Capping international students would be like ‘surgery with a hammer:’ minister – National | 24CA News
Imposing a cap on the consumption of worldwide college students can be like doing “surgery with a hammer,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller advised Global News on Friday, including {that a} cap is just not within the playing cards. However, he mentioned he reserves the precise to impose such a cap sooner or later.
It comes after Miller, Housing Minister Sean Fraser and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc had indicated over the summer season that Ottawa was contemplating a cap on pupil consumption.
“We won’t be imposing a cap. I think we are looking at a little more surgical approach to a problem that has branched out into many areas of complexity, including fraud,” Miller advised Global News in an interview.
“Doing surgery with a hammer, which is what a cap would have represented, was not a preference that I retained today.”
He added that the federal authorities would even be working with the provinces within the 12 months to return. If these negotiations don’t go effectively, Ottawa may contemplate imposing a cap.
“I reserve the right to use it if things don’t go well over the next year, because it could be a tool ultimately that we have to use or use caps within the distinctions and categories of institutions that we see are perhaps behaving poorly,” he mentioned.
“We’re really giving ourselves about a year to work with provinces to clean up their own act in their own jurisdiction.”
Miller was in Brampton, Ont. on Friday to announce adjustments to Canada’s worldwide pupil program focusing on fraud. Starting Dec. 1, post-secondary designated studying establishments might be required to substantiate each applicant’s letter of acceptance immediately with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
A brand new “enhanced verification process” is being put in place to stop letter-of-acceptance fraud, a serious concern after experiences earlier this 12 months of hundreds of worldwide college students who say they acquired fraudulent letters.
The federal authorities can also be getting ready a “recognized institutions” framework, which can go into impact beginning for the autumn semester of 2024.
Institutions that set excessive requirements for “services, support and outcomes” for worldwide college students might be given this designation by IRCC. Recognized establishments will obtain advantages, resembling precedence processing of worldwide pupil permits.
Miller advised Global News that the factors for acknowledged establishments will embrace offering psychological well being providers in addition to inexpensive housing for worldwide college students.
“We’re enhancing our letter of offer process to catch some of the worst cases of a fraud at the outset and putting in place a recognized institution model that will reward good actors for the client experience, the student experience that they have, making sure that they have housing,” he mentioned.
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) welcomed the brand new enhanced verification system, however they mentioned extra measures have been wanted to guard migrant college students who fall prey to fraud.
“This is a simple and much needed administrative measure, but questions remain about protection of students who will pay large amounts of money to education recruiters who have partnerships with colleges and universities, only to find their letters are not genuine when their study permits are rejected and have little to no recourse,” the group mentioned in a press release on Friday.
According to Statistics Canada, the gulf between home and worldwide charges is critical.
In the 2022-23 educational 12 months, the common home pupil in Canada paid $6,834 in tuition. By distinction, the common worldwide pupil paid almost six occasions that quantity at $36,123.
A Global Affairs Canada report mentioned worldwide college students in Canada spend $22.3 billion on tuition, lodging, and discretionary spending yearly. This is along with worldwide college students being a serious supply of labour for Canada, which has confronted a extreme employee scarcity lately.
Miller mentioned he agrees with the premise that schools and universities, who make tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} a 12 months from worldwide pupil tuition, needs to be doing extra to deal with college students.
“Clearly, the institutions that have a very lucrative business model, that has attracted international students, need to do their part. It’s part of the discussion today on the recognized institution framework,” he mentioned.
In June, then-immigration minister Sean Fraser introduced a activity power that will look into instances of fraudulent admission letters. According to pupil rights’ activists, these going through deportation orders on account of these letters got here to Canada in 2017 and 2018 on pupil permits. Students protested towards the deportations, till the duty power was introduced.
On Friday, Miller additionally offered an replace on a joint IRCC-CBSA activity power’s work. He mentioned up to now, the duty power has discovered that 63 college students have been “genuine students.”
They might be given momentary permits to remain in Canada.
Last 12 months, the restriction on worldwide college students working greater than 20 hours per week was lifted.
As that deadline looms close to in December, Miller mentioned he had not but decide on whether or not the measure can be prolonged or made everlasting.
“I am putting a lot of thought into it,” he advised Global News.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
