Canadian student visa to have stricter scrutiny

Chandigarh: Indian students travelling to Canada may now face harsher regulations, as the Brampton City Council overwhelmingly backed a motion pushing the Canadian government to make accommodation address obligatory on study visas.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who is lobbying for stricter laws on international student visas to address Canada's housing crisis, wrote on X “Brampton City Council has unanimously passed a motion calling on the federal government to require international student visas to include a housing address consistent with local by laws as a component of the approvals process," New Indian Express reported.

“We can’t have international students living in 3rd world conditions while being used as an ATM for the college they are going to. The current system allows international students to be routinely taken advantage of and is exacerbating the housing crisis. Requiring a housing address as part of the visa approval process would ensure every college has an appropriate housing plan and spur new student housing construction. Enough is enough. It’s time to clean up this broken federal program.’’

The measure comes in the wake of an intensifying housing crisis, which has resulted in exorbitant rentals, forcing international students, the majority of whom are Indians, to live in unsafe and unlawful conditions in the country.