Canada likely to exempt more international students soon?

[computerscience23]

Hello Guys! Just wanted to have a healthy discussion regarding Canadian borders closure. Recently, Canada exempted International students from US as long as the reason to travel is essential. US is hands down the worst hit country by the coronavirus. So, I believe it does make sense to exempt international students from all around the globe. Introducing new rules for international students is really helping and I really appreciate that. However, online classes are not a piece of cake. Before stating the pain points, let me tell you some background information about me. I am a returning student who has been studying in Canada since Fall 2016. So, I have experience in both in-person and online classes. Below are the pain points that I have personally experienced during Spring 2020 term:

1. Time Zone - This is the most important factor to consider while taking online classes. Especially for people like me from India (or other asian countries) where the time zone difference is 10+ hours. Now some people might argue that why not just follow local time zone since all the lectures will be uploaded anyways. The reason is very simple. Office hours, friends, professors, group meetings, etc. everything happen during EDT time zone. So, imo, it is very unreasonable to follow local time zone. And if you are going to follow local time zone, then get ready to miss out on many things. Even though I am a returning student, I had the need to follow EDT time zone for aforementioned reasons. Hence, you live a life which revolves in between two time zones. Neither you can enjoy things happening during local time zone nor during EDT time zone. For example, let's say you plan to meet your friends during local time zone. Oh shoot! you cannot! You gotta sleep.

2. Internet Bandwidth, Electricity cut-off and similar issues - I guess the severity of these issues would depend on your location. But I guess many students would run into these kinda issues from time to time and it gets very annoying. Personally, I have a very decent internet connection but there were instances where electricity went off in middle of a meeting or other issues happened. On top of that, there is a lot of distraction due to the fact that you're gonna live at home.

In a nutshell, I would say online classes are not that fun, especially for new students who are not accustomed to Canadian educational practices. I know we are in the middle of pandemic so allowing students without an essential reason would be not feasible. But Canada should definitely exempt international students as long as the reason to travel is essential. What do you guys think?

 

[Shayshay_127]

it's weird to me that Russia despite being in top 5 COVID countries has been gradually opening up and letting people travel abroad and come back, while Canada is having super low daily increase in cases and is still shut.

 

[scylla]

it's weird to me that Russia despite being in top 5 COVID countries has been gradually opening up and letting people travel abroad and come back, while Canada is having super low daily increase in cases and is still shut.

Different countries have different approaches.

We are having a low daily increase here and want to keep in that way. Our numbers have been steady for a while. I think they should be dropping and that means we have work to do. IMO opening up now is a bad idea and I would prefer to limit traffic from the U.S. further because they are a mess and are managing this badly.

See what NZ has done vs. Russian. I personally prefer the NZ approach. Anyway, short answer is different countries, different approaches.

 

[Yusuf786]

I don’t think it is useful for Canada to keep close border now, closing everything in a place is only to prepare yourself to handle the unprecedented situation.
Stopping towards normalcy will have severe impact on Country & people of that country. I strongly recommend that Canada should gradually open border by implementing safety measures as like Quarantine & testing. It will not help only to Canada but also others (families & students).

 

[Shayshay_127]

Different countries have different approaches.

We are having a low daily increase here and want to keep in that way. Our numbers have been steady for a while. I think they should be dropping and that means we have work to do. IMO opening up now is a bad idea and I would prefer to limit traffic from the U.S. further because they are a mess and are managing this badly.

See what NZ has done vs. Russian. I personally prefer the NZ approach. Anyway, short answer is different countries, different approaches.

I guess it also depends if a country's economy is strong enough and can handle border closure for some time.

But at the same time, COVID is not going anywhere and borders can't stay shut forever. Would be great if they let people enter in batches and get them tested at the border, and then test again after a while. I personally wouldn't even mind paying for my own testing.
But of course, easier said than done. Hope the world can go back to normal soon

 

[jigzyy]

I don’t think it is useful for Canada to keep close border now, closing everything in a place is only to prepare yourself to handle the unprecedented situation.
Stopping towards normalcy will have severe impact on Country & people of that country. I strongly recommend that Canada should gradually open border by implementing safety measures as like Quarantine & testing. It will not help only to Canada but also others (families & students).

Things cannot go back to normal unless there's a vaccine available. Instead of opening up to let people in to only close down again in case of Covid19 cases spike is not something that Canada is looking for. Government and the people here have put a lot of effort (and sacrifices) to bring the curve down and now they are trying to keep it that way. Going even tiny bit of reckless now means that all the efforts so far was for nothing.

I think we will see more changes by IRCC in next few months depending on the case trend in Canada and around the world.

 

[Shayshay_127]

It's mostly a political thing, Canada won't open borders for non-essential travel until the US border opens again. Trump wouldn't like it if Canada opened its borders for everyone but Americans.

well then we'll have to wait for like ages lol or until somebody with a brain becomes the president

 

[computerscience23]

It's mostly a political thing, Canada won't open borders for non-essential travel until the US border opens again. Trump wouldn't like it if Canada opened its borders for everyone but Americans.

I totally agree! But imo, preventing students (who have essential reason) from traveling is not a good idea. Canada has exempt international students from US, then why not all around the globe? If students don't show an essential reason to travel, then sure don't allow them entry. But they should definitely allow students with in-person classes, returning students, labs, workshops, etc. All I am saying is that they should remove this March 18th' 2020 barrier.

 

[phuongdong]

I totally agree! But imo, preventing students (who have essential reason) from traveling is not a good idea. Canada has exempt international students from US, then why not all around the globe? If students don't show an essential reason to travel, then sure don't allow them entry. But they should definitely allow students with in-person classes, returning students, labs, workshops, etc. All I am saying is that they should remove this March 18th' 2020 barrier.

I think Canada is now playing a safe step. With the new IRCC flexibility PGWP yesterday, it seems to be straightforward that CIC wants Winter term to be in online remote again for all students even people with 1-year program. However, I have read carefully that they do not mention anything about traveling restrictions or visa processing so I hope there are going to be some updates soon for these in the coming weeks.

 

[computerscience23]

I think Canada is now playing a safe step. With the new IRCC flexibility PGWP yesterday, it seems to be straightforward that CIC wants Winter term to be in online remote again for all students even people with 1-year program. However, I have read carefully that they do not mention anything about traveling restrictions or visa processing so I hope there are going to be some updates soon for these in the coming weeks.

I really hope they allow international students with essential reason to travel.

 

[Copingwithlife]

I don’t think it is useful for Canada to keep close border now, closing everything in a place is only to prepare yourself to handle the unprecedented situation.
Stopping towards normalcy will have severe impact on Country & people of that country. I strongly recommend that Canada should gradually open border by implementing safety measures as like Quarantine & testing. It will not help only to Canada but also others (families & students).

Well fortunately the Government has a mandate to ensure the safety of Canadians already in the country.
As previously mentioned , different countries set different rules on how to handle the situation on how to protect , to the best of their abilities, their residents. Unfortunately foreign nationals wanting to travel to the country would fall behind that priority
And I assume other world Governments would put their residents first over and above what foreign nationals want
If the Government decided to open the borders and the direct result of that causes a outbreak , which then in turns to be a out of control outbreak , that overruns the already precarious health care system, that more than likely tip the scales in the popular vote against the minority Government currently in power . I’m sure the Government will not take a chance .
In a nutshell , students on temp permits can’t vote

 

[Bishops2020]

well then we'll have to wait for like ages lol or until somebody with a brain becomes the president

I totally agree! But imo, preventing students (who have essential reason) from traveling is not a good idea. Canada has exempt international students from US, then why not all around the globe? If students don't show an essential reason to travel, then sure don't allow them entry. But they should definitely allow students with in-person classes, returning students, labs, workshops, etc. All I am saying is that they should remove this March 18th' 2020 barrier.

Returning students who qualify under essential reasons can travel. They are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones are the new students (except US) whose study permits have been put on hold, the ones after 18th March 2020.

My daughter is in daily contact with returning students and new US students (who entered with outstanding study permit applications so applied again at the border and were granted study permits immediately), they are in quarantine together at her tiny Quebec university. It's quite hard for her knowing they will be studying and she cannot, but also keeps up her spirits that she will soon be able to join them. She's had to apply for a completely different type of studies where we live to cover the fact she cannot study in Quebec currently as her classes are in person only and she's hoping that these studies will be transferable. Hoping against hope. All because she was born in 2001 and not 2000.

 

[AalekhT]

As per my opinion Canadian Universities and Colleges should stop giving admission to all the international student and also the Canadian government should openly say that no international student will be allowed till winter 2023. So that prospective students will not remain in the confusion and they can move on from this and start their new journey.

 

[sp08]

Returning students who qualify under essential reasons can travel. They are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones are the new students (except US) whose study permits have been put on hold, the ones after 18th March 2020.

My daughter is in daily contact with returning students and new US students (who entered with outstanding study permit applications so applied again at the border and were granted study permits immediately), they are in quarantine together at her tiny Quebec university. It's quite hard for her knowing they will be studying and she cannot, but also keeps up her spirits that she will soon be able to join them. She's had to apply for a completely different type of studies where we live to cover the fact she cannot study in Quebec currently as her classes are in person only and she's hoping that these studies will be transferable. Hoping against hope. All because she was born in 2001 and not 2000.

I am hoping that seeing that the returning and incoming international students had respected the quarantine and aren't carrying/spreading the virus, they possibly could promote more exemptions.

 

[Bishops2020]

I am hoping that seeing that the returning and incoming international students had respected the quarantine and aren't carrying/spreading the virus, they possibly could promote more exemptions.

Cannot agree more.

I am following the flights that are reported as bringing in cases. Would be good to know how many cases exactly as a percentage each day arrive by plane and the profile, are these Canadians / Canadian residents / family reunion / students? It's vital to know. Canadians are still able to travel freely and some are taking holidays to Europe. If they want to base the restrictions on students on medical grounds, I'd like to know what percentage of cases are caused by the students currently allowed to travel. Not a single flight in August from our home country has brought in a case yet. There are 6 flights from Europe daily to Montreal from 5 European countries, those flights will have connecting students from China and India.