The number of study permits issued by the IRCC has nearly doubled since 2015, with most students coming from India, China, France, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Brazil, Iran, and Vietnam.
Top source countries of Canadian international students: Indian nationals continue to be the leading source of Canada’s international student population. In 2019, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued 140,000 study permits to Indian international students, accounting for 35 percent of all study permits issued last year. 85,000, or 21 percent, of study permits were assigned to Chinese nationals, and another 17,000 went to students from South Korea. The rest of the study visas were primarily issued to students from France, Vietnam, Brazil, Iran, Nigeria, the United States, and Japan.
Why Canada is preferred choice for international students? The quality of education and living standards in Canada are amongst the highest in the world, but the cost of living and tuition fees for international students are generally lower than in other countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom. As such, Canada is often the preferred choice for students attending college or university. Canada now has the fourth-largest international student population in the world behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Canada’s greatest advantage is its study-work-immigrate package. International students are eligible to work in Canada to support themselves financially during their studies. Upon completing their studies, many of them are eligible to obtain a Post-Graduation Work Permit so that they can gain more Canadian work experience for a period of up to three years. Spouse or common-law partner of international students are eligible to an open work permit. This allows them to make use of their time and seek employment anywhere in the country. Also, dependent children can study in Canadian primary or secondary schools without the need of a study permit. To boost the diversity of international students coming to Canada, the federal government announced the launch of Building on Success, a new International Education Strategy (IES).
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