Open Letter to the Government of Canada : Low Study Permit Success Ratio of Pakistani Deserving Students
Islamabad: I, Muhammad Fahim, sent the following letter via email to the government of Canada.
The Right Honourable Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
The Honourable Marco E. L Mendicino
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Mr. Mendicino:
Like all the International students studying at the remarkable Canadian institutions, hundreds and thousands of Pakistani deserving students want to embark on their higher studies in Canada to enhance their job prospects back home upon their return. The Study Permit success ratio of Pakistani students as compared to Indian students is extremely low. Our rejection rate is tantamount to their success ratio.
In 2015, only 32% of Pakistanis got their Study Permits approved while on the other side of the border, the success ratio for Indian students was more than 70%. In 2018 alone, 172,625 Indian students got their Study Permits approved. But, on the contrary, only 3,965 Study Permits were granted to Pakistani students.
Honorable Prime Minister Trudeau, we are grateful to the Government of Canada for the inclusion of Pakistan into the Student Direct Stream (SDS) last year.
We hope that this will improve our Study Permits success ratio, however, more steps need to be taken in this regard. For instance, our visa and Study Permit applications are processed in the Abu Dhabi Embassy of Canada. We request you, Mr. Prime Minister Trudeau and the Immigration Minister Mr. Mendicino and the government of Canada to start processing our visa and Study Permit applications in the Islamabad Embassy of Canada.
Secondly, as compared to other regions of Pakistan, the Study Permits rejection ratio of Kyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province and erstwhile FATA region is extremely high.
It has been understood from the high visa and Study Permit rejection rate of deserving students belong to the said regions that their visa and Study Permit applications are denied on the bases of their ethnicity and because they belong to a region that was once badly affected by terrorism.
Though Pakistan almost completely eradicated terrorism from these areas long ago, however, the people of these regions are still facing rejections. Thus, because of the extremely high rejection ratio, almost all the well-reputed educational consultants in Pakistan advise their students (clients) belongs to the above-said regions to consider the UK, Germany, France, China, Norway, and the US instead of Canada for their higher studies.
The educational consultants argue that over the years we have got many rejections of very strong and deserving cases belongs to the above-said regions as compared to weak cases from other parts of the country that got approved. I think this issue should be addressed urgently and all Study Permit applications should be assessed on a case by case bases.
We deem Canada as a friend and well-wisher nation of Pakistan and we truly respect and love you Mr. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We hope that the above issues will be addressed on urgent bases which will strengthen relations between the two friendly countries.
Sincerely,
Muhammad Fahim
Islamabad, Pakistan.