A number of protesting college students have already seen their work permits expire, whereas others are anticipated to lose theirs by the tip of the 12 months.
The protests started within the final week of August in Brampton, Ontario, and have since unfold to different provinces, together with Prince Edward Island and Manitoba.
In gentle of a housing disaster and rising issues over inflation, the Canadian authorities launched a cap on worldwide pupil consumption in January and additional tightened it in September.
Moreover, in December 2023, the federal government introduced that college students with PGWPs expiring after December 31, 2023, wouldn’t be eligible for extensions.
“The protests have been going on for the last couple of months, led by various support organisations in Canada, said Bikram Gill, a former international student in Brampton.
“We are protesting on behalf of everyone because we want fair pathways to permanent residency and PGWPs.”
The PIE Information spoke to a different former worldwide pupil, Mehakdeep Singh, whose PGWP expires in three months, acknowledged he was set to obtain his PR by April 2024, however the delays foiled his plans.
“The protests have been happening for the final couple of months, led by numerous assist organisations in Canada
Bikram Gill, former worldwide pupil
In line with Gill, the necessity for PGWP extensions arose when the Canadian authorities’s bi-weekly categorical entry draw system for PR and the provincial nominee program in numerous provinces got here to a standstill throughout Covid.
“Because there were no new draws during Covid, the Canadian government provided us with an 18-month PGWP extension, but our PR process was delayed.”
Singh instructed The PIE that regardless of doing “everything by the book”, many like him couldn’t navigate Canada’s altering insurance policies.
“Covid was a major disruptor which Canada is not considering. When I got my PGWP, I started working as a security supervisor but got laid off during the pandemic and couldn’t target PNP,” he stated.
“Then I tried to go for the CEC stream, but the Canadian government suspended it for almost three years, and by the time I targeted PNP again, the government started prioritising healthcare and other professional workers.”
In line with the protestors, over 60-70 people attend the protest websites each day, with 120 protestors gathering in the course of the weekends.
Among the many college students on the Brampton protest was Arjan Singh, whose PGWP expired in August.
“The issue is that when we met the work experience requirement, the government raised the score for the express entry system, leaving us in a bad state,” acknowledged Arjan.
He was referencing the scoring system that evaluates immigrants based mostly on their abilities, training, and different standards, which the Canadian authorities makes use of to difficulty invites for PR.
Jaspreet Singh, a neighborhood advocate main the Worldwide Sikh College students Affiliation NGO in Toronto, stated he spoke with Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller however didn’t obtain a constructive response.
“They do not seem interested in our pleas, but we are trying our best. I will also meet with the Ministry of Trade and Investment. We are hopeful that they might give PGWP extensions to select trades, perhaps the ones in demand,” he instructed digital media outlet The Wire.
In line with a report from the Indian Categorical, there was a notable improve within the variety of undocumented Indians transferring to the US in latest months.
This development contains quite a few college students who departed Canada after depleting all their authorized avenues to stay.
In line with the Indian Categorical, some 5,152 undocumented Indians crossed into the US from Canada on foot in June 2024 alone.
“We want PRs extended for individuals who will see them expire in 2024 and 2025, we want some new pathways, we want to stop the LMIA program since employers and consultants exploit us by selling cheap job offers, even the government is aware of that,” acknowledged Mehakdeep.
Although Indian college students make up nearly all of worldwide college students in Canada, the numbers are anticipated to drop within the coming years.
Whereas it has been reported that there will likely be almost a 50% drop in research permits for Canada from India in 2024, worsening diplomatic relations between the 2 nations are set to affect visa processing on a big scale.
