As many as 47,000 foreign students may now be in Canada illegally: IRCC
As many as 47,000 foreign students may have violated the terms of their visa and are currently in the country illegally, a representative for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada revealed at a House of Commons committee.
Aiesha Zafar, the head of migration integrity at the agency, said that 47,175 people who entered Canada as students are potentially “non-compliant,” meaning that they are not attending classes as required by the terms of their visa.
“We have not yet determined whether or not they are fully non-compliant, these are initial results that the institutions provide to us,” Zafar told a Sept. 23 sitting of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
Zafar was responding to queries by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who pressed IRCC officials on how they would be able to “track and remove” students in violation of their visas.
Zafar said that the 47,175 figure comes via Canada’s post-secondary institutions reporting that they’ve lost track of an international student.
She added that it would be “challenging” to nail down a precise number on how many international students are officially in violation of their visa terms.
As for finding and removing non-compliant visa holders, she said that was the responsibility of the Canada Border Services Agency.
“Any foreign national in Canada would be under the purview of the Canada Border Services Agency, so they have an inland investigation team,” she said.
Zafar also said that India is one of the leading sources for fraudulent immigration into Canada.
“What specific countries has IRCC identified frauds from? Is there a predominant country?” asked Garner.
Said Zafar, “India is one of the top countries.”
IRCC keeps tabs on what it calls “potentially non-genuine students” by doing a twice-yearly check-in with Canada’s various “Designated Learning Institutions” — effectively, any college, university or institution that has enrolled foreign nationals.
If a school reports back that a student is not attending classes, a 2024 IRCC report on student compliance notes that “the information is added to the individual’s file and may be taken into consideration on any subsequent immigration application decisions.
It adds, “the individuals can also be referred to the Canada Border Services Agency for enforcement action following an investigation by IRCC.”
That same report also noted that the IRCC has no recourse if a school fails to submit compliance updates on their students. “IRCC currently has no mechanism to take action against DLIs who do not submit their report.”
Earlier this year, data from the IRCC revealed that in just the spring of 2024, 50,000 foreign nationals who entered the country on student visas were reported as “no shows” by the schools at which they were registered.
Of those, 19,582 no-shows were Indian nationals. The next highest country-of-origin for no-shows was China, with 4,279 cases.
The Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently pursuing across-the-board cuts to both temporary and permanent immigration, with student visas being subject to the most dramatic reductions.
In the first six months of 2025, IRCC approved 36,417 study permits, as compared to 125,034 over the same period in 2024.
Opposition members, however, have contended that the student visa program remains uniquely prone to immigration fraud.
In house debate last week, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe cited a recent Radio Canada report alleging a network of Ivory Coast gangs using the student visa program to move members into Canada.
“Criminals are taking advantage of Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada’s negligence to make hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Brunelle-Duceppe.
