Permits issued to Indian students fall due to bilateral tensions: Canada

Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller has said that the falling numbers of study permits processed are unlikely to rebound

Toronto: Canada’s Immigration Minister has attributed the fall of study permits issued to students from India has dropped significantly in recent months due to ongoing bilateral tensions following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in Surrey, British Columbia.

Students from India at a session organised at the University of Toronto, Canada. (Supplied photo)

Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller told the agency Reuters that those falling numbers of study permits processed are unlikely to rebound as that issue remains unresolved.

“”Our relationship with India has really halved our ability to process a lot of applications from India,” he said. He was alluding to New Delhi seeking parity in mutual diplomatic presence, which resulted in Canada withdrawing 41 diplomats and their family members from India in October. As Canadian diplomats including IRCC personnel left India, reducing the numbers from 62 to 21, Ottawa had described move as “expulsion”.

At the time, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly had said the services offered would be impacted by the downsizing. “Unfortunately, this mass expulsion will impact our operations, and client service will be affected,” she had pointed out.

Miller did not see an imminent resolution of the problem, as he said, “It’s not something that I see any light at the end of the tunnel on.”

“I can’t tell you about how the diplomatic relationship will evolve, particularly if police were to lay charges,” he said. According to Canadian media reports law enforcement has two persons allegedly involved in Nijjar’s killing under surveillance and could arrest them soon.

The number of study permits issued to Indians in the last quarter of 2023 fell from 108,940 the previous year to just 14, 910, a drop of 86%, the agency reported. However, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data reviewed by the Hindustan Times showed that the permits issued in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 73,000 as against 14,910 for 2023, though that figure was only for those processed till November, so the decline may not be as drastic.

However as the Hindustan Times had reported earlier, applications from Indian students started falling sharply before Trudeau’s statement and were connected to the sharp increase in the cost of living, particularly housing affordability in Canada. For the period from July to October, the number of applications for new study permits from India dropped from a total of 145,881 last year to just 86,562 in 2022, a decline of nearly 40%.