From January to May this year, Canadian immigration rejected 53 per cent of study permit applications from international undergraduate students, an increase of 16 per cent from last year, statistics from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) show.
Study permits are documents which allow international students to obtain an education in Canada. In 2014, the application rejection rate of undergraduate study permits sat at 20 per cent. It has since increased steadily, while the number of total applications for study permits has doubled to more than 340,000 since 2014.
For all study permit applications–including those for primary and secondary school, and college, bachelors, masters, and doctorate programs–the rejection rate has increased from 28 per cent to 39 per cent since 2014.
“I just can’t comprehend the fact right now that [the undergraduate rejection rate is] 53 per cent,” said Yoon Peiris, a student from Sri Lanka.
Peiris was accepted to Carleton University’s physics program, but her study permit application was rejected.
“I was devastated,” she said. “I was crying horribly for about a week.”
IRCC rejected Peiris for two reasons – it wasn’t clear if she would return to Sri Lanka after the completion of her education, and immigration officials didn’t believe she had the financial capabilities to pay for her education and accommodations, despite the fact she already paid for her first semester.
In addition to proof of returning to the student’s home country and financial ability, IRCC can refuse students applying for study permits if they pose a health or security risk, if the student’s academic plan is unclear, or if the application is incomplete, inaccurate, or has evidence of fraud.
Last fall, Harpreet Kochhar, the assistant deputy minister of IRCC, told a conference that fraud is becoming an increasing reason why applications are rejected. Almost 10 per cent of admission letters in permit applications received between February and November of 2018 were fraudulent or expired, Kochhar said.
Ujan Sen, a first-year international student from India, isn’t concerned by the increased rejection rate.
“[It] does cause quite a bit of panic and anxiety, but as long as everything you’ve given is good, you should be good,” Sen said.
“I believe Canada is open to the concept of having international students,” he added. “But over the last few years they’ve just been more careful, which I think is completely justified.”
To apply for a study permit, students must provide IRCC with an acceptance letter from a designated learning institution, a government-approved school, a valid travel document, proof of enough financial stability to complete their education, a statement explaining why they are pursuing an education in Canada, and a $150 fee.
In recent years, the process has been expedited through the Student Direct Stream, which allows students from certain countries to receive a decision on their study permit application within 20 days. One of the key requirements is a Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) of $10,000.
The program is currently limited to students from China, India, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Senegal, and Vietnam—regions where rejection rates have traditionally been higher than elsewhere.
The highest rejection rate of study permit applications between January and May this year were for students from Africa.
Part of the problem is not just having enough funds to pay for an education in Canada, but being able to prove it, said Andrew Champagne, a marketing and recruitment specialist at Colleges and Institutes Canada.
“The GIC helps students be able to demonstrate that they have the finances to pay for their studies and their cost of living,” Champagne said. Colleges and Institutes Canada advocates for the Student Direct Stream to be expanded to African nations to help facilitate a higher number of accepted applications.
Peiris said she would like to see the application process become more clear.
“Being a student and being new to the process of it, I think it’s a little confusing,” she said.
For now, Peiris has deferred her studies at Carleton until next year. While Peiris wanted to study in Canada because it is “welcoming to international students,” she thinks the country is missing out on diversity with a higher rejection rate of study permits.
Champagne expressed similar views.
“International students are a big benefit to Canadian institutions, the Canadian economy, Canadian society,” he said. “They bring a lot of their own perspectives with them, and they contribute in many ways.”
Feature image by Paloma Callo.
