Key Takeaways
•    The number of foreign students in Canada has started to decrease following the introduction of stricter visa regulations.
•    Canada aims to reduce the number of approved study permits by 35 percent.
•    In addition to foreign students, the government plans to impose caps on the number of foreign workers and asylum claimants.
The number of study permit holders in Canada decreased by 24,594 during January and March 2024, compared with a decrease of 16,000 during the same months in 2023, Statistics Canada has revealed.
Such a drop in the number of international students follows stricter study visa regulations introduced by Canada in January 2024, VisaGuide.World reports.
This decrease is also reflected in the overall temporary immigrant figures. During the first quarter of 2024, Canada added 131,810 temporary residents, marking one of the slightest quarterly net increases since 2022, as reported by the Bloomberg newspaper.
Canada Aims to Reduce Foreign Student Permits by 35%
In January 2024, the Canadian government announced caps on the number of approved study permits, aiming to reduce the figure to 360,000 or 35 per cent less than in 2023.
Such a measure was attributed to the increasing influx of foreign students in Canada, among other things. In 2023, the number of foreigners holding a study permit in Canada surpassed the one million figure, according to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
During this period, the highest number of study permits were granted to students from India, China, the Philippines, Nigeria, France, Iran, Nepal, Vietnam and Mexico.
However, Canada may enforce additional restrictions if needed, the Canadian Minister of Immigration Marc Miller warned in an official statement on April 22.
Post-secondary institutions have a critical responsibility when recruiting students abroad, as well as supporting them here. We have taken some important steps to strengthen the international student visa system and will not hesitate to do more if need be.
Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada
Canada’s Population Grew Due to Increase of Temporary Immigrants
Overall, the population in Canada reached 41 million in the first quarter, marking a 0.6 percent increase. According to Statistics Canada, without temporary immigrants, the country’s population growth rate during this period would have been 0.3 percent.
As further reported by Bloomberg, Canada saw an increase in its population due to the influx of foreigners who arrived in the country after the pandemic. The majority of this increase is attributed to temporary immigrants, including international students, foreign workers and asylum seekers.
Following the increase in the number of foreign population, Canada plans to limit the overall number of temporary residents it accepts.
Foreigners working in construction and healthcare will be exempted from this policy, considering the country’s labor shortage in these sectors.

Indian-origin man lambasted for entering Canada with a visitor visa and then transitioning to a study permit to supposedly extend his stay in the country.
Conversations related to visas and immigration are always sensitive matters owing to the cumbersome baggage (emotional, financial and official) attached. So, the announcement of one finally succeeding at crossing off all legal boxes to enter a country should ideally be a cause for celebration. However, one such recently surfaced case of an Indian-origin man securing a study permit for his Canadian stay had Reddit up in arms.
Reddit lambasts an Indian-origin man for entering Canada with a visitor visa and then transitioning to a study permit to supposedly extend his stay in the country.
CanadaHousing2, a subreddit channel on the online discussion forum, shared the case of Prateek Bhai Gadhva, a supposedly 50-year-old Indian man who entered Canada using a visitor visa but ultimately got his study permit with the help of a Canada-based educational consultancy, GOAT Consulting Inc. Meanwhile, the firm also allegedly facilitated the approval of his wife's Spousal Open Work Permit.
The Reddit post also featured Gadhva's video as he introduced his story: “My name is Prateek Bhai Gadhva. I came here on Visitor Visa, and GOAT helped to get a Study Permit and I got the approval. And they also helped me to get my wife's Spousal Open-Work Permit. So, I came here to collect it.” Although the clip advertently appears to be a promotional bit, with the @goat.ca_ watermark stamped on it, netizens didn't hold back their fiery responses to the implausible possibility of a Study Permit for a man as old as Gadhva being approved, while other highly qualified individuals faced immeasurable rejections.
Several social media users not only furiously seethed about the reported happenings but also urged a formal investigation against Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Concerns surrounding study permits/study visas
The fiery arguments on social media came after Canada announced in May that police clearance is not mandatory for individuals entering the country temporarily. Immigration Minister Marc Miller responded to queries surrounding the issue saying, “I have never said such certificates are required for temporary residents.”
His clarification followed the ongoing debates about security checks for temporary residents, especially in the wake of recent criminal cases. One such notable case centred around the June 2023 killing of pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Subsequent reports notified that two of the arrested suspects - Karan Brar and Kamalpreet Singh - had reached Canada with student visas at their disposal.
About Study Permit in Canada
Canada.ca, the official website of the Government of Canada, describes the Study Permit as “a document we issue that allows foreign nationals to study at designated learning institutions (DLIs) in Canada.”
As for the eligibility requirements, the website calls to attention that the applicant can come to study in Canada if they are enrolled at a designated learning institution (DLI), prove they have enough to pay for their tuition fees, living expenses for themself and their family members coming with them to Canada and return transportation for themself and their family members. Additionally, the applicant must obey the law and have no criminal record. The person in question must also prove to an officer that they leave Canada when their study permit expires.
On the other hand, while most foreign nationals need a study permit to study in Canada, short-term students coming to Canada for a program lasting six months or less don't need one.
Indian transitioning from a visitor visa to a study permit in Canada ignites heated debate
The original admin sharing the post fumed at the idea of paying “increased taxes" to “cover the costs of people like Prateek": “Let’s continue working hard and paying our increased taxes and increased rental prices/housing costs so we can cover the costs of people like Prateek Bhai a 50-year-old Indian man who came as a visitor now a student and his wife who is here on an open spousal visa. Canadians need to wake the f**k up.”
Meanwhile, some others pointed out the hypocrisy of the system denying younger and qualified individuals job opportunities and housing.
A user responded with another instance and drew parallels between Gadhva and a supposedly 40-year-old female doctor who was denied the permanent residency (PR) status: “Yet they deny a female doctor PR because she is 40 years old. Yes a doctor was denied PR due to her age and sent packing. STUPID system. I thought open spouse visas were axed for non university masters and the like.”
More responses ensued and chimed in: “The doctor should’ve been the priority not this man who can’t speak English. Furthermore, if you can’t get licensed as a doctor in Canada, good riddance and get out.”
A third replied, “Foreign economic mobility coming into Canada like this is 100% at our expense. Even if this guy would work he's got 10-15 years minimum before retirement age. A tall fucking order for us to pay while we deny 20 and 30 year olds job opportunities and housing to give the entire third fucking world mobility. I'd say shameful but this country doesn't have any.”
As more incredulous gasps followed, another Reddit user questioned the grave possibility of this situation, urging for a clampdown on these supposed pathways to PR.
A user wrote: "How is this even possible?
Like I know there are immigration consultants and lawyers out there using unscrupulous and illegal ways of scamming the system into getting people visas.
But seriously how is this even possible?? Like unless they're openly committing fraud and claiming to the government that they've left the country before they re-applied for a different visa, it should be impossible for anybody on a visitor visa to convert it to any other visas. Our system is completely broken. We need to completely overhaul it with clear set rules with no exception.
You can't just come here with a visitor visa and convert it to a more permanent type of visa. We need to clamp down on these PR pathways that are strife with exploitation and fraud. This should be completely unacceptable to all Canadians no matter if they're far-left to far-right."
A similar comment trailed behind, "I don't understand how you can convert a visit visa to a study permit. I mean unless you're American, then all other nationals have to apply from their home countries. And save for that ludicrous loophole that let's you convert visit visas to work permits, I don't see how you'd be able to transition to a study permit that way
Either these visa companies are committing some fraud fuckery with the government, or they're straight up grifting people into thinking that they can pay money to move their tourist visas to study permits."
Eventually, a more infuriating bipartisan debate got dragged into the mess. “This makes me so angry because as a liberal human being I want to support the Liberal party but their heads are so far up their f**ing a*es it’s incredible. The Left has gone as crazy as the Right and it’s so disappointing to see because there are no good options for anyone,” someone commented.
On the contrary, numerous Internet users questioned how Gadhva was classified as a “student” at all. Others poked their disapproval at immigration lawyers. A different tone of the conversation worried about the “respectable Indian Canadians” being “lumped in with these ‘students’”: “This guy is the face of the problem. I feel bad for the respectable Indian Canadians (Canadians) who worked hard for our country. They are lumped in with these 'students' now and must hate it.”
Another person replied, “Why is it every time the only group who is abusing our system is from specific country (I’m South Asian Canadian myself) This is embarrassing for us Canadians.”

South Africa’s immigration regulations could threaten the country’s aim to be the headquarters base for multinationals wanting to expand their operations into Africa, the Business Day reports.

According to the report, Tata International has decided to base some of its key personnel in Tanzania because of the long delay in getting visas and work permits for its senior managers in SA.

`We are finding it increasingly time consuming to get visas for our managers,” MD, Noel Tata, was quoted as saying. “We believe that for a supervisory business across Africa, we ought to be granted faster, quicker and more employment visas to enable us to grow the business the way we should.`

South Africa lost as much as R2.6 billion (€168.49m) in gross domestic product and R886 million (€57.42m) in direct tourism spend in 2014 according a research report by Grant Thornton, commissioned by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa.

An inter-ministerial committee is reviewing the implementation of the regulations and Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, said last week that he was hopeful that, in the next few weeks, the inter-ministerial committee would announce some adjustments to the regulations that would be more favourable to the tourism sector and other investments.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has set aside a judgment that opened the door to liability claims against businesses that send their banking details in an unsecured manner to a debtor who falls victim to cyber-crime.
In January last year, the High Court in Johannesburg ordered law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) to pay Judith Hawarden R5.5 million, plus interest and costs.
Hawarden lost the money in August 2019 when she transferred the balance owed on a R6m property purchase. Hawarden thought she was paying the money into ENS’s account, but a cyber-criminal had accessed her email account.
The criminal intercepted the emails between Hawarden and ENS’s employees. Hawarden was sent a fraudulent attachment that contained the fraudster’s bank account details. The criminal also created emails that appeared to come from ENS and altered the details on emails that were sent by ENS. As a result, Hawarden paid the money into the criminal’s bank account.
To delay the detection of the fraud, the fraudster intercepted and changed Hawarden’s proof of payment email to ENS. This gave the criminal enough time to withdraw the funds.
Hawarden subsequently instituted action against ENS to recover the R5.5m.
The High Court ruled that ENS owed a duty of care to Hawarden to ensure she did not fall victim to business email compromise (BEC). ENS had failed to perform this duty and was the direct cause of her loss.
ENS did not act wrongfully
But in a judgment handed down on Monday, the SCA found that Hawarden had not established one of the essential elements of a successful delictual claim: wrongfulness (ENS’s conduct was legally objectionable).
The court noted the distinction in South African law between delictual claims to recover a financial loss and those that arise because of damage to property or injury to a person. It is an established principle that persons cannot generally be held liable in delict for losses caused to others by omission.
Conduct that causes pure economic loss is not prima facie wrongful in the delictual sense, and it does not give rise to liability for damages unless considerations of public and legal policy require that the defendant should compensate the plaintiff for the loss suffered.
The judgment, penned by Acting Judge of Appeal Fathima Dawood, said the issue of wrongfulness in this matter needed to be considered with regard to the following:
First, Hawarden was not a client of ENS at the time of her loss, and there was no contractual relationship between Hawarden and ENS.
Second, Hawarden’s loss was not a result of any failing in the “ENS system”, but because hackers had infiltrated her email account and fraudulently diverted her payment.
Third, Hawarden paid the deposit of R500 000 into the trust account of Pam Golding Properties in May 2019. At the time, the estate agency warned Hawarden about the risk of cyber-crime and advised her to phone to verify its banking details. Hawarden did so.
But Hawarden failed to verify ENS’s banking details three months later, and she was unable to explain her failure to do so. She could have sought verification when she phoned two ENS employees while making the payment at a Standard Bank branch, or she could have asked the Standard Bank employee who assisted her.
Hawarden had “ample means to protect herself”, the judgment said.
Fourth, any warning by ENS of the risk of BEC would have been “meaningless”, because the cyber-criminal was already embedded in Hawarden’s email account when the payment occurred. Consequently, the risk had already materialised.
Risk of ‘indeterminate liability’
The SCA expressed its concern that the High Court’s judgment risked setting a problematic precedent. It would extend liability in a manner that could lead to “indeterminate liability” in that all creditors who email their bank details to their debtors might face unlimited claims for unforeseeable economic losses.
The Constitutional Court has recognised the risk of indeterminate liability as the main policy consideration that militates against the recognition of and liability for pure economic loss, AJA Dawood said.
The High Court should have declined to extend liability in this case because of the “real danger” of indeterminate liability.
Creating a legal principle that all creditors in the position of ENS owe a legal duty to their debtors to protect them from the possibility of their email accounts being hacked is “untenable”.
Hawarden could have avoided the loss
The SCA also highlighted “vulnerability to risk” as another important legal principle when determining wrongfulness in claims for pure economic loss. Essentially, the court must decide whether the plaintiff could have taken steps to protect him- or herself from suffering the loss.
In Cape Empowerment Trust Ltd v Fisher Hoffman Sithole (2013), the SCA stated: “If the plaintiff has taken or could have taken steps to protect itself from the defendant’s conduct and was not induced by the defendant’s conduct from taking such steps, there is no reason why the law should step in and impose a duty on the defendant to protect the plaintiff from the risk of pure economic loss.”
AJA Dawood said Hawarden could reasonably have avoided the risk by asking the ENS employees to verify the account details. She could also have enlisted the help of Standard Bank to verify ENS’s account details.
Furthermore, while Hawarden was at the bank branch, she had discussed the option of a bank guarantee instead of a cash transfer. She had elected to forego the bank guarantee.
The SCA set aside the High Court’s decision and upheld ENS’s appeal with costs

Primrose Modisane, denied South African citizenship, fights decade-long battle for identity documentation and recognition.
A Gauteng-based woman has been living a life of squalor because she does not have an identity document Primrose Modisane, 36, from Vosloorus in Ekurhuleni, claims she has tried in vain to convince the department of home affairs to issue her documentation as they kept on demanding endless proof that she was South African.
Modisane was born in Zimbabwe, but her maternal family is in South Africa and she was brought to the country as an infant.
Based on matrilineal descent traced back to the matriarch of the family, Modisane and her mother, Phumulani Tshuma, are South African citizens by birth.
Asked to take DNA test

Modisane, whose South African grandmother relocated to Zimbabwe in the early ’50s said in 2016, as well as in 2021, home affairs officials told her she must undergo a DNA test to prove that she is indeed a granddaughter of the South African-born, fully documented Barbara Modisane.

She did undergo the tests and went back to the home affairs. “The officials accused me of reporting my case to lawyers and were reluctant to assist me. It has been more than 10 years since I started to push the department for my documents. This has affected me so badly that I even failed to complete my studies.

“I started my education in Vosloorus at Rebontsheng Primary School and later went to Masithwalisane Secondary School but dropped out in Grade 11 because they wanted me to produce an ID card or birth certificate. The only job I got after that was as a domestic worker.”

The mother of two said her two daughters have managed to obtain birth certificates but her name was not included on their birth certificates as she is still struggling to obtain an ID card.

Last year, she was in and out of the department’s offices in Boksburg, Germiston and Johannesburg without any resolution, until she went to the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), who is currently handling her case.

LHR head of the stateless unit Thandeka Chauke said: “We confirm that we act on behalf of our client Primrose Modisane, who has been battling to have her South African citizenship recognised and to obtain documentation for over a decade.

“Her mother, Ms Phumulani Tshuma, suffered the same ordeal and relentlessly pursued their registration until her untimely death in 2023.

“These continuous obstacles, unfulfilled promises by the department, and lack of resolution have left Modisane in a state of limbo. She has been effectively rendered stateless in her own country, deprived of citizenship, dignity, and other human rights.

“This case presents a distressing narrative of the intergenerational struggle for recognition and belonging, characterised by severe administrative obstructionism.”

Chauke said last month the LHR wrote to the department asking them to attend to the matter urgently, but to no avail. Home affairs spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza did not comment.