HomeTagInternational students in Canada Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Immigration Lawyer Vancouver, Canada | Sas & Ing Immigration Law Centre

The Canadian Government is committed to supporting international students through the challenges of the Coronavirus (“Covid-19”) pandemic. On January 8, 2021, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”), the Honourable Marco Mendicino, announced a temporary policy to help former international students remain in Canada to live, work, and continue to integrate into Canadian society.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced many new policy changes designed to help mitigate the disruptions that have affected the normal processing of immigration applications. However, not enough is being done to help workers and students who are waiting to come to Canada or who are already in Canada and need to complete the biometrics enrolment process to obtain new study and work permits.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced on April 22, 2020 that, effectively immediately, international post-secondary students who are providing essential services will be authorized to work full-time while attending school. This rule change will be in effect until August 31, 2020 and will allow international students to help contribute to the nation’s COVID-19 response in areas of critical need such as health care and ensure that Canadians will continue to have access to critical goods and services during this difficult time.

For many years Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has introduced new programs and policies to attract international students to complete post-secondary studies in Canada. The result has been a dramatic increase in the number of international students living in Canada who are making significant contributions to the economy.

Having just returned from a trip to India where I met with aspiring international students from across the country, I feel it imperative to share an observation: not all current and prospective international students are destined to become permanent residents of Canada. I share this important conclusion so that international students to Canada can assess their circumstances and determine the best means to achieve their objectives.

The number of international students that have come to Canada to complete post-secondary education has increased significantly in recent years. Unfortunately, while many international students are successfully obtaining student visas to Canada, many of them are not successfully achieving their long-term goals of becoming Canadian permanent residents.

On June 8, 2018, the Honorable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) introduced Canada’s new Student Direct Stream (SDS) program which fast tracks study permit applications for international students from China, India, Vietnam and the Philippines.