International students facing challenges with the immigration cap

Fernanda Delgadillo was excited to come back to Canada after spending the holidays with her family in Bolivia. However, after arriving to her second layover in Colombia, 2,561 kilometres away from home and about to travel back to Canada, she was denied entrance.

In that moment, Delgadillo discovered that despite having extended her study permit, she had not renewed her visa and therefore would not be allowed back in Canada to finish her program at the New Brunswick Community College.

She said cutting through the red tape is becoming increasingly difficult for international students and she had no choice but to start the complicated and costly process of being accepted as an international student all over again.

“I wondered why nobody had told me from the beginning, when I was on my way out of Canada, that I had to apply for a visa,” said Delgadillo, as she described the “extremely frustrating and stressful situation.”

Delgadillo points to recent federal changes to the rules for international students, which are making it more difficult for students like her to complete their education in Canada.

The number of hours students can work has decreased, cost-of-living requirements have increased and terms for Post Graduate Work Permits are now more strict.

These changes have left many international students like Delgadillo uncertain about their future in the country.

The Canadian dream

Delgadillo, now 21, came to Canada from the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia as the first member of her family to follow her dreams and study abroad.

She never considered studying abroad until she saw her classmates applying to universities in the United States and other countries, during her junior year of high school.

“I didn’t even know what I was going to study,” she said. “[But] I knew studying in Bolivia was not an option.”

In 2019, political turmoil in Bolivia involving accusations of electoral fraud against then-president Evo Morales led to mass protests, resulting in 200 people being injured and three deaths.

This political turmoil was the catalyst for Delgadillo’s family decision to send her to study abroad.

“That was when my mom told me, ‘Okay, you need to find a university or a college and get out of this country,’ so I started my research,” she said.

Delgadillo chose Canada because it felt more secure than the United States or Bolivia.

“I wanted to feel safe because I was going to leave without my family.”

Delgadillo is currently attending NBCC in Fredericton, where she originally wanted to study marketing and graphic design but with those programs full, she instead chose to take office administrator in French in hopes she would find work in Canada with the advantage of speaking French.

Once she completed her studies, Delgadillo planned to apply for permanent residency and move to Montreal to pursue her bachelor’s degree.

Nonetheless, after committing what she called “a human mistake,” by not reapplying for her student visa alongside renewing her student permit, Delgadillo’s plans have drastically changed.

Immigration cap introduced to target “bad actors”

On Jan. 22, 2023, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced an international student cap, to address concerns about housing, health care and the influence of “bad actors” in private colleges.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) defined the “bad actors” as private colleges using public university partnerships to increase their revenue without providing adequate support to international students.

The IRCC also increased financial requirements, making it mandatory that students provide proof they have $20,000—double the previous amount—and can afford their living expenses. For families like Delgadillo’s, meeting the new required amount seemed unrealistic, due to Bolivia’s current economic instability and limited access to foreign currency.

“There’s basically no dollars in Bolivia,” said Delgadillo. “I haven’t met any Bolivians here in Fredericton because it’s really hard to make the effort of sending your kids to study abroad.”

Delgadillo describes her family as upper-middle-class, with her mom as the breadwinner, working as a project manager at a telephone company and making an income Delgadillo estimated at $4,000 monthly.

She said her mom’s salary at the time was enough to support her studies, despite her father’s unemployment during the pandemic.

However, Delgadillo explained that the only way her family could afford it was for her to enroll in a college and complete a more affordable two-year degree.

Delgadillo pays approximately $12,000 in tuition at NBCC, which is significantly lower than the international tuition rates of more than $20,000 at local universities, like St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick.

International students are ‘victims’

After waiting six weeks to get her new student visa, Delgadillo returned to Canada and worked over 75 hours during the summer but still couldn’t save enough for her tuition.

However, she has decided to remain in Canada and continue to save up to pay for her fees, with the aid of a payment plan.

Cristian Sanabria, the case work manager at the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, said Delgadillo isn’t alone. He was also recently an international student and when he heard about Ottawa’s changes, he felt students were being treated unfairly.

He believes the government should be taking action against the private colleges instead of “punishing” international students.

“Instead of blaming international students for this, we have to see the human side of these folks and [see that] we are the victims,” he said.

Sanabria feels the new immigration policies have created a negative narrative that has allowed locals and the government to “scapegoat” international students for the housing crisis, the health care crisis and the labour shortage.

He argues the government should be taking responsibility for the lack of supervision of Canadian universities and of temporary work permits, instead of blaming immigrants.

Delgadillo agrees with Sanabria, adding that the new immigration policies should only affect those who are recently entering the country, grandfathering the international students who were pursuing their degrees in Canada before the changes.

Sanabria believes a looming federal election is behind the sudden changes in policy.

“It’s the fact that we are in an electoral year, and we need to blame somebody, [the government is] going to blame those who cannot vote.”

Sanabria is calling on the government to take accountability and admit the flaws of the post-secondary system that allowed predatory institutions to open in the first place.

“Instead of blaming international students, they have to start blaming their own system and see where the system fails so they cannot make the same mistakes some other time,” he said.

IRCC responds, international students still question their decisions

In an email statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a spokesperson acknowledged that international students aren’t responsible for the challenges communities are facing regarding housing, health care and other services.

“It’s not in the interest of the international students, or of Canada, for students to struggle to find adequate, affordable housing or meet their other needs upon arrival.”

However, in an emailed statement Isabelle Dubois, IRCC communications advisor, said they believe the new policies implemented are necessary for the well-being of current and future international students in the country.

The IRCC also said it wants to “set students up for success” and some of the changes like reducing working hours from the previous 40 hour a week pilot to 24 hours and making the post-graduation work permit requirements stricter, are in line with this goal.

However, for Delgadillo these changes don’t make any sense.

She said students like her, who followed all the requirements and immigration rules, shouldn’t be punished for the actions of those “bad actors” who took advantage of the lack of supervision in the International Student Program.

“It’s not fair,” said Delgadillo.

The IRCC points out that in comparison to Australia and the United States, Canada’s policy on off-campus work hours are much more generous.

However, Delgadillo feels that even with the increase in the cost-of-living requirements, the country is not fully taking into consideration the day-to-day financial pressures that come with being an international student.

These challenges have caused Delgadillo a lot of frustration. She is now considering giving up on her dream of studying abroad but feels “the pressure of failing” and worries she will be a disappointment to her family.

“[My family] is the only thing that’s my motivation nowadays,” she said.

Amidst her struggles, Delgadillo has decided to keep a positive mindset and keep fighting for her degree, saying that if she must go back to Bolivia, she would like to take her diploma with her.

Despite her frustrations and homesickness, Delgadillo finds the thought of leaving Canada and everything she has built in the country, painful.

“[Bolivia] doesn’t feel like home anymore. It doesn’t matter all the rough situations I’ve been having here; I feel like now Fredericton is my new home,” she said.

“I feel like I’m evolving here somehow, and I don’t like to give up easily, so I’m going to fight till the end because that is all that we can do.”

Katherine Del Salto is a fourth-year international student from Ecuador studying journalism and sociology at St. Thomas University. She is the Managing Editor of The Aquinian and is passionate about reporting on marginalized communities and social issues. You can read more of Katherine’s work in The Aquinian and Huddle.