Canada’s approval rates for new study permits have significantly decreased, raising doubts about whether the country will achieve its lower target in 2024. This sharp decline is mainly attributed to a substantial reduction in applications from Indian students, according to an analysis of the data from the first quarter. Since the start of the year, policy changes have been made to limit the influx of international students, intended to cut the issuance of new study permits by 28%, down to 291,914 from 404,668 the previous year. To reach this goal, immigration officials estimate that they would need to process 552,095 applications, based on a projected 40% refusal rate. However, the approval rate has fallen to 50% – a drop from 55% in 2022 and 58% in 2023. Even though Indian students still made up a significant portion of all study permits processed, the number of permits processed reached a record low in March. Canada is projected to fall short of its target by 10% to 15% without substantial changes.
