Foreign students in limbo as visa delays worsen

Federal changes to study permits lead to growing backlog

- NICHOLAS KEUNG

Zhangxuezi Chen started planning for her postgraduate study abroad in 2021, researching schools in Canada, the United States, Australia and Europe.

Last November, Chen, who is from China, applied to OCAD University, Sheridan College and George Brown College, as well as the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in B.C. By March, she'd been accepted to all.

In May, she applied for her student visa for a master's interdisciplinary program in art, media and design at OCAD. She booked her flight for Aug. 30 and registered her courses for the fall.

But with classes starting in two weeks, the 28-year-old from Hangzhou is panicking because she still doesn't have the student visa to come to Canada.

"I'm super worried," said Chen, who has an undergraduate degree in design from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and works as a designer for an IT firm in Hong Kong. "If I have to defer my study, it will be another year. I will be wasting another year."

Following changes announced by the federal government in January to rein in the number of international students, there has been an overall increase in student visa backlogs and processing times due to the confusion over how study permit quotas would be allocated and the lack of infrastructure for provinces to issue the newly required attestation letter for applicants.

The wait times to get a decision for international applicants shot up from nine weeks in January to a peak of 15 weeks in May; processing times for those applying from inside Canada went from four weeks to 14 weeks in June and are now at ll weeks, according to data from ApplyBoard, an online marketplace for learning institutions and international students.