Indian students to benefit from Canadian Visa rule changes
Torronto, June 25: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), said that students from India and three other Asian countries will get faster visas to study in Canada as it has introduced major changes in visa procedures to reduce the processing time. The Canadian decision comes at a time when the UK's government has decided to exclude Indian students from easier visa norms.
IRCC, in a statement said that the agency is making great efforts in promoting Canada as a destination of choice for international students in search of quality education by finding efficient ways to process applications.
To support the growth in study permit applications, IRCC announced the Student Direct Stream (SDS), which is available to students applying for a study permit from China, India, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Students from these four countries who demonstrate upfront that they have the financial resources and language skills to succeed academically in Canada will benefit from faster processing times, said the statement.
IRCC also said similar programs have been in place in these 4 countries for a few years.
"We are aligning them together into 1 program to ensure consistency," the statement said.
IRCC is also working on expanding SDS to Africa and are looking at options in Kenya and Senegal.
"Expansion to Senegal would be in line with the department's focus to attract more French-speaking students to Canada," added the statement from the immigration authority.
To qualify for SDS, applicants need to meet additional requirements, in particular language levels that are stricter than regular study permit requirements. Students who do not have all of the additional information required for SDS can apply through the regular study permit application process, either online or at a Visa Application Centre.
The SDS complements the Express Entry system as these students will be well placed to continue on the path to permanent residence and Canadian citizenship after completing their studies in Canada, if they wish to.
The success of the SDS program will be evaluated with the intention to expand the program in 2019.
The new program shall cut down the processing time for study permits (which are student visas) to within 45 days from within 60 days.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
