Canada considers putting cap on international students, will it affect Indians?

Students from India at an event at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Canada is contemplating to put a cap on the number of international students living in the country. Immigration minister Marc Miller on Saturday said he will be exploring the possibility in the next few months, in light of the growing unemployment and housing crisis in Canada, reported news agency ANI.

Miller, in an interview to CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, said: “This is a conversation the federal government will need to have with provincial governments “to make sure that the provinces that have not been doing their jobs actually rein in those numbers on a pure volume basis.”

“That volume is disconcerting,” Miller said with reference to the number of international students in Canada.

“It’s really a system that has gotten out of control,” he added.

The minister highlighted the need to look at what individual academic institutions are doing in different Canadian provinces, possibly profiting off bringing in more international students.

“We need to be doing our jobs and making sure that we have a system that actually makes sure people have a financial capability to come to Canada, that we’re actually verifying offer letters,” Miller said, adding, “And now it’s time for us to have a conversation about volumes and the impact that is having in certain areas.”

Notably, Canada is facing a housing shortage. People have been criticising the federal government for welcoming an increasing number of immigrants.

Miller didn’t specify the number of international students to be reduced. He said: “We have a sense of what those numbers would look like, what the reduction of those numbers look like, out of courtesy to my colleagues in the provinces, those are discussions that we’re first going to have around the negotiating table,” he said, adding that the financial needs of academic institutions is also a factor.

Indian students in Canada

Every year, hundreds of Indian students go to Canada to attain higher education. In September last year, Indians comprised about 40 per cent of the 8 lakh international students in Canada, according to Canadian government statistics.

Therefore, if the Canadian government puts a limit on the number of international students, Indians studying there may also be affected.

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