Toronto: Canada’s tightening of immigration rules has dealt a major blow to Indian students, with nearly three in four study permit applications from India being rejected in August 2025. The figure marks a steep rise from just 32 per cent in the same month last year, according to data obtained by Reuters from Canada’s immigration department.

Overall, around 40 per cent of study permit requests overall were denied in each of these months. Indian applicants faced the highest rejection rate among all nationalities with over 1,000 successful candidates. In comparison, just 24 per cent of Chinese study permits were rejected.

The number of Indian applicants also dropped drastically from 20,900 in August 2023 to just 4,515 this year. India has long been Canada’s largest source of international

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