Consultants said the high rejection rate of Canada applications is surprising as students, some of whom are gold medallists and toppers are also being denied a chance for higher studies (Representative image)
AHMEDABAD:
Radhika Patel
, a commerce graduate with distinction grades and an impressive 6.5 bands score in the IELTS, is in shock as her student
visa
application for higher studies in Ontario,
Canada
, was rejected the second time recently. She had deferred her admission when she was rejected the first time but does not want to waste more time now.
“Despite having a good profile, my student visa application was rejected twice.
I have now decided to pursue my education in India only and will apply for a refund of the college fee of 17,000 Canadian dollars,” says Radhika.
Radhika is not alone. After Covid, overseas education consultants are reporting unprecedentedly high student visa rejection rates of 40%-50% this year. Pre-Covid, this rate was between 15% to 20%.
“Canada’s student visa rejection rate has more than doubled this year with many students getting rejected with perfect scores and paperwork,” said Anuj Parikh, a student visa consultant.
Visa consultant Bhavin Thaker said the pre-Covid, acceptance rate was a robust 85%, which has now dropped to nearly about 55%. This may be because of the unusually high number of pending applications,” said Thaker.
Consultants said the high rejection rate of Canada applications is surprising as students, some of whom are gold medallists and toppers in their fields, are also being denied a chance for higher studies. Earlier, students with good profiles were nearly guaranteed a visa for higher studies, they said.
Consultants speculate that the number of applicants for Canada has risen substantially due to declining interest in Australia and New Zealand, after they shut their doors on foreign students during the two years of Covid, or that there may be a cap in place.
“There is no formal explanation for the rejections but most are surprising, as these are students with excellent academic profiles and paperwork,” said visa consultant Ankit Mistry.
“There is a lot of pressure among students headed to Canada due to the unusually high rejection rate,” said visa consultant Jaydeep Nakrani.
Visa consultant Lalit Advani said processing time for visa applications for Canada have also become painstakingly long, from nine to twelve months.
