Visa fraud: Canada cancelled 74% Indian students’ study permits in August 2025
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With Canada tightening immigration rules, the North American country rejected a record 74 percent Indian students’ applications for visa on allegation of fraud in August 2025, the media reported on Tuesday.
Canada’s strict cap on student permits and new verification checks led to this drastic step.
India is not alone, but scored the ‘highest’ in this regard. Ottawa’s clampdown on international students has hit Indian applicants hardest. By contrast, the overall study permit refusal rate for all nationalities was about 40 percent.
According to official figures, 74 percent of Indian applications for post-secondary study were refused in August 2025, compared with 32 percent in August 2023.
Applications from India have also plunged, from 20,900 in August 2023, when Indians made up more than a quarter of all applicants, to just 4,515 in August 2025. China saw a 24 percent refusal rate during the same period.
Canada has been among the top destinations for international students for over a decade.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data showed international student arrivals fell by more than 132,000 in the first eight months of 2025. Only 45,380 students entered in August.
Officials attributed the decline to a cap on study permits introduced in 2024, followed by a further 10 percent cut this year. The government also made acceptance letter verification compulsory to prevent fraudulent applications and raised proof-of-funds requirements.
In 2023, Canada discovered almost 1,550 student visa applications tied to fake letters of acceptance, most of which originated from India. In 2024, more than 14,000 potentially fraudulent acceptance letters were flagged through the enhanced verification system.
“Canada has implemented enhanced verification for international students and increased its financial requirements for applicants,” an IRCC spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa maintained that visa issuance or rejection was Canada’s prerogative.
“However, we would like to emphasise that some of the best quality students available in the world are from India, and Canadian institutions have in the past greatly benefited from the talent and academic excellence of these students,” said the embassy.
The surge in visa refusals came amid efforts to repair bilateral relations between Ottawa and New Delhi after a diplomatic fallout lasting more than a year since September 2023. The dispute followed former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claims that India was involved in the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistani Sikh Canadian citizen, in British Columbia, which New Delhi repeatedly denied.
In October 2025, IRCC officials told a parliamentary committee that up to 47,000 foreign students could be living in Canada illegally. Aiesha Zafar, head of migration integrity at IRCC, said 47,175 individuals who entered as students were classified as potentially “non-compliant” for not meeting study conditions.
“India is one of the top countries,” said Zafar, responding to a question from Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner about where most fraud cases originated.
She said the data came from post-secondary institutions that had lost contact with international students, but not all were confirmed violations. “Any foreign national in Canada would be under the purview of the Canada Border Services Agency, so they have an inland investigation team,” she said.
