International students face long processing times, miss semesters while waiting for visa approvals

Some international students who started online learning from their home countries are facing long processing times for their visa approvals, reports CBC. CBC spoke with international students from St Clair College about the issue. Ravneet Kaur, who lives in India and has completed a semester online at St Clair, applied for a study permit in July 2021 with hopes that she could attend classes in person in the winter semester. However, she has still not received her visa. Other students shared that they faced similar wait times, with around 90 St Clair students reportedly still waiting for visa approval at this time. Immigration lawyer Eddie Kadri told CBC that the system is “dysfunctional” and “teetering on being broken” due to a surge in immigration applications, and that IRCC is trying to prioritize refugee applications. CBC Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.