Canada: Study Permits to be halted for DLIs who do not comply with regulations

DLIs to come under the IRCC scanner and students will have to apply for a fresh Study Permit if they change DLIs

Last year, hundreds of students (mostly from Punjab) were affected by fake admission documents provided to them by middleman Brijesh Mishra. Issued between 2017 and 2019, the fake offer letters came under the spotlight when the same students applied for resident status.

Now, IRCC has proposed that DLIs (Designated Learning Institutions) adhere to a new time-bound compliance reporting system. Earlier DLIs fell under the jurisdiction of the Provinces and Territories (PTs) in which they were located. PTs reported any non-compliance to IRCC with a recommendation to remove such DLIs from the list of DLIs. Now IRCC will assume a direct role in compliance and will, if the proposal is endorsed and enacted into law, have the authority to prevent DLIs who are non-compliant from admitting foreign students.

The new move will address three significant issues that are a threat to the integrity of the International Student Programme.

• Under the current framework, IRCC does not have the authority to compel DLIs to report directly to it. IRCC does not have the means to ascertain if a student is indeed attending a DLI and neither do they have a mechanism to detect fake offer letters.
• Currently, IRCC is forced to issue study permits for students even if the DLI they plan to attend is in non-compliance.
• Under current regulations, students are not compelled to report changes of DLIs to IRCC.

The new proposal will empower IRCC to suspend study permits for non-compliant DLIs for up to 1 year. In addition, students changing DLIs will be forced to apply for a new study permit.

The new proposal is among a raft of changes brought about to the International Student Programme, significant among which was the international student cap earlier this year.