Canada commits to attracting and retaining more international students

Canada pledges to bring in and keep more foreign students. The government has responded to the CIMM committee's findings on the particular issues that foreign students face.

The Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM) requested comments from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on the necessary steps to draw in, support, and safeguard international students already in Canada.

An internal government committee called CIMM researches issues relating to immigration and citizenship in Canada. They supervise IRCC and keep an eye on federal multiculturalism regulations.

While Canada is a global leader in luring international students, the CIMM report was created to address the issue that certain students may be put in risky and vulnerable situations due to a number of variables.

Attracting foreign students to study in Canada, ensuring equity in the international student program, and enhancing service and communication for foreign students during the study permit and immigration processes were the three key goals of the report.

The IRCC's response concentrated on actions that may be taken and are already in place to help with these three goals, covering each one separately in an effort to lessen vulnerabilities and support international students when they apply for study permits, enroll in courses, and settle in Canada.

Attracting pupils from abroad

The government acknowledged that, between 2022 and 2023, there will be an estimated 753,000 international students with study permits, but it also acknowledged the CIMM's concern that, despite increases, applications from some groups and nations will continue to decline.

In response, the IRCC has promised to: Look into expanding the Student Direct Stream (SDS) to particular French-, Asian-, and African-speaking nations. For applicants from 14 countries, the SDS offers a fast-track stream for obtaining a study permit; 

Establish a working group between IRCC and the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Integration (MIFI) to examine the prevalence of study permit denials (generally speaking, and specifically for Francophone African students) traveling to Quebec;

the Nigeria Student Express (NSE) stream, a study permit stream established to assist students applying from Nigeria, be maintained and periodically reevaluated; Investigating the best ways to support international students' transition to permanent residency, especially those who have the knowledge, experience, and language proficiency required to flourish in Canada.

Ensuring parity in the program for international students

In their initial report to IRCC, the CIMM suggested a number of areas where potential actions to improve equity in the foreign student program and application processes may be taken.

As a result, IRCC has promised to evaluate procedures and guarantee parity across the International Student Program (ISP) by continuing to ask about accessibility, ethnicity, and gender in the yearly voluntary client experience survey to find out more about the particular problems that clients face based on their demographics;

Create a framework for disaggregated data and analytics (DDAF). Disaggregated data is data that has been filtered based on demographic traits to better comprehend the specific relationships it carries; to better understand how, for example, a certain set of people is impacted by a particular policy or phenomenon. Examining the patterns and factors that affect social well-being among immigration cohorts with a focus on racial diversity;

Review the procedure for choosing international students, judge students according to standards that are more in line with their prospective value, and enhance communication and customer service. Improving interactions with overseas students, Many of the CIMM suggestions stressed the significance of giving clients and stakeholders clear and honest information, notably regarding processing timelines and reasons for refusals. In response to them, IRCC has done the following:

- highlighting the appointment of 1,250 new processing employees by the end of the fall of 2022 to help with processing capacity and publishing monthly data on backlogs;

- pledging to collaborate with Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) on the implementation of the gathering of enrolment and status data for international students, whereby DLIs will provide data elements to IRCC for real-time processing;

- expressing interest in maintaining programs like the 2022 pilot program, which required immigration officers to release their decision notes alongside selected temporary residence visa (TRV) applicants as soon as they made the decision, to ensure transparency and understanding;

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