Visa Exploitation Impacts Indian Student Enrollment in Canada

During the first half of 2024, government statistics indicated that Indian students made up 49% of all international students in the nation, although this number is half the number of Indian students in Canada in 2023.

The announcement arrives just after renewed inquiries into the effectiveness of Canada’s study permit system, following accusations from India’s Directorate of Enforcement (ED) that these visas were being misused by a human trafficking network.

A report by The Globe and Mail indicated that approximately 49,676 international students did not enroll at the Canadian institution where they obtained a study permit between March and April 2024.

As per the data, Indian students were the most likely to fail to enroll at their preferred institution during the reported period, with the figure reaching 19,582. The group with the second highest probability of being ‘no-shows’ was Chinese students (4,279), closely followed by Nigerian students (3,902) and Ghanaian students (2,712).

These numbers primarily represent the make-up of Canadian international student demographics.

Even with the sanctions process for institutions that do not report international students' compliance to the IRCC in November 2024, and penalties being mandatory, Canada still maintains the least stringent reporting rules among the top four study countries.