Toronto, Dec 8 (IANS): Canada's decision to double the amount of money that international students need to show to get a study visa will impact students from India the most as they make up about 40 per cent of all international students in Canada.
To get a study visa to Canada, a student currently needs to show $10,000 in his or her account for covering the initial cost of living.
But from 2024, the students will have to show at least in their $20,635 account on top of their one-year tuition fees. If students bring one family member with them, they will need to show an additional $4,000.
Of about 8,00,000 international students currently studying in Canada, 3,20,000 are from India. Students from Punjab roughly make up about 70 per cent of them.
Making this announcement on Thursday, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, "Ahead of September 2024, we are prepared to take necessary measures, including significantly limiting visas, to ensure that designated learning institutions provide adequate and sufficient student support."
Since the huge influx of international students has caused a housing crisis, the minister said, "It would be a mistake to blame international students for the housing crisis. But it will also be a mistake to invite them to come to Canada with no support, including how to put a roof over their heads. That's why we expect learning institutions to only accept numbers of students that they’re able to provide for, able to house or assist in finding off campus housing."
Promising to shut fraudulent colleges that have sprung up across Canada to lure international students, the minister said, "There are, in provinces, the diploma equivalent of puppy mills that are just churning out diplomas, and this is not a legitimate student experience. There is fraud and abuse and it needs to end."
Threatening to reduce study visas, he said, "If provinces and territories cannot do this, we will do it for them and they will not like the bluntness of the instruments that we use."
The minister also extended the limit on international students to work more than 20 hours a week until April 30, 2024.