International students in Canada will get more protection by introducing new measures. The IRCC recently released its statement through a report to the CIMM. This report acted as a response to the immigration and citizenship committee. It also dictated that Canada, as a global leader, worked toward inviting more international students. However, many of these students might face vulnerable situations; therefore, IRCC must look into the matter.
The report’s primary focus remained on the three chief objectives of international students:
- Inviting international students to pursue Canadian education.
- Making sure that the International Student Program received a status of equality.
- International students in Canada must act on enhancing service and communication concerning the study permit and immigration processes.
IRCC responded by emphasizing the new possible measures and already supporting the three objectives. Their primary aim is to help international students in Canada through their study permit applications and Canadian settlement processes.
Inviting more international students to Canada
The Canadian government predicted a rise in study permit holders from 2022 to 2023. The number of study permit holders is likely to rise to 753,000. On the contrary, CIMM stated its concern about IRCC not providing complete acknowledgment to applications from specific countries.
As a response to CIMMs concern, IRCC committed to the following things:
- The Student Direct Stream expanded particularly to countries with Asian, African, and French-speaking individuals. This stream is a fast-track method for candidates to acquire a study permit.
- Conduct detailed research and analysis of the study permit rejections, particularly the Francophone African students.
- Look into the Nigeria Student Express stream and re-evaluate it. The stream is an effort to help students from Nigeria with their application process.
- Figure out new ways to encourage international students to opt for permanent residence once they acquire all the skills, language levels, and experience to lead a successful life in Canada.
International student program- its equity
The initial report to IRCC talked about the possible initiatives to make sure the status of equality sustains in the international student program and its application procedure. Therefore, IRCC responded to CIMM by promising to review their pattern to ensure that the International Student Program attains a status of equality.
IRCC decided to take the following initiatives:
- Include queries related to race, accessibility, and gender in the client survey to understand the issues faced by the clients pertaining to the demography.
- Revise and re-evaluate the selection process for international students so they can choose them based on their true potential.
- Continue enhancing the client service and communication process.
- Focusing on a diverse range of racial groups and navigating society’s patterns for well-being.
- Work on the Disaggregated Data and Analytics Framework to understand the impact of a specific policy on certain individuals with its demographic features.
International students- service and communication
CIMM, in its report, also suggested that IRCC clearly communicate the reason for application rejections and the estimated processing times to clients and stakeholders.
IRCC further responded through the following key points:
- IRCC’s effort to recruit new staff members to speed up the processing times and also post its monthly data on the official websites.
- To carry out the proper process of enrolment collection and information about the status of international students. The department will do so by partnering with DLIs. Therefore, DLIs will provide adequate data to IRCC to improve processing times.
- The department will display more involvement with the Pilot program 2022. This program showcased immigration officers’ decision notes and a few TRV applications. Hence, a pattern of transparency and understanding would prevail in the entire system.
