MUMBAI: Canada continues to encourage Francophone immigration across the country, with this in view a pilot program will be launched that grants permanent residency to select international students upon graduation.
The pilot program – ‘Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot’ (FMCSP) is set to officially launch on August 26, in partnership with designated French-language and bilingual post-secondary learning institutions (DLIs).It offers Francophone (French speaking) students a direct pathway to permanent residency. In addition, various other benefits will also be available.
According to a release by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) – the immigration arm of the Canadian government, in order to improve the approval rate, students and their families will be exempted from having to demonstrate that they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay.
In addition, these students will not need to show proof of Canadian dollars (CAD) 20,635 in their bank accounts, but will only need to meet 75% of the low-income cut-off for the community where their educational institution is located. Most international students bear the added burden of rising housing costs, the students participating in this pilot will have access to settlement services while they are studying to help them integrate successfully into their communities.
While the Canadian federal government has introduced a two-year intake cap for international students, which would result only in 3.60 lakh approved study permits in 2024, this pilot program is exempt from the cap. However, the maximum number of study permit applications that IRCC will accept under the pilot program is 2,300 for the first year. A cap for the second year of the pilot program will be set by August 2025.
“Canada recognizes that large pools of French-speaking international students exist in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, and that the study permit approval rate in these regions has been low in the past. Thanks to the new pilot program, we will make access to Canada’s International Student Program fairer for a wide range of international students,” states the IRCC. According to immigration and educational experts, this pilot will not benefit the Indian community.
Indian students have constituted a significant chunk of the international students cohort, but a decline in numbers is increasingly visible. In 2022, for which country-wise data is available, Canada had admitted 5.5 lakh new students from 184 countries, India led with 2.2 lakh new students. But, given strained ties and housing crisis in Canada, the flow of students from India drastically reduced in 2023, The Canadian government processed almost 1.46 lakh new study permit applications for Indian nationals between July-October 2022, but the same period in 2023 saw a 40% decline.
The pilot program – ‘Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot’ (FMCSP) is set to officially launch on August 26, in partnership with designated French-language and bilingual post-secondary learning institutions (DLIs).It offers Francophone (French speaking) students a direct pathway to permanent residency. In addition, various other benefits will also be available.
According to a release by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) – the immigration arm of the Canadian government, in order to improve the approval rate, students and their families will be exempted from having to demonstrate that they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay.
In addition, these students will not need to show proof of Canadian dollars (CAD) 20,635 in their bank accounts, but will only need to meet 75% of the low-income cut-off for the community where their educational institution is located. Most international students bear the added burden of rising housing costs, the students participating in this pilot will have access to settlement services while they are studying to help them integrate successfully into their communities.
While the Canadian federal government has introduced a two-year intake cap for international students, which would result only in 3.60 lakh approved study permits in 2024, this pilot program is exempt from the cap. However, the maximum number of study permit applications that IRCC will accept under the pilot program is 2,300 for the first year. A cap for the second year of the pilot program will be set by August 2025.
“Canada recognizes that large pools of French-speaking international students exist in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas, and that the study permit approval rate in these regions has been low in the past. Thanks to the new pilot program, we will make access to Canada’s International Student Program fairer for a wide range of international students,” states the IRCC. According to immigration and educational experts, this pilot will not benefit the Indian community.
Indian students have constituted a significant chunk of the international students cohort, but a decline in numbers is increasingly visible. In 2022, for which country-wise data is available, Canada had admitted 5.5 lakh new students from 184 countries, India led with 2.2 lakh new students. But, given strained ties and housing crisis in Canada, the flow of students from India drastically reduced in 2023, The Canadian government processed almost 1.46 lakh new study permit applications for Indian nationals between July-October 2022, but the same period in 2023 saw a 40% decline.