The number of applications for Canadian study permits for Indian students has declined by 40% since July 2023, according to data published in a new report.

As Indian students withdraw from the study visa race, the space left by them is being claimed by students from other nations and this improves chances for Pakistani nationals.

ApplyBoard—an online platform for international student recruitment—published an article that suggests that this decline might be a result of social media posts shared by Indian students about the hardship they faced during their study period in Canada.

The data containing information from July to October indicates that the Canadian government processed 60,000 applications for study permits received from Indian students, which were 87,000 fewer than the 146,000 processed in the year 2022.

The high cost of living is one of the major problems that international students have experienced. An ApplyBoards survey analysis of top-tier Indian media discloses that the articles written between April to August of 2023 depict that the housing expense in Canada multiplied five times compared to the same period in 2022.

However, the Canadian government introduced several policies to assist foreigners to live on their expenses. The authorities invested CAD12.1 billion to increase affordability across the country.

The plan also includes a variety of other measures such as cutting childcare fees by 50% in Ontario and increasing the Old Age Security (OAS) pension by 10% for seniors.

Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada, a government department, raised the cost of student permit applications from January 1. The previous fees were fixed in 2000 and have not been adjusted since.

In 2022, Canada received 551,405 students from 184 countries including 226,450 Indian students.

The number of student permits in Canada processed for all other countries increased by 34%.