International students at Carleton University remain concerned a week after the federal government announced an immediate two-year cap on international study visas on Jan. 22.
The change is one of several measures designed to relieve pressures on health care and housing systems.
Marc Miller, Canada’s immigration minister, said approximately 360,000 undergraduate study permits will be accepted in 2024, a 35-per-cent reduction from last year.
A fixed number of permits will be issued to each province based on population.
The recent announcement has received criticism from international students.
Ben Carpenter, a second-year computer science student from the United States currently studying at Carleton, said international students are often blamed for the student housing crisis.
“I worry about people blaming international students for part of Canada’s problems. There’s a lot of talk about how hard it is to find student housing, and that can often get mixed in with the number of international students,” Carpenter said.
“It’s not our fault that there aren’t a lot of apartments.”
On Jan. 30, Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada issued a joint letter asking Miller for clarification on the cap policy and to wait to impose the letter of attestation requirement for college and university applications.
The federal government is expecting provinces and territories to establish an attestation letter process by March 31, according to a Government of Canada press release.
A letter of attestation will be required alongside each international student application.
“Our foremost concern is the moratorium on processing new international student study permits, especially for college and undergraduate students,” the letter reads.
The lobby groups said the cap on processing new study permits is “already impacting enrollments.”
Mohamed “Faris” Riazudden, Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) president and international student from Dubai, said CUSA is concerned about how this decision will impact students.
“We definitely are not in favour of this,” he said.
CUSA released a statement on Jan. 30 addressing the cap, stating it “emphatically opposes any policy that furthers the challenges faced by international students.”
“Recognizing the diversity international students bring to their respective educational institutions, CUSA is furthermore concerned that with less international students being admitted, international tuition may rise or subsequently domestic tuition.”
Riazudden said CUSA has been in communication with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations and federal government officials.
“We’re asking the government for more clarity and questions, we’re reaching out to the immigration minister Mark Miller on getting some more clarification,” he said.
Riazudden said CUSA also met with federal housing minister and former immigration minister Sean Fraser last semester to discuss housing concerns for international students.
“This is not just affecting international students,” he said. “We are scared that this might affect existing international students, because that could mean that their fees might go up, domestic fees might go up.
“A lot of these things provide a lot of risk and unpredictability to what post-secondary institutions would look like.”
Riazudden said international student tuition advocacy has been a priority throughout his term.
“This is my nightmare […] that [international students’] pathways to remain in Canada would be disrupted,” he said.
International students at Carleton with questions or concerns were advised to contact the International Student Services Office, according to a statement provided by Steven Reid, university media relations officer.
“Carleton welcomes and values our diverse student community and we are continuing to support our current and prospective international students,” the statement said.
“At this time we are awaiting further clarification from IRCC (Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada) and the provincial government on how these new regulations will be enacted and will collaborate with the province on any new processes implemented.”
Riazudden said he has equity concerns regarding who gets the study permits and who doesn’t.
“I think it’s now become an equity issue, because how would you distinguish which student is able to meet that threshold?”
Carpenter added that he is concerned for his family members trying to come to Canada.
“I have a younger sister who’s going to be looking at going to college in a few years, and I’ve always wanted her to come to Canada with me. I would be concerned that it might just not be a possibility for her because of these caps.
“It’s going to be harder than it already was.”
Featured image by Pedro Vasconcellos.
A previous version of this article misspelled Marc Miller’s name. The Charlatan regrets this error.
