Ottawa. In a major policy decision, Canada has ended its popular Accelerated Study Visa Program – SDS with immediate effect which is likely to impact many international students including those from India. Students applying under the ‘Student Direct Stream’ (SDS), introduced in 2018, experienced a shorter visa issuance process and a higher visa approval rate. That will change after Canada ended the plan on Friday. “We are granting 35 percent fewer international student permits this year and another 10 percent less next year,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter in September.
He said, “Immigration is good for our economy – but when bad people abuse the system and take advantage of students, we crack down.” Considering reducing the numbers. This step has been taken amid the ongoing diplomatic dispute between India and Canada. The Indian High Commission here said that the largest source country of foreign students in Canada is India and an estimated 4,27,000 Indian students are studying here.
“Canada is committed to providing all international students with equal and fair access to the study permit application process,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said in a statement Friday. There was also a similar ‘Nigeria Student Express’ (NSE) system for university students and this also ended with the SDS. Both the SDS and NSE systems expired on Friday.
IRCC gave time till 12:30 AM IST on Friday and said that all eligible SDS and NSE applications received before that will be processed under these arrangements. According to news portal ‘ImmigrationNewsCanada.ca’, the SDS was launched with the goal of simplifying and expediting the study permit process for students from select countries and under this streamlined process, eligible applicants from countries like India, China and the Philippines have been granted multiple visas. Entry into Canada was usually granted within a few weeks rather than months. Another portal ‘movingtocanada.com’ said that applications of Indian students under SDS used to be processed within 20 working days and now it may take up to eight weeks.
