Changes in Australian visa rule benefiting Canadian colleges

The tightening of visa rules by Australia for overseas students brought windfall gains for Canada. Canada is witnessing a surge in number of applications by Indian students in last one year.

Representatives of educational consultancies which help students migrate overseas for education purposes maintained the changes in Permanent Residency (PR) guidelines in Australia has made it tough for students to move to Australia.

Even the officials from Canadian Consulate General, Chandigarh acknowledge the number of applications received by Canada from Indian students has increased over 100 per cent in last one year, partly benefited by the change in visa rules adopted by Australia government.

As against 3500 Indian students moving to Canada for pursuing overseas education in 2008, the number swelled to 5400 in 2009.

Naresh Gulati CEO Oceanic Consultants Private Limited, an overseas education consultancy firm, maintained Canada certainly was attracting lot of students since last one year probably due to change in PR option adopted in Australia.

Changes in PR rules in Australia were necessitated after series of attacks were observed in Australia against Indian students especially last year. Australia becoming more strict and vigilant over the applications moved by overseas students seeking entry to the colleges and higher academic institutions, has affected the number of aspirants seeking student visa India.

Gulati maintained Canada certainly was attracting larger number of students since change in rules were adopted by Australia government. Also with the fact that people from Punjab have strong linkages with Canada (out of 1 million Indians settled in Canada 60 per cent is from Punjab), it is encouraging students to opt for Canada. The Oceanic consultants that recently expanded their operations in Canada are eyeing sending 1000-1200 students in Canada in the first year of their operations.

Anuraj Sandhu, Director, Canam Consultants Limited, another educational consultancy firm maintained Canada has fast emerged as one of the most popular destinations for students interested in pursuing higher education abroad. Besides excellence in education, Canada’s low crime and violence rates, high cultural confluence and, the current migration rules provide students with an added advantage in terms of immigration.

To promote awareness among prospective students, Canam recently organised a road show in Chandigarh. The fifth road show in Chandigarh held after Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, aimed to provide students an opportunity to interact with the delegates from universities and colleges across Canada.

Along with attracting more students, the county is also likely to attract more immigrants from India owing to changes under nominee scheme.

Immigration consultancy firm WWICS has maintained with number of visa increased under nominee provincial programmes (PNP) scheme from 15 per cent to 20 per cent it would further help people from India seeking Permanent Residency, migrate to Canada.