TRUDEAU'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES HAUNT CANADA AS REFUGEE CLAIMS SKYROCKET

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's liberal image, which was constructed for his generosity that he showed while welcoming immigrants, few of whom reached Canada to escape the law of the land in their native country, is coming back to haunt him as the country now finds itself at a point where the number of refugee claims from mostly South Asian international students and non-students has reached gigantic proportions.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

This problem will become greater with each passing day as more than 2 lakh post-graduation work permits (PGWPs) that are given to these students are set to expire next year, while the number of spots for permanent residents is limited to 5 lakh annually.

Official numbers show that under Trudeau's administration, Canada has given temporary resident status to at least 28 lakh individuals, who were attracted to Canada by the prospect of permanent residency, which is multiple times more than the permanent residency that the country can possibly offer.

This is likely to lead to a significant increase in individuals remaining in Canada illegally or pursuing refugee status as their only means of securing residency.

As per official data quoted in media reports, over 2.03 lakh international students in Canada hold post-graduation work permits (PGWPs) set to expire by the end of 2025. Of this, nearly 70,000 PGWPs will expire between September and December 2024.

Data shows that in 2023, 12,500 foreign students, a majority of whom are Indian nationals, made refugee claims, which is a 600% increase from 2018.

Similarly, in the first eight months of 2024, there were about 13,000 asylum claims from individuals on study permits.

In total, about 1.19 lakh refugee claims were made this year by people on temporary residence permits, which have led to the Immigration and Refugee Board facing a backlog of 2.5 lakh applications, which was less than 60,000 in 2022.