Tough visa rules by Canada to affect Indian students

Canada has announced new visa rules for students and the most affected from them are likely to be the Indian students.

Under the new rules, Canada has reduced student visas by 35%. In 2023, Canada had issued 5 lakh 79 thousand visas. But this year it will reduce to 3 lakh 64 thousand. Apart from this, the number of permits for different areas and provinces will also be decided according to their population.

Students will also have to bring the approval of these provinces with them. This restriction will remain in place for the next two years because the new rules will come in at the end of 2025.

The Canadian government says that the purpose of these rules is to protect students around the world from unfair benefits taken by private institutions. The impact of students coming from outside is visible on the housing and markets there. But the biggest loss from these new rules will be to the students of India only, because they have the largest share in the student visas of Canada. In 2023, 2 lakh 15 thousand Indian students got visas to study there. This was 37 percent of the total permits given that year whereas in 2022, more than 2 lakh 25 thousand students went to Canada.

It is clear that under the new rules the number of Indian students will further reduce. Some rules are also related to the post graduate working conditions of the students. Overall, the number of students going to Canada will decrease in the next two years. But then what options do these students have in such a situation? Of course, there are many universities across the world where Indian students are going. Many campuses of international universities are now opening in India also.

It is noteworthy that Canada has been one of the favorite places for Indians wishing to study abroad. According to last year's data from the Ministry of External Affairs, more than 2 lakh students moved to Canada, America and UAE. Australia and the UK were also preferred destinations, attracting around 90,000 and 50,000 students respectively. Between 2013 and 2022, the number of Indian students traveling to Canada to study was seen to increase by a whopping 260 percent.