Impact on Indian Students (Punjab among most affected)

Punjabi communities have been migrating since the early 20th century, especially to Canada, UK, and the US. This has created strong diaspora communities and a cultural acceptance of living abroad.

In earlier days, Families viewed foreign migration as a status symbol, believing it brings social upliftment .  Later, seeing friends or relatives settle abroad often motivated others to follow the same path. There's also a strong pull factor due to existing family networks in countries like Canada, UK, and USA.

This curiosity to migrate is exploited by Countries like Canada and Australia by offering attractive post-graduation work permits and showing permanent residency pathways. Students and their families expected higher income opportunities abroad compared to the limited job market in Punjab.  

Between 2016 and 2021, approximately 262,000 students from Punjab migrated internationally on study visas, as reported in Parliament. That translates to roughly 859 students per 100,000 people from Punjab during that period—far above the national average in India. As of January 2024, India had about 1.33 million students enrolled abroad, and Punjab alone accounted for about 12 % (~160,000) of those students, with an estimated 533 students per 100,000 population.

The exploitation of parents and students starts at home land.  Punjab has a booming market of study visa consultants who made the process easier (just to say) and heavily marketed foreign education as a gateway to success. Some fake consultants started exporting students, even without proper documents, resulting into complete blast of carrier . 

Many countries developed immigration systems that is not favourable for international students and skilled workers. Canada has imposed a cap and changed the study permit Policy. 

Key Policy Changes in Canada Affecting Indian/Punjabi Students are:

• A 31% drop in study permits issued to Indian nationals in Q1 2025 (from 44,295 in Q1 2024 to 30,650), signalling impact of tightened rules.
   
• Canada’s target: limit temporary residents (including international students) to 5% of population by 2027—down from 6.8% in early 2024.
   
• Widespread media and student reports note revoked permits, enhanced scrutiny, and streamlining that reduces earlier benefits like SDS.

The Point here is that, With these changes, Canada's student visa landscape has become far more restrictive. The combination of caps, financial requirements, procedural layers, and enforcement means that staying informed and proactive is more important than ever.  Think of going abroad only if you or your parents have surplus money and are in position to manage the risk of money and carrier.

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