Canada: Entire system for Ontario frozen,study permit applications returned
Ontario’s public colleges have issued a statement regarding the cap on study permits.
The federal government’s cap on study permits for international students is essentially a moratorium by stealth that is already causing significant and unnecessary upheaval for students, employers and communities.
The federal government has not consulted with Ontario’s public colleges on these significant changes and the decision has been rushed, resulting in a confusing and damaging early rollout. We urge the federal government to immediately engage with us and our provincial government in a meaningful conversation about the material impacts on students and Canada’s reputation.
We believe this blunt approach does not adequately consider the talent needs of the province of Ontario – and does not consider the many thousands of students who will now be left in limbo with their hopes on hold.
Ontario’s public colleges are very concerned about the attacks on a high-performing, efficient public college system – impacting our reputation with potentially long-lasting negative repercussions.
We have already been working constructively with the province on many of these issues.
Lack of consultation and chaos for students
The federal government’s changes are creating havoc for students now.
The federal government failed to recognize that public colleges have a year-round intake of students, designed specifically to meet employer needs. Colleges work year-round, as the demand for more people in the labour market is year-round. That means there are students already well into the application process, ready to start in May in programs for key sectors of Ontario’s economy.
The federal government’s process is too rushed. The imposition of an immediate requirement for a letter of attestation from the provincial government is halting all student visa processing right now, as the provincial government currently has no process for generating such letters.
This new and unexpected administrative hurdle has resulted in total chaos for students. The entire system for Ontario is frozen.
Students who had already been accepted into programs – and had paid their fees for those programs – are now having their applications for study permits returned to them. This is often without any explanation or way forward. This situation was entirely avoidable and is entirely arbitrary.
IMMEDIATE ASK: Ontario’s public colleges are calling for the federal government to delay the implementation of the requirement for a letter of attestation until such time as provinces can put a process in place. That is only fair to the students and to the employers who are counting on them.
As of January 22, 2024, IRCC says that “every study permit application submitted to IRCC will also require an attestation letter from a province or territory.” Note, attestation letters must be submitted to IRCC alongside, not in place of, an LOA from the Canadian DLI an international student hopes to attend.
IRCC hopes that attestation letters will serve as additional proof of a study permit application’s legitimacy, further protecting the integrity of Canada’s international student system. Provincial and territorial governments are being given until March 31st, 2024 “to establish a process for issuing attestation letters to students.”
While provinces and territories across Canada may implement such processes at any time, there is no guarantee that such systems will be in place until the deadline indicated by IRCC, or beyond.
This could mean that no new study permit applications are submitted to IRCC until after March 31, 2024.