A recent report revealed that nearly 20,000 Indian students who arrived in Canada did not enroll in colleges, and the government has no record of their whereabouts.
According to a TOI report, many of these students have taken up odd jobs to sustain themselves. Some had genuine intentions to study but, unable to secure admission to prestigious universities, accepted offers from lesser-known institutions. Upon arrival, they discovered that the colleges were either fraudulent or lacked proper facilities.
One such case involved a 24-year-old student from Panchkula, Haryana, who believed he had been admitted to a reputed college in Brampton. However, upon reaching Canada, he found that the address on his admission letter led to a small office with no classrooms. "They told me classes were full and asked me to wait," he said. "Weeks passed, and I realised the college was a sham. Fortunately, I only paid 4.2 lakh of the total 12 lakh "tuition" fee for the year."
The student’s agent, with whom he only communicated via phone calls in Haryana, assured him that he could cover the remaining fees through part-time work without needing an additional loan. As a precaution, he took up a job at a local gas station to support himself.
While some students fell victim to fraudulent colleges, others intentionally misused the student visa system to enter Canada for work. Unlike the US and Australia, Canada’s policy of not requiring international students to pay tuition fees upfront makes it more vulnerable to exploitation.
A 27-year-old from Valsad, Gujarat, revealed that he enrolled in a community college with a fee of 7.5 lakh for two years—significantly lower than the cost of a master’s degree in Canada, which is roughly three times as much. "Many people from my region have done this, and I followed suit. I know it's illegal, but this was my only way in. Besides, even those who joined good colleges are doing the same jobs as me. They have loans of 25 lakh or more," he said. He currently juggles two jobs—working at a restaurant during the day and delivering food at night—to send money back home.
TOI discovered that most of the students were from Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, with a few from Telangana and Maharashtra. Their experiences were strikingly similar. A 26-year-old from Khammam, Telangana, enrolled in a college in Surrey but never attended classes; instead, he now works full-time at a mobile shop, earning a cash salary of seven dollars per hour. Likewise, a 25-year-old from Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, is employed as a delivery agent in Toronto.
The student association also revealed that some students are using Canada as a gateway to illegally enter the United States. However, Henry Lotin, a former federal economist and immigration expert, noted in the report that most missing Indian students had not crossed the border but remained in Canada, working and pursuing permanent residency. "There was a record increase in international students claiming asylum in Canada last year. Broadly, this indicates that at least 10% student visa holders are unaccounted for. For the first time, we have definitive data, but there are still questions about where all student visa holders are," he said.
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