New Delhi:
Canada on Friday discontinued its Pupil Direct Stream (SDS) visa program for worldwide college students, amid a push by the nation to deal with its housing and useful resource disaster.
This system was carried out in 2018 by the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to expedite research allow purposes for worldwide college students from 14 international locations, together with Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines and Vietnam. The federal government of Canada mentioned on its web site that the initiative is being discontinued to “strengthen program integrity, handle scholar vulnerability, and provides all college students equal and honest entry to the applying course of”.
Purposes obtained until 2 pm ET on November 8 beneath the scheme might be processed, whereas all purposes after this might be processed beneath the common research allow stream.
This system had greater approval charges and quicker processing instances. With the discontinuation of this program, college students from India and 13 different international locations should endure extra prolonged visa processes.
Canada is trying to sharply decrease the variety of immigrants it permits into the nation for the primary time in years, in a dramatic coverage change for an unpopular authorities making an attempt to hold on to energy.
A rustic that has lengthy prided itself on welcoming newcomers, Canada is now transferring the rhetoric in the direction of migrants resulting in a housing disaster, from rising value of dwelling to a strained healthcare system.
The problem has change into one of the contentious in Canadian politics with a federal election due no later than October 2025. Polls present a rising share of the inhabitants thinks Canada has too many immigrants.
