m so angry,” said the student, who did not want to be named because of concerns he could face repercussions.
“You brought me here and told me I can bring them. Now I’m here and you’re telling me I can’t bring them.”
Another federal rule change could have a significant impact on those who are working full time.
Miller announced on Monday that the temporary waiver to the limit on work hours would expire as scheduled on Tuesday. In the fall, the federal government plans to implement a new cap of 24 hours a week.
“To be clear, the purpose of the international student program is to study and not to work,” Miller said.
The immigration minister said the new cap reflects the fact that the overwhelming majority of international students work more than 20 hours a week. At the same time, it keeps students from prioritizing work over school, he said.
“We know from studies as well that when you start working in and around 30-hour levels, there is a material impact on the quality of your studies,” Miller said.
For international students such as Powathu and Benny, it’s going to mean working about 16 hours less every week — a significant financial impact.
Prior to the announcement, Powathu and Benny both said a return to 20 hours would be untenable.
Better than the 30 hours floated, not as good as returning to 20 hours. Likely compromise to manage competing views:
International students will be able to work off-campus for up to 24 hours per week starting in September, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Monday.
The Liberals temporarily waived the 20-hour cap on work hours for international students during the COVID-19 pandemic in a bid to ease labour shortages.
That waiver expires Tuesday.
“Looking at best practices and policies in other like-minded countries, most of them limit the number of working hours for international students. Canada’s rules need to be aligned or we will find our programs attracting more and more applicants whose primary intent is to work and not study,” Miller said.
“To be clear, the purpose of the international student program is to study and not to work.”
The new work limit comes as the federal government clamps down on a surge in international student enrolments across the country.
Critics have warned that allowing international students to work full-time could turn a study permit into an unofficial work visa, which would undermine its purpose.
However, the federal government is also hearing from international students who say they need to work more to pay for their studies.
Miller said his government is setting the cap at 24 hours because that seems “reasonable,” and would allow students to work three full eight-hour shifts a week.
He also noted that internal work by the department shows more than 80 per cent of international students are currently working more than 20 hours a week.
The work hours limit will return to 20 hours per week until September, when the government can implement a permanent change to make it 24 hours.
There are no limits on the number of hours international students can work when they’re not actively enrolled in class, such as during the summer.
The Canadian Press reported earlier this year that officials in Miller’s department warned the government in 2022 that the temporary waiver could distract students from their studies and undermine the objective of temporary foreign worker programs.
Miller previously floated the idea of setting the cap permanently at 30 hours a week. However, on Monday, the immigration minister said that would be too close to full-time hours.
“We know from studies as well that when you start working in and around 30-hour levels, there is a material impact on the quality of your studies,” he said.
Miller extended the waiver on work hours in December because he didn’t want the change to affect students during the school year itself.
Vancouver filmmaker Shubham Chhabra throws a lot into his short movie Cash Cows about international students from India stressing to make a go of it in Canada.
There’s the student, Rohit Sharma, whose boss in Canada doesn’t intend to pay him because he thinks he’s doing him a favour. There are the five male international students sharing one small basement suite in Surrey because rents are extreme. There is confusion about handing over up to $45,000 to dubious immigration consultants, but still needing jobs as security guards and pizza-makers.
Being a foreign student while working in well-off Canada, en route to obtaining prized status as a permanent resident, isn’t exactly “living the dream,” even though one character in the film claims that it is.
Cash Cows is fictional but based on the experiences of Chhabra, who came to B.C. in 2015, as well as his closest friends from India, source of Canada’s largest cohort of international students.
The film sets its dramatic-comedy tone from the get-go, with opening images of unsuspecting cows being ground down and devoured as juicy hamburger or steaks.
While international students face multiple stresses in Canada, including extreme tuition fees and often shoddy educations, Cash Cows highlight the way they’re exploited by employers. It’s a problem that has been spreading since the federal Liberal government increased the number of international students in Canada to 1.3 million from 225,000 over the last decade.
The pivotal scene in Cash Cows, which has been shown at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival and won an award for best screenplay, features a foul-mouthed boss, Jaspreet Singh, excoriating Rohit for daring to expect to actually be paid for working more than six months as a night security guard at his car dealership, called Brown Brothers.
‘I’m doing you a favour. Why the f–k do you expect everything for free?” shouts the boss, who has agreed to sponsor Rohit for permanent resident status. The employer warns the student that if he asks too many questions he could have him deported. No longer naïve, Rohit realizes he has to endure indentured labour.
Cash Cows is fundamentally about how some employers, and in some ways politicians and educational institutions, are treating foreign students and other temporary residents as “commodities rather than as a sustainable human resource,” Chhabra said.
While the filmmaker personally feels it’s a “privilege” to have studied at Langara College and now be working as an assistant director for the TV series Family Law, he wants his short film, and a longer documentary scheduled for release this spring, to help viewers understand the spectrum of experiences of international students.
He’s aware an untold number of employers are taking advantage of foreign students, whose families back home, like his, will often sacrifice a great deal so their offspring can gain a foothold in Canada.
In India, the vision of getting into Canada on a study visa “is super-idealized in movies, TV shows and music videos,” Chhabra said. While unpleasant truths are sometimes mentioned in India’s media, most young people fly to Canada with incredible optimism.
Reality can be shocking for many, Chhabra says, “despite Canada being one of the best countries in the world.” Exploitive employers in Canada have many schemes, including not paying student employees at all, or expecting them to repay some of their salary.
“One of my friends was stuck in a seven-year-employment scam, where he was paying back almost 30 per cent of his paycheque.” He did so, Chhabra said, because the boss had promised to sponsor him as an immigrant.
“It’s 100 per cent illegal,” said Chhabra. When the friend obtained permanent residency, “he quit the job the first day he could. He got his trucker’s licence, which is what he wanted to do, and he’s now super-happy, making real money, working hard.”
Chhabra’s own story inspired the key conflict depicted in Cash Cows. The manager at a fast-food outlet he was working for in Vancouver was finding convoluted excuses to underpay him, alleging he was in training. Chhabra challenged him.
“He gave me this long spiel about how grateful I should be. And I went back to work,” Chhabra said.
Another moment in Cash Cows is based on the experience that one of his friends had as a security guard. The student, already unpaid, was forced by his boss to come up with the money to compensate for a vandal smashing an automobile window with a rock while he was on night duty.
In addition to the scams featured in Cash Cows, reports are arising of many others in Canada. They include employers taking secret kickbacks from foreign students and other non-permanent residents to create jobs for them, some of which don’t really exist. Another controversy emerged this week, with news of a 650 per cent increase in five years in the number of foreign students applying for refugee status.
In the midst of all the schemes and conflicts, which are dividing opinion among Canada’s South Asian population, Chhabra said he hopes Cash Cows helps viewers understand the different ways young people on study visas are trying to survive and prosper in a new land.
He intended to do so while avoiding heavy-handedness: “I wanted to make something light-hearted, yet grounded in reality, with a little message.”
One way the film has a bit of fun is by bringing alive the way many foreign students end up crammed together in tiny basement suites.
That is exactly what Chhabra and his friends had to do. For a long time Chhabra and two male friends shared the same double bed, sleeping in shifts and sometimes at the same time. While Chhabra’s Canadian girlfriend has described the practice as “so weird,” he says it’s considered fine in Indian culture.
More seriously, in the past year Chhabra worries the national discussion of migration in Canada has hit a “tipping point,” where non-permanant residents such as foreign students are now being seen in a more pessimistic light, particularly in regard to contributing to pressure on housing and rental prices.
And while Chhabra wants to fight against the negativity, in some ways he can understand why in January Immigration Minister Marc Miller imposed a two-year cap on study permits.
“We see all the negatives, like everyone else,” said Chhabra. “And we want to work together to make it better.”
Good collection and analysis of the data, showing the extent of the abuse of study permits, with good comments by Earl Blaney and Richard Kurland, among others. Another unfortunate signal that the Canadian immigration system has lost its way and the need for corrective action, which the Liberal government has initiated:
Asylum claims by international students have risen more than 1,500 per cent in the past five years, figures obtained by The Globe and Mail show, as experts warn that the study-permit system is being exploited as a way to enter and remain in Canada.
The sharp increase is particularly acute at colleges, where claims at some schools have climbed in excess of 4,000 per cent since 2018. Students at major universities, however, tend to lodge fewer claims than at colleges, the figures show.
The increase in asylum claims coincides with a steep rise in the number of international students arriving here over the past five years, which the government has now taken steps to reduce, partly to ease pressure on housing.
In January, Immigration Minister Marc Miller imposed a two-year cap on international study-permit applications to curb the rapid growth in foreign students entering Canada.
Figures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, obtained by The Globe, show that in 2018 there were 1,515 claims for asylum among international students, with the number rising to 25,465 in 2023.
The IRCC data on asylum claims at each college and university have not been published.
Earl Blaney, a licensed immigration consultant from London, Ont., said it was easier for people from some countries to enter Canada by obtaining a study permit than a visitor’s visa, as they have a better chance of being allowed into the country if they possess the right credentials to study here.
“To effectuate a front-of-the-line claim for refugee status, you need to be in Canada. The issue is that there is exploitation happening using a legitimate study-permit framework to legitimize entry,” he said. “Some immigration consultants are encouraging students to claim asylum to stay.”
At many colleges, the increases in asylum claims are significant. At Seneca College in Ontario, which offers courses ranging from accounting to civil engineering and fashion, there were 45 asylum claims in 2018, and 1,135 in 2023 – an increase of 2,400 per cent.
At Niagara College, the number of asylum claims jumped to 930 in 2023, from 20 in 2018, a rise of 4,550 per cent. At Conestoga College, there were 25 asylum claims among 6,000 study-permit holders in 2018. Five years later, there were 665 asylum claims among the 81,335 permit holders.
At Cape Breton university in Nova Scotia, there were 15 asylum claims in 2018. That increased to 665 asylum claims last year. And at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, there were only 20 asylum claims by students in 2018, and 700 in 2023.
The numbers are less pronounced at universities. For example, only 35 international students at McGill University, compared with five in 2018, lodged claims for asylum last year, according to the IRCC figures. Fifty-five students at the University of Toronto applied to stay in Canada as a refugee, up from 10 five years ago.
Toronto lawyer Vaibhav Roy said it was “common knowledge amongst the legal community” that students who would not have the scores required for permanent residence – with steep competition for express entry – have been claiming asylum to try to stay in Canada.
“A lot of immigration lawyers are telling them to file refugee claims to stay in the country,” he said. “It’s a last strategy to keep staying here.”
Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said a lot of international students had been promised by consultants working abroad that a study permit was a route to permanent residence, which is not always the case.
“Where does that leave them? Return home poor and in embarrassment, or claim refugee status, which gets them another three to four years,” he said, adding that they could then qualify for a work permit.
Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said many international students claimed asylum while here because the situation in their home countries changed.
He said some from Haiti studying in Quebec have claimed asylum as civil order has broken down in the Caribbean country, which has been ravaged by gang violence, and that many asylum claims have been lodged by Indians who have seen fundamentalists target particular ethnic groups.
In the two-year cap imposed in January, IRCC allotted a limited number of study permits to provinces, which they could then allocate to postsecondary institutions.
Figures from the Ontario government show that public colleges are being allocated far more study permits than public universities, this year, while private colleges have been squeezed out.
Ontario is awarding 35,788 study permits to public universities, including Toronto and Carleton in Ottawa, and 186,167 to public colleges.
Seneca College has been allocated 20,388 study permits, compared with 3,362 for the University of Ottawa this year. The University of Waterloo has been allotted 1,212 study permits while Conestoga College has been allocated 19,885.
Queen’s University only has 749 permits, while Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology has 16,752. The University of Toronto has been allowed 6,256 study permits and Niagara College 9,516.
Conservative Immigration critic Tom Kmiec criticized the government for not acting earlier to deal with rising asylum claims among international students.
“Instead of acting immediately when they saw worrying trends in asylum claims by international students, they tried to ignore the problem for years until it was too late,” he said.
This month’s federal budget detailed $1.1-billion over three years for municipalities and provinces to help meet the rising cost of housing asylum seekers, including those fleeing war-torn countries. It followed complaints, particularly from Quebec, that they lack funds to accommodate the steep rise in asylum claimants.
Some asylum seekers have been living in shelters for homeless people or on the streets, with many housed in hotel rooms while their claims are processed.
The budget also earmarked $141-million for Ottawa to pay for temporary lodging for asylum claimants, who cannot be accommodated because provincial places are full.
Michael Wales,director of communications at Niagara College, said he did not want to speculate on whether the reduced number of study permits this year would translate into fewer asylum claims.
“Providing advice or support to students contemplating an asylum claim is beyond the scope of our licensed international student advisers,” he said. “If asked, our advisers would refer the student to a community agency that is qualified to offer that type of advice or support.”
New research underlines the extent to which international students look closely at work opportunities and immigration policy in general when comparing potential destinations for study abroad. By extension, the research suggests:
How important it is that education institutions clearly communicate to students the most current information available about visa, work permits, and immigration opportunities in their country;
That a lag between government announcements about policies and governments communicating in a timely way with educators affected by these policies can greatly hamper institutions’ ability to communicate as well as they would like to with students and agents;
That new immigration settings in Australia, Canada, and the UK are affecting international students’ motivation to study in these countries.
AECC survey goes out to students in top student markets around the world
Overseas education consultancy AECC conducted a survey in March 2024 of more than 8,300 prospective students in 124 countries (but was not widely distributed in China). The most represented nationalities were:
India
Philippines
Nigeria
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
Indonesia
Malaysia
Vietnam
Singapore
The survey found that more than half of surveyed students were interested in working in their host country after studying (56%), while a smaller proportion (28%) hoped to emigrate to that country. Only 16% wanted to leave immediately after completing their studies.
Not surprising – given the high demand for work experience abroad – is that 79% of students said post-study work rights were extremely important to them when considering study abroad. Another 19% said they were moderately important and less than 3% said they were not important.
The next screenshot from the AECC slide deck underlines that job opportunities and work rights are about as influential as quality of education for international students making choices about study abroad. Much lower on the list of priorities are migration opportunities.
Top motivations for choosing a study abroad destination. Source: AECC
Demand is decreasing for Australia, Canada, and the UK
About 1 in 6 surveyed students said that they had changed their destination preference in the past 12 months. Among those students, interest had increased for New Zealand (+86%), Germany (+36%), and the US (+13%). It had decreased markedly for Canada (-32%) and had also weakened for the UK (-16%) and Australia (-9%).
When looking at the screen shot below, it’s important to note (1) the asterisks signalling that the increases for New Zealand and Germany are in a context of relatively smaller volumes choosing those destinations overall, and that 2022 data findings were in a context of the first “post-COVID” era (e.g., Australia had just opened its borders).
Trends in students’ preferences for select destinations. Source: AECC
Of those students who had changed their destination preference, most were motivated to do so because of the high fees in their original country of choice (24%), but significant proportions were also influenced by “negative policy changes for international students” (14%) and “better job opportunities in my [new] preferred country.”
Students who changed preferred destinations were most likely to have done so because of affordability and work opportunities. Source: AECC
Ascent One survey highlights need for clear communications to students and agents
Ascent One – a platform for higher education providers to manage agent networks, admissions, and marketing – also published findings this month of its own survey of just over 1,000 current, former, and prospective international students from China, India, Philippines, and Colombia. These students were asked specifically about their experience relating to studying in Australia. China, India, Philippines, and Colombia are four of Australia’s top 5 student source countries (Vietnam is the other – #3 currently after China and India).
From this survey, an important and potentially worrisome finding emerged: 41% of prospective and current students were not aware of current migration settings in Australia. Of those who did know, over three-quarters (77%) had to find out on their own. Another 15% learned about Australian visa and work policies through their agent.
More than a quarter (27%) of prospective students who had found about tighter immigration controls (which dovetail with soaring visa rejection rates said they are less likely to pursue plans to study in Australia. (The trend of affected student demand has emerged in IDP and Studyportals research as well this year – and for Canada and the UK as well as Australia.)
The study also found that:
The main reason surveyed international students choose to study in Australia is “better career opportunities post-study” (63%);
Only 23% of current students are working in a job that is related to their studies;
44% of former students are working in a job that is not related to their studies.
Of those who said they were not working in a job related to their studies, more than a third (37%) said they were ineligible to apply for a job – or had been rejected for a job – because they did not have an Australian permanent resident visa or full-time work rights.
Markets like certainty, and student markets are no exception
Confusion about immigration policies, visas, and work rights is all the more likely this year in Australia – as well as Canada – given a lag between announcements of new settings and institutions being fully briefed on what this meant for their operations and students. This has, in turn, made it difficult for institutions to provide the kind of clarity and communications they would ideally like provide their students and agents.
Despite the more challenging environment for international students in Australia, however, the Ascent One survey found that 85% of current and former students enrolled in Australian institutions would recommend Australia as a place to study to their friends and family in their home country,
Of the survey findings, Naresh Gulati, founder and CEO of Ascent One said:
“Our survey reveals a big problem right now – the country is sacrificing future Australians at our own cost. The government’s decision to target international student visas to cut migration numbers is already having an impact. Our survey found that of the students who knew about the recent migration policy changes, over three-quarters (77%) found out about the changes themselves and only 15% via their agent, revealing a big communication gap between the government, education providers, agents and students that needs to be fixed. While the majority of students still recommend Australia as a place to study, our reputation as a world-class destination for study is shaky at best and needs urgent attention.”
Ontario will see the largest drop in study permits issued in Canada — down to just 141,000 this year from 239,753 in 2023 — under the federal government’s new cap on international students, according to official data revealed on Friday.
More than two months after announcing a plan to rein in the country’s out-of-control international enrolment growth, Immigration Minister Marc Miller released a statement detailing the finalized numbers of incoming post-secondary students each province and territory is projected to receive in 2024, as well as the formula behind the allocations.
“These results will help me make decisions on allocations for 2025,” Miller said in a statement. “We will continue to work collaboratively with provinces and territories to strengthen the International Student Program and to provide international students with the supports they need to succeed in Canada.”
Across Canada, 291,914 new study permits are expected to be issued this year, representing a 28 per cent decline from 404,668 in 2023. The numbers exclude those to be granted to students enrolled in primary and secondary schools, as well as graduate programs, exempted from the cap.
However, Ontario remains the single biggest loser and will see a whopping 41 per cent drop in new study permits issued under the cap, followed by British Columbia, which is set to receive 18 per cent fewer international students, going to 49,800 from 60,864 in 2023.
Spike in international students mostly from Ontario schools, data reveals
Federal study permit documents obtained by CBC News reveal a handful of Ontario colleges and universities account for the greatest share of Canada’s steep growth in international students — not private colleges. And now those same institutions have the most to lose from a new cap on study permits.
Four other provinces will see a 10 per cent decline: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Meanwhile, other provinces will now have more spots available if they wish. Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Saskatchewan can see a growth of 10 per cent in intake while Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories will have room to grow as they all received fewer than 100 study permits last year.
“We are protecting the integrity of our province’s postsecondary education system by attracting the best and brightest international students to Ontario to study in areas that are critical to our economy,” Jill Dunlop, Ontario’s minister of colleges and universities, said in a statement.
“We have been working with postsecondary institutions to ensure international students are enrolled in the programs to support a pipeline of graduates for in-demand jobs.”
Based on what he called a “net zero growth” formula, Miller said the national cap is based on the volume of expiring study permits this year. This means that the number of international students coming to Canada in 2024 equals the number of students whose permits expire this year.
Miller initially suggested that the study permit allocations would be based on each province’s relative population size. Ontario would have seen its international student intake in 2024 dropped by 62 per cent under that model.
On Friday, he said other factors were considered before the numbers were finalized.
“For provinces that would receive more international students in 2024 than in 2023 based on population share, we adjusted their allocation to limit growth to 10 per cent compared to 2023,” he said.
“For provinces that would receive fewer international students in 2024 than in 2023, we adjusted their allocation to lessen the negative impact in the first year and support broader regional immigration goals.”
Factoring in that 60 per cent of study permit applications are approved, the Immigration Department will process a total of 552,095 applications to reach the 291,914 target. Given study permit approval rates vary across provinces, Miller said he also topped up allocations for those with below-average approval rates.
As a result, Ontario’s public post-secondary institutions can take in as many as 235,000 applications in 2024, given that the province has decided to give almost all its allocated spots to the 24 colleges and 23 universities that are funded by taxpayers.
Miller warned that there are still other factors that may influence the actual number of international students arriving this year that are beyond the department’s control. For instance, provinces and territories with room to grow may not end up using all spots, while approval rates may fluctuate.
Critics say the government’s adjustments were welcomed as finalized numbers help provide much-needed clarity for international students considering studying in Canada.
“The government has acknowledged that approval rates have historically been inconsistent across provinces and has buffered those numbers accordingly through one-time allocation top-ups to provinces like Saskatchewan,” said Meti Basiri, CEO of ApplyBoard, a Kitchener-based online marketplace for learning institutions and international students.
“It has raised the allocations for provinces that would otherwise have seen the most significant restrictions. The impact on Ontario in particular will still be significant, but the adjusted allocations will ease the transition.”
Real test will be at the provincial level, particularly Ontario:
Colleges and universities that didn’t contribute to the over-enrollment of international students should not be impacted by the federal government’s clampdown, said Immigration Minister Marc Miller, also warning that Ottawa may step in if provinces allow that to happen.
Miller, speaking at the Democracy Forum at Toronto Metropolitan University on Friday, said in addition to limiting numbers Ottawa also wants “to make sure that we are separating the wheat from the chaff, rewarding those institutions that have the ability to welcome and attract the top talent for which the international visa student program was designed for in the first place.”
Ottawa has put a two-year cap on international study permits, with a plan to reduce the number by 35 per cent, to 364,000, in part to also address a housing crunch in many of the communities with large numbers of foreign students. The cap does not apply to master’s or doctoral students or those in elementary or secondary schools.
Permits will be allotted based on population, leaving it to the provinces to divvy them up. Ontario will be among the hardest hit, given it has taken in 51 per cent of Canada’s international students.
While acknowledging that the changes being rolled out may make for a “turbulent year,” Miller said the clampdown may need to be further tailored “depending on what we see as the results or the impacts that the corresponding effects and actions that the province take in order to adjust for this.
“If they (the provinces) start to punish the good actors, that’s an unfortunate consequence that I may have to have a say over — but obviously we have to give the chance to the provinces” to fix the problems, Miller said.
Starting in May, no post-graduation work permits will be issued to international students who studied in a program run by public-private college partnerships, which have been blamed for the explosion in Ontario’s numbers.
Miller has been highly critical of the quality of such programs, some of them run out of strip malls.
Both colleges and universities charge international students much higher tuition fees — sometimes up to five times — and have been using them to boost revenues because of systemic underfunding by the Ontario government, Miller said.
“I don’t necessarily fault them entirely for that, but I think that has to be done responsibly,” he said at Friday’s forum, co-hosted by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn and TMU professor Anna Triandafyllidou.
“Had we not capped this, we would have seen exponential growth over the next one or two years with very, very, very negative carry-on effects in a number of areas.”
Ontario colleges and universities are now awaiting word from the Ford government, which has to release its plan for allocating permits and the newly required verification letters by the end of the month.
“We know some bad actors are taking advantage of (international) students with false promises of guaranteed employment, residency and Canadian citizenship,” Ontario Colleges and Universities Minister Jill Dunlop has said. “We’ve been engaging with the federal government on ways to crack down on these practices, like predatory recruitment.”
More on a broken immigration system and the incentives to game the system of international students and LMIAs. Blaney’s suggestion to no longer provide points to students with a LMIA job worthy of consideration:
…Immigration consultant Earl Blaney said the College the needs to do more to hunt down and discipline its members involved in LMIA fraud.
Mr. Blaney said “the huge volume of international students” wanting to stay and work in Canada was fuelling the sale of LMIA jobs, which could bring with them 50 or more points toward gaining permanent residence.
He suggested, to deter the buying of jobs, international graduates applying for permanent residence should be disqualified for including points accrued from an LMIA job. Mr. Blaney said the scam, which requires employers to advertise jobs and prove that a Canadian is not available to do them, is also robbing Canadians of employment.
“They are not advertising jobs to Canadians in any way,” he said. “Canadians come last for sure.”
Not diplomatic but he is a relatively direct speaking politician and largely correct on this and some of this other comments like “puppy mill” colleges:
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said his government gave provinces ample notice that international student numbers would be capped and any suggestion otherwise is “complete garbage.”
This after Ontario’s College and Universities Minister Jill Dunlop told the London Free Press Monday she was “very disappointed” with what she said was the federal government’s “unilateral decision, without any consultation” to limit international students.
“This was dropped on us,” Dunlop said.
Miller announced a cap on international student numbers earlier this year. Universities and colleges across the country have brought in increasing numbers of international students in recent years, rising to nearly 900,000 this year.
On Tuesday, Miller rejected any suggestion provinces weren’t fully informed.
“That’s complete garbage,” he said. “We said quite clearly they need to get their houses in order. We spoke specifically about Ontario that has the largest number of international students. They should have known it. They’ve had auditor general reports. We’ve spoken quite publicly about it.”
Miller said his government invited provincial counterparts to meetings that they did not attend.
“It’s beneath me to share text messages with journalists, but the reality is that there was communication that just was never followed up on,” he told reporters….
Multicultural Meanderings 