Canada’s crackdown on international students has hit applicants from India particularly hard, government data shows, as what was once a preferred destination loses its appeal for Indian students.
Canada reduced the number of international student permits it issues for the second year in a row in early 2025 as part of a broader effort to reduce the number of temporary immigrants and address fraud related to student visas.
About 74 per cent of Indian applications for permits to study at Canadian post-secondary institutions in August, the most recent month available, were rejected, compared with about 32 per cent in August 2023, according to immigration department data provided to Reuters.
By contrast, about 40 percent of study permit applications in each of those months were rejected. About 24 percent of Chinese study permits in August 2025 were rejected.
The number of Indian applicants has also decreased, from 20,900 in August 2023 (when Indians made up just over a quarter of all applicants) to 4,515 in August 2025.
India has been Canada’s largest source of international students for the past decade. In August, it also had the highest study permit rejection rate of any country with more than 1,000 approved applicants.
The rise in refusals from aspiring students comes as Canada and India seek to improve relations after more than a year of tension.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of being involved in the 2023 murder of a Canadian in Surrey, British Columbia. India has repeatedly denied the allegations.
An effort to end fraud
In 2023, Canadian authorities discovered nearly 1,550 study permit applications linked to fraudulent acceptance letters, most of which came from India, Canada’s immigration department said. Reuters in an email.
Last year, its beefed-up verification system detected more than 14,000 potentially fraudulent acceptance letters from all applicants, it said.
Canada has implemented enhanced verification for international students and increased its financial requirements for applicants, the immigration department spokesperson said.
The Indian embassy in Ottawa said it had been aware of the rejection of study permit applications from students in India, but that the issuance of study permits is Canada’s prerogative.
“However, we would like to emphasize that some of the best quality students available in the world are from India, and Canadian institutions in the past have benefited greatly from the talent and academic excellence of these students,” the embassy said in a statement.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Reuters during a visit to India in October, that the Canadian government is concerned about the integrity of its immigration system but wants to continue having Indian students in Canada.
A drop in Indian enrollment
People who work with aspiring international students say they are seeing a higher level of scrutiny of applicants.
Michael Pietrocarlo of Border Pass, which helps people apply for Canadian visas, said his firm prepares applicants to prove their eligibility beyond what is required on paper.
He says, for example, that when students must prove they have sufficient funds to support themselves, “it’s not enough to say, ‘Here are some bank statements.’ They may have to go the extra mile and say, ‘This is where the money came from.’”
The University of Waterloo, home to Canada’s largest engineering school, has seen a two-thirds decline in the number of students from India entering its undergraduate and graduate programs over the past three to four years.
Ian VanderBurgh, its associate vice president for strategic enrollment management, said the drop was largely due to a government cap on foreign student visas and had altered the makeup of the student body.
“We are proud to be an international university,” he said.
The University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan have also reported a decline in the number of Indian students enrolled.
When Jaspreet Singh, who founded the International Sikh Students Association, came to Canada from India in 2015 to study mechanical engineering, he remembers government posters urging newcomers to “study, work and stay” in the country. That attitude has soured, he said.
Singh is not surprised by the higher rejection rate of study permit applicants in India, and says he knows fraud is a problem.
But as it becomes more difficult to get permanent residency or a job in Canada, he says some of those recently rejected don’t seem to care: “They’re happy they didn’t come.”
