Toronto: The variety of college students from India making use of to check in Canada has dropped dramatically within the second half of this yr. For the interval from July to October, the variety of functions for brand new examine permits from India dropped from a complete of 145,881 final yr to simply 86,562 in the identical interval of 2023, a decline of almost 40%.

This fall in functions is just not linked to the cratering relationship between India and Canada, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion within the House of Commons about “credible allegations” of a possible hyperlink between Indian brokers of the killing of Khalistani determine Hardeep Singh Nijjar solely got here on September 18, when the pattern was already obvious.

The falling utility numbers have been first reported by the outlet Better Dwelling, which famous that it was “more likely” that the “discussion on Canada’s exploitation of international students became a bigger issue ahead of this rift”. “More and more international students have been posting on social media about the hardships they faced in Canada, specifically calling out the high cost of living and lack of opportunities promised,” it stated.

The figures for examine permits have been verified by the Hindustan Times from information sourced from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

The outlet stated, “When policymakers first pitched the idea of limiting students to help affordability, it appears they were attempting to save face. The public hadn’t seen the data yet, but they were already aware of a sharp decline in people desiring to study in Canada.”

In August, Canada’s Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser had stated that putting a cap on what number of worldwide college students the nation takes in was “one of the options that we ought to consider”.

The decline can also be evident within the annual consumption figures: In 2022, the variety of functions obtained by IRCC from Indian college students was at 363,541, up from 236,077 in 2021. The complete for 2023, until October, is at 261,310. With Indians comprising almost half of worldwide college students in Canada, that deceleration in functions is mirrored within the general numbers as effectively, complete functions final yr stood at 736,166 and is on tempo for the slowest development in years, with the quantity at 724,611, once more until October. Better Dwelling commented, “It’s on track to fall to single-digit growth by year-end, a big change from 2022 (+33%), and 2021 (+152%). This decline is almost exclusively a fallout with the country’s largest source of students — India.”

This is the primary decline in worldwide scholar functions from India for the reason that Covid-19 pandemic. And rising pressure within the relationship between India and Canada is unlikely to enhance the state of affairs.