Income requirement for foreign students doubled following admission scandal, food bank abuse in Brampton

Ottawa is more than doubling the amount of money international students in Canada will need to have in their accounts before coming to study in the wake of an admissions scandal that saw some students deported and allegations of food bank abuse in Brampton.

The federal government announced on Thursday that starting in January the cost-of-living requirement for Canadian study permit applicants will be increased from $10,000 to $20,635.

The change comes after hundreds of international students were facing deportation in June in the fallout of an admissions scandal that saw some students receive fake offers of acceptance without their knowledge from a now-shuttered consulting company in India.

A Brampton food bank also made headlines after turning away international students cutting into their supply for those in need like seniors, refugees and people with disabilities, calling out the federal cost-of-living requirements which require students prove they have enough money to support themselves for the duration of their studies.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in October that the feds were planning to overhaul much of Canada’s international student framework. The requirement threshold hasn’t been updated in over a decade but the feds say it will now be adjusted annually when Statistics Canada updates the low-income cut-off (LICO).

Miller likened some colleges to puppy mills, in that they provide foreigners with an inadequate education while giving them a chance to get a visa to work in Canada and to eventually immigrate.

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“While this will help prevent student vulnerability and exploitation, we recognize that the impact of the change could vary depending on the applicant,” the government said in a release. “Next year, in collaboration with partners, we intend to implement targeted pilots that will test new ideas aimed at helping underrepresented cohorts of international students pursue their studies in Canada.”

The ministry says basing the cost-of-living requirement on the LICO represents “the minimum income necessary to ensure that an individual does not have to spend a greater than average portion of income on necessities” during their studies.

The new regulation will apply to all new study permit applications received on or after January 1.

Along with the updates to financial requirements, the ministry is also updating some temporary policies that were set to expire at the end of the year, including a policy that lengthened the time graduating international students could work in Canada without an employment visa.

Miller said Canada will look at offering some sort of support for foreigners who are unable to study in Canada as a result of the new income requirements.

– With files from The Canadian Press