‘I’ve seen students delivering food’: Expert on Canada’s study visa policies and why demand may drop 50%

NEW DELHI: Earlier this week, Canada ended its Student Direct Stream programme that fast-tracked Canada student visas since 2018.

It was the latest in a series of policy measures targeting international students and ultimately aimed at reducing immigration. Now there’s a cap on the total number of students who can study abroad in Canada, new and more stringent rules on post-graduation work permits (PGWP Canada), doubled the cost-of-living funds students need to have and reduced work hours for enrolled students.

Sumit Agarwal, founder and director of the India Canada Alumni Network (ICAN), spoke to Careers360 on how recent policy changes and economic challenges in Canada are affecting Indian students. After completing an undergraduate programme at Delhi University, Agarwal left for Canada and earned a masters degree in Canada in journalism and mass communication.

Now based in Langley, British Columbia, Agarwal has been working with Canadian organisations since 2014. ICAN presently has around 500 members, most of whom studied in Canada but returned to work in India. Edited excerpts from the conversation below.

In what ways are recent policy changes affecting the number of Indians choosing to study in Canada?

In the higher education industry, we are expecting a decline of about 50 to 60 percent, 40 to 50 percent bare minimum. We are seeing a decline in the number of students from different parts of the world. So, overall I am not talking about India in specific, globally the demand for Canada is expected to decline by about 40 to 50 percent.

What about Indian students specifically?

We would not be able to talk about Indians specifically. There is no official data available; it is all based on the discussions with different people in different forums.

Based on different discussions at different panels and forums, there is a decline. India is seeing a decline – probably the highest decline – because of the policy decisions and then secondly, the tension between India and Canada, but overall it is up to 50% and that is what the government wanted.

At this moment, their intention is to reduce the numbers. It is mostly political, it is to address the domestic audience and the internal issues.

What are the biggest issues?

The biggest challenge right now, for the current government, is housing and cost of living and unemployment in Canada. Unemployment in Canada, as per the latest number released last week, has reached 6.5% which is very high for any G7 country.

So, to address that, the government is trying to bring down the number of temporary residents and students constitute the biggest number when it comes to temporary residents in Canada.

How are the Indian students in Canada coping with the overall situation?

The students who are here will be grandfathered into the old system. There is a specific cut-off date given by the Government of Canada and so, any student who came to Canada before that or applied for their visa before that, they will be grandfathered into the old system.

The changes to the post-graduate work permit will be applicable to the new students. So, it is not that the students who are already in Canada will be asked to go back.

The students who complete their post-graduation and are on post-study work visas. Do they get jobs that match their skills or are they underemployed, doing menial work?

Right now, that's the situation. There are a lot of issues and one of the issues the government is trying to address is the issue of underemployment. And a lot of students are engaging in those jobs because of the lack of availability.

You will see students working in restaurants and cafes, in coffee shops. A lot of them would be MBA graduates as well. It is very common. Like, I have seen students driving Uber on their post-graduate work permit. I have seen students delivering Amazon packages and food while they are on their post-graduate work permit.

Don’t most of them do this in the hope of obtaining permanent residency?

I am not an immigration expert and I am not a certified advisor on immigration – in Canada nobody who is not authorised can talk about immigration requirements – but broadly speaking, the points required for seeking a permanent residency in Canada are very high.

And these kinds of jobs do not add to the points. When you are applying for PR in Canada, there is something called the NOC code, which is basically profession-based.

And each profession comes with a certain number of points if you have experience in a certain area and points will lead to a successful application. So, a lot of these students may be working on post-graduate work permits but will not qualify for permanent residency.

Do you have students coming to you with issues they are facing? Do you have to address that kind of issue?

ICAN is a group of people who studied in Canada and are successfully working in India. It is mostly a professional networking group. So, it is a group of people who have by choice come to India and they are kind of professionally doing well. So, we do not very often come across through that platform people who are coming up with their concerns to us.

In Canada, I work as a higher education professional and I basically guide colleges and universities on how to expand their international portfolio.

Why were colleges left out of Canada’s PG Work Permit programme?

Because originally, they were not designed to host international students. What they did was, to bypass, to circumvent the system, they started delivering programmes from other institutions.

So, in Canada, there is something known as public-private partnership. Institutions where private colleges start delivering programmes through public institutions. So, they take the curriculum on loan and then they run their curriculum and they award their diplomas and certificates at their private college campuses.

Students never get to see the actual college. So, the government has said that these colleges cannot run the programmes from public institutions which automatically makes these students ineligible for postgraduate work permit.

But those colleges are still functional. You cannot call these colleges illegal or not listed.

What advice you would give Indian students who aspire to study in Canada?

I would say that Canada is one of the best education destinations. What the Canadian government is trying to do is to get the right kind of students who are academically inclined. Majority of the international students are choosing Canada for an easier immigration pathway, which is not right because immigration will automatically follow if you are a good student.

I would suggest students should be more academically inclined rather than being inclined towards immigration policies. For students who want to study in a good institution, with a good programme, a postgraduate work permit is open.

If you look at the recent changes, they have limited the postgraduate work permits for certificates and diplomas, but they are still open for undergrad degrees and master's degrees because usually degree programmes lead to better job outcomes.

So, students are still welcome in Canada if they are coming for degree programmes and they want to study in quality institutions. The government of Canada is not saying “no” to them.