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IRCC’s Commitment to Attracting and Retaining International Students in Canada
IRCC has issued a response to the CIMM’s (Committee on Citizenship and Immigration) May 2022 report on the Differential Treatment in Recruitment and Acceptance Rates of Foreign Students in Quebec and in the Rest of Canada. The report listed the main problems facing international students in Canada and recommendations on how IRCC can address these issues.
IRCC’s response has been mostly positive, either completely or partially agreeing with all recommendations set out in the report. The three main concerns that IRCC will address in order to keep Canada at the global forefront of welcoming international students are as follows:
1. Attracting International Students
The report indicates that the number of study permit holders in Canada is expected to grow by 17% from 2022 to 2023, to a total of approximately 753,000 international students. However, there is growing concern that applicants of certain countries are not being considered by IRCC. As a response, IRCC has laid out the following plans:
- Expanding the SDS stream to include the large number of French speaking African countries in order to continue supporting the retention of French-speaking students to Francophone minority communities
- Working together with Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) to implement a working group on study permit applications in fall 2022 to examine and understand the rate of study permit refusals for Francophone African students destined for Quebec
- Expanding work facilitation measures for students by:
- Increasing the number of off-campus hours international students can work;
- extending the COVID-19 distance learning facilitation measures for PGWP eligibility until August 31, 2023; and,
- assessing the impact of eliminated work permit requirement for international students in co-op programs of work-integrated learning, as proposed by the Committee
2. Ensuring Equity in the International Student Program
In addressing the Committee’s concerns with equity and discrimination, IRCC has proposed more anti-racism initiatives in the International Student Program (ISP) and within the Department itself.
Racial bias and discrimination will be addressed in policies, programs and operational processing functions to combat vulnerability that specific applicants and students in Canada face with respect to gender, race, age, financial status and disability. IRCC will continue to include questions about accessibility, race and gender in client experience surveys and use the results to address challenges faced by specific groups. The Department will also develop a Disaggregated Data and Analytics Framework (DDAF) to find specific data about how a particular group of people will be affected by a policy.
Another area of concern was the integrity and fairness of program requirements and the selection process in the ISP. The CIMM report recommended that IRCC introduce new criteria to evaluate applicants on their value to Canadian institutions and communities and consider these criteria with more priority than factors such as ties to their home country and financial status in their home country. The department plans to gain input from provincial and territorial partners and stakeholders, including Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs), to help shift the approach of selecting applicants based on Canada’s economic goals.
3. Improving Service and Communication to International Students
Another key issue was improving the clarity and transparency of communication to stakeholders and students, specifically regarding processing times and reasons for refusal. IRCC has listed several initiatives in response to these recommendations.
- IRCC is on track to hiring 1,250 new processing staff by the end of fall 2022 to increase processing capacity and make monthly data on the backlog processing public to all
- IRCC will also be working with DLIs to gain data about enrolment and status information and make this information available to students
- IRCC will continue to have its immigration officers release decision notes for refused temporary resident visas at the time of decision
In their response, IRCC has highlighted their ongoing commitment to creating pathways for permanent residence within the past several years, a commitment that has allowed a greater number of international students to transition into permanent residents of Canada. For instance, in 2021, more than 157,000 international student graduates became permanent residents in Canada, which is an increase of almost 400% since 2016. The department plans to move forward with the same commitment to attracting and retaining international students.
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