Abstract
Canadian immigration has been one of the most coveted citizenships for immigrants all over the world and the Canadian government has maintained their fair and lenient immigration policy for years. With the global competition for international students, Universities in Canada have needed support from their government to attract the best talent from all over the world as these students provide billions of dollars to the Canadian economy in terms of their tuition fees, accommodation charges and other expenses. After graduation, these students can provide years of service to the Canadian economy by filling out jobs, paying taxes and buying accommodation in Canada. Therefore, it is logical for the Canadian government to find the means to provide permanent citizenship to international students as they would help in the growing Canadian economy. There are specific advantages of attracting and retaining international students as they can become the backbone of the Canadian economy in coming years.
For several decades, Canada was known to have one the most fair and generous countries in terms of their immigration policy. But, in 2006, the Canadian government started pursuing reforms that focused on using the immigration system for fuelling the economic prospected of the nation. In addition, the government wanted to place, “a high priority on finding people who have the skills and experience required to meet Canada’s economic needs” (Library of Congress). Mobility of international students has become a competitive industry, where many countries have aligned their immigration pathways and marketing strategies. In Canada, the numbers of international students have doubled from 97,336 in the year 1999 to 196,227 in the year 2009 (Lowe). Therefore, Canada needs to find avenues to compete with other countries for the best talent and offering them permanent citizenship after graduation is the most effective and attractive measure. By passing regulations that help international students to become permanent citizens after their graduation; Canada would add billions to their GDP, fulfil their need for skilled workers, and building human capacity and population balance.
Reasons for Giving Permanent Citizenship for International students
Contribution to GDP
Therefore, it is important that Canada simplifies its immigration system for international students as they are competing with several other countries to attract the best talents to study and work in their country. With the current biased Express Entry system, Canada stands to lose the best talents from all over the world to other countries with easier immigration (Zilio & Choise). This can be detrimental to the Canadian economy as they stand to lose billions of dollars of revenue from international students in the form of college tuition, discretionary spending and accommodation (Institute of International Education). International students lost to other countries would decrease the talent pool in the country and the best talents would prefer to work in countries where they have studied. Overall, it is in the best interest of Canada and its economy to ensure that the path to citizenship of international students is made simpler.
Canada’s New Skill Migrants
The global race for foreign students is driven partially by the economic benefits for the economy and the overall economy; international students also add skills, diversification and innovation. Migration of international students has become the precursor for high skilled immigration and in the coming year’s competition in this industry would only increase. With the probable rise in global competition for international students and skilled migrants, Canada needs to look at their competition and learn to implement strategic policies for attracting and recruiting international students are permanent residents. According to 2012 CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) figures, Canada provided 60 percent of their permanent resident visas to economic immigrants, in which majority were given to immigrants applying through the Provincial Nominee Program and the Federal Skills Workers Program (Lowe). Canada can use these visas to retain international students, who already are living in Canada and speak English or French (Zilio & Choise).
Many International students already desire to live in Canada as most of them arrive to study in Canada with the presumption that they will get permanent citizenship. Using biased methods such as Express Entry restricts many students to retain their citizenship and have to leave the country. These students have gained their education in Canada and they have learned their skill sin Canada, and it is only fair that they get the opportunity to hone their skill in Canada. Rather than searching and attracting economic immigrants from all over the world, Canada should focus on their international student base and provide them permanent residency as retain their skills in the country. This measure will ensure that the best talents educated in Canada are retained by the country and these students would provide support to job opportunities in Canada.
Human Capacity and Population Balance
Similar to other developed countries, Canadians are also living longer and produce less number of children. This means, Canada, which already has a low population or human capital in comparison to other developed countries needs to find means to sustain their economy. Another problem lies head is their fertility rate being below their replacement rate, which needs to be addressed, otherwise it would place, “significant burden on Canada’s social welfare system and make it difficult for Canada to maintain its current economic growth rate” (Ortiz & Choudaha). The change is demography is happening in Canada and the economy is demanding skilled workers with education to drive growth of the Canadian economy. Therefore, it is essential for Canada that skilled migration is encouraged through means such as recruitment and retaining international students in Canada as they possess the skill set needed to sustain economic growth.
Understanding their need for human capital and population balance, the federal government has been working hard to develop initiatives and channels that are designed for welcoming skilled migrants. Canada needs to find ways of increasing the number of international students retained in the country after college education and strengthen the brand of Canadian education by making it the leading destination for top-notch research and study of multiple subjects. Universities and Colleges need to help the government in creating an environment where international students are retained to help increase the number of skilled migrants in the future (Ortiz & Choudaha). Overall, offering permanent residency to international students is a measure that would ensure Canada has the human capital to fill skilled jobs and the population balance to sustain the long term growth of their economy.
Conclusion
The race of international students is heating up as several countries are competing to attract the best talents in their country. Canada is among these countries as international students are avenue for their economic growth, but they will only succeed if they find measures that help to attract international students and retain them as skilled workers. The Canadian government needs to understand the advantages of giving permanent citizenship to international students after their graduation as these students become an important tool for managing economic growth in terms of revenue from tuition fees, accommodation charges and other discretionary expenses. Also, retaining international students after would help in filling skilled jobs and sustaining economic growth for the long term. Finally, permanent citizenship for international students would also solve Canada’s problem of low human capacity and population balance.
Works Cited
Library of Congress. Points-Based Immigration Systems: Canada. Library of Congress. loc.gov. 9 June 2015. Web. 16 June 2016.
Lowe., Sophia. International Students as Canada's New Skilled Migrants. World Education News & Reviews. wes.org. December 2010. Web. 15 June 2016.
Ortiz., Alejandro & Choudaha., Rahul. Attracting and Retaining International Students in Canada. World Education News & Reviews. Wes.org. 1 May 2014. Web. 16 June 2016.
The Canadian Press. Canada could become less attractive to international students. Macleans. macleans.ca. 21 February 2014. Web. 16 June 2016.
Zilio., Michelle & Choise., Simona. Ottawa looks to ease international students’ path to permanent residency. The Globe and Mail. theglobeandmail.com. 15 March 2016. Web. 16 June 2016.
