Stress rises for students waiting for visa

If the start of the school year is approaching, the processing deadlines for the visa requests of foreign students stretch. Several French students may not start their session in time, failing to have received their study permit.

We are still waiting and in stressdeplores Betty Gautier. We always have no answer, zero update, no message, nothingadds his cousin, Romy Richepin.

The two French women, aged 18, have the common project to come and study in Matane, in the technique in Tourism du Cégep.

It is scary for us and the whole family. We worked, we’ve been working with Romy for a year to organize this trip, to finance all this.

At Cégep de Matane, half of the new students from the outside have not yet received its visa. The college establishments of the Gaspésie, the North Shore and the Bas Saint-Laurent also note unusual delays this summer.

Currently, we do not yet know how many of our students can have their permit in timeis concerned about the director general of Cégep de Matane, Martin Demers.

It is dramas for these people who have chosen to come and study in Quebec. They are committed, they praised apartments, have their plane tickets […] And they don’t know what awaits them, barely ten days before the start of the school year.

Dated August 13, the processing period for a request for a study permit made from France was eleven weeks, against three at the start of the summer. The cause of these extended deadlines is unknown and IRCC has not yet responded to the request for information from Radio-Canada.

A reception pushed

In Matane, the reception days of international students start next Monday. They allow students to familiarize themselves with grocery stores, bank accounts and health insurance, in order to simplify their arrival and promote their academic success.

We really have a reception period which is crucial for these people, and already at the start, for a certain number of students, this period is threatenedadd Martin Demers.

Without their study permit, Betty and Romy will not be able to take their plane from France to Quebec at the start of next week.

We have never traveled, we have always lived in France. Even if language is not very different, customs and habits are.

In writing, the Cégep de Baie-Comeau indicates that it has offered a first welcome to around thirty international students, but plans to organize a second for people still waiting for visa.

This second reception generates additional costs, but out of respect for these students who have chosen our CEGEP and who make the difference for our programs, this decision was inevitable for us writes the communications advisor, Catherine Heppell.

First a long path

Once the study permit has been issued, immigration challenges continue for international students. Ilante, a Frenchman in photography studies at Cégep de Matane, gives the example of the extension of his visa. The day I submitted my request, it was a period of three weeks, but there, we are returned to almost four months!

You do a renewal to continue your studies and you stress yourself to know: “Are you going to finish your studies? Is all the costs generated, the motivation you put in it will be paid?

In 2024, Ottawa also took the measure (new window) To abolish certain studies programs eligible for the postdiplôme work permit, a visa allowing foreign students to remain working in the country after their studies.

The measure is sometimes considered an obstacle for young graduates wishing to settle in Quebec.