More international students are seeking asylum in Canada, numbers reveal
The number of study permit holders who sought asylum in Canada has more than doubled in the last five years, according to government data, which found eight of the top 10 post-secondary institutions with the highest refugee claimant numbers came from Ontario colleges
The number of international students who seek asylum in Canada has more than doubled in the past five years, according to government data obtained under an access-to-information request.
The number of refugee claims made by study permit holders has gone up about 2.7 times to 4,880 cases last year from 1,835 in 2018, as the international student population also surged by approximately 1.4 times to 807,750 from 567,065 in the same period.
Over the five years, a total of 15,935 international students filed refugee claims in the country
While less than one percent of international students ended up seeking protection in Canada, the annual rate of study permit holders seeking asylum doubled from 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent between 2018 and 2022.
Critics say the increase is a reflection of the global displacement trends as a result of wars, conflicts, and violence in recent years, as well as Canada’s failure to respond to the global refugee crisis through resettlement efforts.
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The United Nations Refugee Agency has reported that the number of people displaced worldwide has gone up from 70.8 million to 108.4 million, a historic level, over the same period.
“What’s happening is just that there is overall mass displacement and people who are arriving in the country in the international student program are becoming refugees while they’re here,” said Hussan Syed, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a national advocacy group for foreign workers and students.
“We’ve never met anybody who came to the country with the aim of becoming a refugee claimant, trying to fool the system there because it is just easier to come on a tourist visa.”
