Thousands of foreign students sought refugee status after study permits cut: Report

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Figures from the Department of Immigration show that foreign students in Canada rushed to claim refugee status after Ottawa announced cuts to study permits, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

A report called Students Claiming Asylum said 11,630 foreign students applied to remain in Canada as refugees between January and August 2024, which was more than 340 a week.

No reason was given, but the rush coincided with Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s Jan. 22, 2024, announcement of reducing the number of new foreign study permits by 35% on average nationwide.

Miller had earlier accused colleges of recruiting large numbers of foreign students who had little interest in Canadian studies.

“Ontario over the last three years in their education system has had over 10,000 asylum claims,” Miller told reporters on Feb. 27, 2024.

“That isn’t the sign of a healthy system. I don’t reproach people for wanting to exercise their rights in claiming asylum, but it can’t be the result of a poor education system. You have the Conestogas, the Senecas of the world. They have some of the highest asylum claims in Canada.”

Federal records show that Conestoga College of Kitchener had 40,565 foreign students in 2024, the largest of any Canadian campus, while Toronto’s Seneca College had 23,530 foreign students.

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In its report to the Senate national finance committee, the department did not call the large number of refugee claims fraudulent.

“Some temporary residents come to Canada as genuine visitors, students or workers and then make an asylum claim because of developments in their country of origin,” the report said.

In the most recent data available from two years ago, the Immigration Department counted 1,040,985 foreign students in Canada.