With more than 33,000 Indian international students facing challenges in their bid to travel to Canada in time for in-person classes in September, India urges the Canadian government to speed up study permit processing and approval.
Since the Canadian government has full authority over study permit issuance, the external affairs ministry of India raised these concerns to the Canadian high commission in New Delhi. Meanwhile, its Indian counterpart in Ottawa has taken it up with the country’s foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada.
India urged Canada to speed up the study permit approval process and clear the backlog by providing additional appointments for July and August. India also asked Canada to request higher education institutions for a deadline extension or consider the potential delay in getting the required documents due to the challenges students may face beyond their control.
The absence of direct flights to Ottawa due to travel restrictions since April 22 over fears of the Delta variant of the virus has also been a problem for the students traveling to Canada.
It can be recalled that Canada used to allow international students to take online classes based on approval-in-principle of their study permits. Now that the country is pushing to normalize its COVID-19 situation, institutions are no longer accepting any delay and advising students to seek deferrals.
Canadian missions in India prioritized the international students with booking appointments; however, students are still in a bind as the process that includes submitting biometric details and mandatory medical examination could seemingly drag until September or a later date.
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