A few months after his enrolment in May 2023, 24-year-old Manav Khanna from Chandigarh realised that spending Rs 35-40 lakh on a two-year education in Canada was not worth it because he had “no idea of what the future holds.”

“I withdrew my admission because I had classes only two days a week and I was jobless all through my stay, which was kind of frustrating,” said Khanna, an ex-student of Canada’s Algoma University in Brampton.

Khanna is among thousands of students who are going through a roller-coaster ride of emotions as they see a threat to their ‘Canada dream’. This is mostly due to the Canadian government’s recent mammoth policy changes targeted at students and international workers.

For instance, from September, students at private colleges offering licensed courses are not eligible for Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs). This means only those at public or high-standard private institutions can obtain work permits after graduation.

“Canada is being overhyped as a country… and we Indians are only responsible for that,” Khanna said, adding that he is currently working in the field in which he pursued a post-graduate diploma after his return.

In January 2024, Canada announced that it would cap the intake of international student permit applications for two years. For 2024, the cap is expected to result in approximately 3.6 lakh approved study permits, a drop of 35 percent from 2023.

Besides, a single applicant must show they have $20,635, representing 75 percent of the low-income cut-off (LICO), in addition to their first year of tuition and travel costs.

“This is nothing but harassment,” said 56-year-old Paramjeet Dhillon, whose two daughters have applied for a Canada student visa but have not received it yet. “While there’s no doubt that student visas have been misused, the policy changes are punishing all including genuine candidates with no plan to settle down there,” he said.

If visas don’t arrive, Dhillon said he will send his daughters to France which has recently announced plans to increase foreign students’ intake.

Is Canada no longer a favourite for Indian students?

The number of study permit holders in Canada has tripled in the past decade, from 3 lakh in 2013 to nearly 9 lakh in 2023, according to Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada (IRCC), a government agency.

To be sure, Indian students accounted for around 40 percent of all student enrolments, making them Canada’s largest international student group.

Post massive changes, Indian students still accounted for about one-third of all post-secondary study permits processed in Q1 2024, and over 55 percent of all approvals, according to data from study abroad consultancy ApplyBoard.

However, March saw a historically low number of permits processed for Indian students – just over 4,000.

“The students who have largely impacted are the ones heading to smaller colleges for a variety of reasons,” said Vinu Warrier, Founder and Managing Partner of eduVelocity, a consultancy.

Warrier agreed that the perception of Canada as a welcoming destination for international students is changing, forcing students and parents to tilt towards alternative destinations.

“We fear that Canada will needlessly give up market share in terms of international student mobility, particularly from India. Further, the issue that did impact our students was the inability to get visa processes, etc, done on time because of the conflict between Canada and India and the resulting short staffing of embassies on both sides to do the required work,” he said.

Hope remains

While Canada is looking to lower its immigration numbers, students are not losing hope to fulfil their dream of pursuing higher education in the North American country.

“Studying abroad has always been a dream of mine… Canada, particularly Toronto, stood out as the ideal choice since I already have family here, providing a strong support system. Additionally, Toronto is home to numerous top-tier companies, making it an excellent place for me to pursue my passion for communications and public relations,” said Muskaan Khanna, a first-year student at Humber College in Toronto.

Although Khanna said restricting students to 20 hours of work per week makes sense as the primary focus should be on studies, she conceded that it is often insufficient for survival in cities like Toronto, where covering basic expenses, like rent, can be challenging.

Nevertheless, she thinks this is fair.

“The goal should be to attract individuals who contribute value to the country. If students come here and only engage in temporary or unrelated work, like driving for Uber, without pursuing a career in their field, it raises the question of how much value they are adding,” she said.

Khanna’s dream was supported by her parents as well. “Their view was that if residency is meant to be, it will happen in due time. So, they weren’t too concerned, and encouraged me to focus on my goals rather than the broader narrative,” she said.

Similarly, 18-year-old Armaan Singh is connected with Canadian universities which are “very friendly and reassuring”.

However, his family was taken aback by the recent changes. “They (friends and family) don’t understand that the logic of the government is because of abuse of their system; they are running out of housing, many students just go to Canada and they drop out and become illegal immigrants etc,” Singh said, adding that he understands that the government is trying to stop giving visas to students who are not authentic.