In accordance with the ApplyBoard evaluation of Q1 2024 information, March was the primary month in 2024 that noticed the overall variety of new examine permits lower year-on-year, with solely 33,000 of them being processed in comparison with 70,000 in March 2023 – a drop of over 52%.
Put up the announcement of the cap in January 2024, the IRCC allotted a portion of the restriction to every Canadian province and territory, which may additional distribute the allocation amongst their respective studying establishments.
With the examine allow processing paused for choose packages nationwide, and provinces having to launch their provincial attestation letter course of by March 31, 2024, the IRCC information displays the results of the up to date insurance policies, based on ApplyBoard.
The info additionally recommended a substantial dip within the variety of authorized examine permits between January and April 2024.
Between January and April 2024, IRCC processed over 152,000 post-secondary examine permits, of which over 76,000 have been authorized. That is an total approval price of fifty%, eight share factors decrease than the 2023 common and 5 share factors decrease than 2022’s common of 55%, as per the ApplyBoard evaluation.
The distinction within the variety of authorized examine permits this 12 months in comparison with earlier years will also be attributed to undergraduate and a few postgraduate packages being absolutely paused for at the least one month and longer examine allow processing occasions which led to fewer purposes being processed this 12 months.
The typical Canadian examine allow processing time has elevated considerably in 2024, from eight weeks in January to round 15 weeks in Could.
ApplyBoard has attributed the rising processing occasions to PAL processes launched all through March, which may have led to processing occasions rising upward as college students who held off on submitting their examine allow purposes despatched them in.
Apply Board predicted that the rise in processing time could also be on the wane – 12 weeks in mid-June, versus 14 or 15 weeks in Could.
It’s anticipated that if the applying numbers and approval charges stay regular all through 2024, the variety of authorized post-secondary examine permits may go as much as 229,000.
However with an increase in scholar curiosity ranges and approval charges within the coming months, 2024’s last examine allow approval numbers will align extra carefully with the federal government’s cap of 292,000, ApplyBoard predicted.
The brand new information has additionally spelled unhealthy information for the Indian market, which noticed over 220,000 college students go to Canada for greater training in 2022.
Although virtually 45,000 examine allow purposes for Indian college students have been processed by IRCC in January and February 2024, this quantity fell to a file low of 4,210 in March 2024.
Information across the cap and utility freezing in January seemingly had a disproportionate influence on Indian examine allow purposes, in comparison with others.
Apply Board
“In 2023, over 90% of examine permits processed for Indian candidates have been for now-capped examine packages, equivalent to school diplomas and college undergraduate levels. This was the third-highest price among the many prime 10 supply international locations. Consequently, information across the cap and utility freezing in January seemingly had a disproportionate influence on Indian examine allow purposes, in comparison with others,” the report recommended.
The one comforting prospect for Indian college students is the upper approval price for Canadian examine allow purposes with the 2024 Q1 examine allow approval price rising to 85% from 73% in 2023.
Although the variety of Indian college students has declined, different scholar markets are witnessing main development. In Q1 2024, college students from Bangladesh, Ghana, Guinea, and Senegal noticed greater approval volumes year-on-year.
Ghanaian college students, particularly, obtained the second-highest variety of authorized permits, surpassing different standard scholar cohorts from Nigeria and China.
Whereas Ghana noticed an approval of three,267 examine allow purposes, 2,699 purposes from Nigerian college students got the go-ahead between January and April 2024.
Though Ghanaian and Nigerian college students are Canada’s second and third largest sources of scholars thus far this 12 months, their approval charges dipped in 2024. Ghanaian college students noticed an approval price of 32% in 2024, down from 44% in 2023.
Over the identical interval, the approval price for Nigerian candidates dropped sharply from 32% to 16%.
