Fourfold increase of Indians applying for Canada student visas

Canada, 15th December: The number of Indians applying for Canada student visas has quadrupled in the short span of last three years.

This has been revealed by the latest official statistics.

The trend among Indians to immigrate to Canada for studying there is growing very fast. And this is due to a significant change in the perspective of the Indians towards Canada as a destination for pursuing studies. 

According to Canada diplomats, around 14,000 Canada student visas will be issued to Indian students in this year and the estimated number of Canada student visas to be issued in the year 2011 is likely to exceed 20,000.

This is certainly much more than 3,152 Canada student visas issued to Indians for studying in Canada.

Reasons for such significant increase in the number of Indians opting to move to Canada for studying in colleges or universities could be varied. One reason could be the efforts by the Canadian government to increase its relationship with India which is regarded as a highly promising market for foreign students.

Another reason for a high increase in the number of Indians applying for Canada visas could be attributed to the easier process for international students to become permanent residents of Canada and reforms in Canada immigration process resulting in a hike in the number of approvals for Canada visas in the recent past.

Australia has been losing its sheen as a destination to study abroad following a series of racial attacks on Indian students in the past year and a half. Also, the Australian immigration department had introduced new tougher visa rules making it costly and difficult for foreign students to get Australian visas.

And this led to a decline of around 80 percent in the number of international students seeking Australian visas.

The decline in the number of applications for Australian visas has resulted in a big blow to the international student market which has been providing annual revenue worth billions to the economy of Australia.

As per an estimate, around $25,000(Canadian dollars) is contributed to the Canadian economy by every single international student choosing to study in Canada.