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According to Canadian government official statistics, for two months last spring, nearly 50,000 foreign students who were granted study visas to enter Canada were reported as “no-shows” at the schools and institutions where they were expected to be enrolled.
According to The Globe and Mail, the numbers they obtained show that the non-compliant students made up 6.9 per cent of the total number of international students recorded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
The immigration department requires universities and colleges to report twice a year on whether international students are enrolled and attending class in compliance with their study permits.
The International Student Compliance Regime, implemented in 2014, was designed to help spot bogus students and assist provinces in identifying questionable schools.
In March and April of 2024, colleges and universities reported to IRCC on students from 144 countries. The top 10 countries of student origin with the greatest number of “no-shows” that spring had widely ranging non-compliance rates.
They included 2.2 per cent for Philippines (representing 688 no-show students); 6.4 per cent for China (4,279 no-shows); 11.6 per cent for Iran (1,848 no-shows); and 48.1 per cent for Rwanda (802 no-shows).
Of the total no-shows, almost 20,000 from India—5.4 percent of the total number of Indian students tracked by IRCC—were reported as non-compliant with their student visas and not attending schools where they were meant to be studying.
Indian law-enforcement officials said last month that they are investigating alleged links between dozens of colleges in Canada taking in international students and two “entities” in India alleged to be involved in illegally transporting people across the Canada-U.S. border. Instead of studying in Canada, the students allegedly crossed the border illegally into the United States.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller toughened rules for international students in November in an attempt to clamp down on abuse. Colleges and universities that fail to submit compliance reports could now be suspended from accepting international students for up to a year.
IRCC conducts further checks on students who appear to be non-compliant with the terms of their study permits that are issued to students who have been accepted at a Canadian college or university.
According to the IRCC figures, 49,676 international students enrolled in Canadian colleges and universities apparently failed to adhere to the terms of their visas and turn up to study. In addition, colleges and universities failed to report on the status of 23,514 international students—representing 3.3 percent in the IRCC records.
Source: https://www.financialexpress.com/business/investing-abroad-canada-universities-report-nearly-50000-international-student-visa-no-shows-3718979/
