Immigration Canada

Canada may limit study permits and visas of foreign students

Nicholas Keung
Immigration Reporter

In an attempt to weed out “disingenuous” international students, Ottawa plans to grant student visas and work permits to only those enrolling in government-accredited schools.

“The proposed regulatory changes would ensure that study permit holders are genuine students by requiring students to enroll in and actively pursue a course or program of study after arrival in Canada,” said Citizenship and Immigration spokesperson Nancy Caron.

“Institutions that are not designated by provinces and territories would no longer be able to host international students.”

Although the changes are still in the consultation phase, the proposal, published in the Canada Gazette, also recommended that work permits, whether for off-campus work or a co-op/internship program, be limited to visa students in accredited schools.

“Disingenuous study permit holders use their study permit as a primary means to gain full access to the Canadian labour market,” Caron noted.

“Strengthening aspects of the program that could be abused by fraudulent schools or non-genuine study permit applicants is vitally important to protect Canada’s reputation abroad.”

The proposed changes came just as a national task force released a report Tuesday calling on the government to double the number of international students studying in Canada by 2020. It urged Ottawa to ramp up efforts to attract foreign students, to encourage innovation and exchange.

The number of international students in Canada — taking anything from short-term language courses to post-graduate studies — has gone up by 36 per cent in the past five years, from 176,000 in 2007 to almost 240,000 last year. More than one-third of those students are studying in Ontario.

A recent study by the Canadian Bureau for International Education found that international students contributed $8 billion to the Canadian economy in 2010.

In overhauling the visa program, Ottawa is taking a leaf from Australia’s book. That nation adopted similar policies after seeing an upsurge of enrollments in fly-by-night colleges when it granted permission for foreign students to work in the country, then apply for permanent residency.

The international student program quickly became a conduit for immigration to otherwise unqualified candidates. Schools also reported students disappearing upon arrival.

In 2008, Ottawa launched the Canada Experience Class, to allow visitors on work and study permits to apply to become permanent residents. Since then, it has also expanded its work permit programs for foreign students.

The proposed changes are welcomed by the Canadian Consortium for International Education Marketing, which is made up of five national educational associations.

Accrediting qualifying schools could help crack down on sham colleges that offer substandard programs to foreign students, said Paul Brennan, of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, a member of the consortium dedicated to promoting Canadian education abroad.

Brennan said some of his group’s 130 member-schools have had visa students who withdrew, transferred or disappeared soon after arrival. A stronger monitoring system can help screen international students and track their movements, he said.

“It’s an issue of manpower. They need money to fund the enforcement and must keep the reporting system simple.”

Under the plan, student visas would no longer be issued to people who enroll in courses of less than six months. These students could instead come as visitors and apply for a study permit from within Canada, officials said.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1241802--canada-may-limit-study-permits-and-visas-of-foreign-students

Moody's "very comfortable" with top Canada rating

By Claire Sibonney and Andrea Hopkins | Reuters – Thu, Jun 14, 2012

TORONTO (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service is "very comfortable" with its top Aaa credit rating for Canada because the country's fiscal and banking strength give it room to react to risks arising from the European debt crisis and Canada's hot housing market, Moody's chief analyst for Canada said on Thursday.

Steven Hess said he did not believe the risk from Canada's booming real estate sector was very great, but that he would not be surprised if there was some price correction. External risks from Europe would mainly flow to Canada from the United States, Canada's largest trading partner, he said.

"We still have a stable outlook on Canada and don't see any reason why that would change anytime soon," Hess said in an interview with Reuters.

"The fiscal situation being pretty good relative to other countries and ... our bank financial strength ratings for the Canadian banking system as a whole are the highest really of any banking system in the world."

Hess said if one is looking for risks to Canada they would come from high household debt and the heated housing market, but that Canada's strong banks and economic strengths would likely limit the fallout of a housing correction.

The Bank of Canada, in its semi-annual Financial System Review on Thursday, said the country's financial system remains highly vulnerable to a further escalation in the European debt crisis and the possibility of a correction in the housing market.

But even if a severe housing correction resulted in problem loans, Hess said Canada's big banks would be able to manage without having to resort to government help.

"It wouldn't be surprising if there was some correction in the housing market," Hess said. "Now will that cause a financial problem, system-wide? In the end we don't think that that risk is very great because of the lending standards that are in the banks, because the economy is still doing relatively well and employment is all right.

"You don't have the same thing that you had in the United States of people losing jobs before losing their houses. And also the legal framework surrounding foreclosures and whatever is different in Canada, and is more conducive to people continuing to service their loans."

Canada's federal housing agency said in a report on Thursday that the country's hot housing market will likely cool toward the end of 2012.

SAFE-HAVEN STATUS

Canada and Germany are alone among G7 countries in having Moody's highest credit rating with a stable outlook. Canada's prudent fiscal management and sound banking sector have been credited with helping it survive the global recession better than many countries.

Hess said Canada's strength - including the relatively positive budget positions of the federal and provincial governments and the prospect of eventual official interest rate increases - is turning Canada into a safe haven for foreign investment.

"In some sense, the Canadian government bond and Canadian dollar assets in general are taking on some characteristics of a haven currency internationally (with) investors who are wanting to diversify away from Europe because of the situation there," Hess said.

"And with the debt-limit question coming back to the fore in the United States, maybe some diversification away from the U.S. dollar is also desirable and Canada looks like a place you could put your money."

The emergence of Canada as an alternative safe haven for foreign investment is benefiting the government in terms of low bond yields. Hess said the proportion of Canadian government debt held by nonresidents has risen in the last couple of years to about 20 percent.

That is low compared with the United States, where nonresidents hold about 50 percent of U.S. Treasury bonds, and compared with France and Germany, where it is more than 60 percent.

"In Canada it is still relatively low so there is a lot of room, if you want to put it that way, for foreign investment coming into not just the federal government but the provinces as well," Hess said. "And this means that their borrowing costs are lower than they would be otherwise. Even if the Bank of Canada raises the short-term rates, the longer-term bond market is going to benefit from foreign demand."

Last month, the federal government announced a smaller-than-expected budget deficit for 2011-12, giving Finance Minister Jim Flaherty some leeway to react if needed to what he called an "unstable" situation in Europe, and keeping Ottawa on track in its plan to balance the budget by 2015-16.

Hess said Canada can't escape feeling the effect of any return to fiscal crisis in the United States or a knock-on effect of the euro zone debt crisis or breakup.

"It's not something we are predicting, but the risk to the financial system coming from Europe, for example, is there. And that would obviously have some spillover effects on Canada because of the close association of Canada and the U.S.," Hess said.

(Reporting By Andrea Hopkins and Claire Sibonney; Editing by Peter Galloway)