Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Law Firm Blog

The Canadian Immigration Experience -CBC Townhall Discussion January 18, 2024

... Transcript ... Judy Aldous: What do you make of this idea of capping of international students? Raj Sharma KC: It seems quite odd to see Marc Miller indicate any concern when these are the policies that have been in place for many, many years. We've seen a dramatic increase in the number of international students. International students contribute $20 billion to this economy. On the same side, we have provincial governments like Ontario and Alberta, they've dramatically decreased the funding to post-secondary institutions. That funding is now being made up by these international students. And so you watch, let's see, let's see what happens when you do this cap on international students and you'll see Queen's University has a $48 million shortfall in part due to a decrease in the number of international students there. Saima Jamal: We're not putting them up for success then, because they're already coming with a lot of financial stress. There's this myth that international students are very rich people. They're kids are very rich parents, but when you come here, you just come with the tuition. Most of them work really hard. A lot of them in Calgary, they go to the Gurdwara... Read more →

January 22, 2024 Radio Interview Discussion the Newly Announced Cap on International Students

Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Lawyers · January 22 2024 Radio Interview Discussing cap on international students with Ben O'Hara-Byrne On Monday, January 22, 2024 I joined host Ben O'Hara-Byrne on his program, A Little More Conversation, to discuss the newly announced caps imposed on international students (and by extension to the Designated Learning Institutions that have become addicted to that source of funding). 2024 01 22 Ben OHaraByrne interview on intl caps Transcript Ben O-Hara-Byrn...: We'll start too with the whole idea of immigration because there was a major immigration announcement today from the federal government. Canada is imposing a national cap on the intake of international students into this country. The Immigration Minister Marc Miller provided details today as the liberal government held a cabinet retreat in Montreal. The cap is expected to result in approximately 365,000 approved study permits. That's a decrease of 35% from 2023. Marc Miller: One, a temporary two-year cap on new international student permits. It is the latest in a series of measures to improve program integrity and set international students up for the success in order to maintain a sustainable level of temporary residence in Canada as well. Ben O-Hara-Byrn...: Some of the... Read more →

Punjabi language interview discussing the proposed cap on international students

This morning I had an opportunity to discuss the now oft-raised issue of a cap on international students. Minister Miller is making the media rounds discussing the concerns, integrity and otherwise regarding the dramatic increase of international students (which of course has occurred since the Liberals formed government almost a decade ago). It is of course easy to pick on international students. They don't vote and are strangers in a strange land. It is however incumbent on the Minister to showcase good and intelligent policy instead of mere sound bytes. There is a great deal of diversity within the international student population, and it makes little sense to lump those going to career colleges and the like and living in hot housing markets like Brampton to those going to universities and post-graduate studies in other communities across Canada. Part of the issue is the revolving door at the very top and the fact remains is that few Ministers stay long enough to grasp the intricacies of this Department that covers disparate classes of immigration from economic to non-economic. Stewart Sharma Harsanyi Immigration Lawyers · January 15 2024 Interview on RedFM on propsed cap on international students 2024 01 15 redfm... Read more →