PH envoy to Canada: Int'l students not guaranteed permanent residency

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The Philippine ambassador to Canada recently described the influx of Filipino international students in the country as "phenomenal."

Even before the end of 2023, Ambassador Ma. Andrelita Austria said the number has already reached more than 20,000.

But she sought to remind Filipino international students that being part of the education program will not immediately mean securing permanent residency.

"The first thing that we have to keep in mind is that not everyone who studies in Canada will become a permanent resident," she said. "There are many pathways if they want to become a PR but the international student pathway is not a sure pathway."

There are now close to 870,000 international students across Canada. Some 83% of them chose to settle in Ontario, in British Columbia, and in Quebec.

The Philippines ranks as the third biggest source country for international students, after India and China.

A group of Canadian senators recently recommended reforms to the international student program, which included inposing stricter standards on private learning institutions.

The lawmakers warned that more private colleges rely on underground agents or “ghost consultants” who refer the students to institutions that pay the highest commission.

These agents supposedly falsify documents such as grades and credentials, resulting in the acceptance of students who are less able to cope academically.

"If we don’t have standards on how recruiters are going to recruit students, they will continue to be abused," said Ontario senator Hassan Yussuf. "When private actors engage in abuse, they should lose their ability to access the visa process that further enriches them."

Austria, meanwhile, said Filipinos do not need a recruiter to get them to a school in Canada. Instead, she stressed that they can easily get the information from the website of Immigration Canada, the Canadian embassy, or the school.

"Let us not believe what we saw on Facebook, what we watched on YouTube, what our neighbors told us," she added.

Manila's envoy to Ottawa said she plans to seeka meeting with Canada's immigration minister Marc Miller this year to discuss concerns about Filipino international students.