Millions of Indian students dream of going overseas to pursue their higher education. And needless to say, Canada is one of the most sought-after destinations globally. From exceptional quality education to a multicultural environment, high employability rate, and smooth application process, multiple factors make this country a prime location for building your future.
As per many reports, Canada welcomed around 4,50,000 international students in the year 2021, with Indians making up for more than 50 percent of the total. And the numbers are only expected to double by the end of this year. However, a sudden increase in student visa applications as well as the pandemic-induced backlog has resulted in a delayed visa process. Usually, it takes about 4 weeks, but now the waiting time has increased to 3 to 4 months. There has also been an unprecedented rise in the refusal rates, which has further caused massive unrest and a sense of fear among Indian applicants. While thousands are restlessly waiting for their applications to get accepted, many have already started their courses online. But the poor internet connectivity and time zone differences offer them no respite. The depleting mental health of students captured everyone’s attention when a 23-year-old student from Chhattisgarh committed suicide just a day before his visa arrived.
A stroke of bad luck indeed!
Addressing such issues, the High Commission of Canada assured that they very well understand the “frustration and disappointment” of Indian students and will continue to take up different measures for reducing the wait time.
“We understand your frustration and disappointment and want to assure you that we are working to improve the situation. In fact, we have been processing applications throughout the year, including study permits for the September 2022 intake”, the high commission said.
“Many thousands of students in India are receiving their visas each week. We will continue to make every effort to reduce wait times against an unprecedented volume of applications received”, it added.
Meanwhile, the Indian High Commission in Ottawa decided to take the matter in its own hands and informed the students, “Highlighting these issues and the fact that Indian students have already deposited tuition fees with the Canadian institutions we requested the Canadian authorities to expedite processing of visa applications for students from India”. To further assist the students and bring clarity to the whole matter, the Indian embassy issued an advisory. It stated:
- Canadian universities are constantly communicating with international students who have enrolled in a course and are waiting for their visas to arrive. They are providing them with timely, actionable information about all the issues related to the study permit application process.
- They have already developed contingency plans for those incoming students unable to reach Canada due to delays in visas. For any assistance in this situation, the students can contact the universities directly to find out which courses have remote options, and what should be done if the course they prefer doesn’t have remote availability.
- For those who wish to defer their admission, the universities are suggesting the option of deferring to a later term or considering exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis.
- All the affected students have been encouraged to send a request for information and urgent processing through an IRCC web form meant for study permit applications that have been submitted but have exceeded the current processing time for the Student Direct Stream scheme (SDS).
Clearly, the governments of both countries are trying their best to resolve immigration issues and speed up the entire process. At the same time, proper assistance is being offered at every step to the students who are eagerly waiting for their visas to arrive. You can make sure that nothing goes unattended at your end and frequently contact the authorities to stay updated on the revised guidelines.Canada has just announced the application intake process for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) 2022.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will issue invitations to apply over the next two weeks to 23,100 interested potential sponsors. IRCC has said this figure is enough to achieve its goal of accepting up to 15,000 complete applications for sponsorship under the PGP 2022. Invitations will begin later this week.
IRCC will draw from those who expressed their interest in sponsoring their parents and grandparents in autumn 2020. IRCC says there are some 155,000 potential sponsors remaining in the pool. Back then, potential sponsors were given three weeks to indicate their interest by completing a form on IRCC’s website. IRCC then held a lottery and accepted some 10,000 applications for the PGP 2020. Last year, IRCC drew from the same pool to accept some 30,000 applications for the PGP 2021.