Canada has discontinued the Student Direct Stream (SDS) scheme, a special visa program popular among international students. As a result, students of 14 countries including India will be in trouble. The country announced the closure of this scheme citing housing and resource crisis.
The initiative is being discontinued to strengthen the integrity of the visa program, identify student vulnerabilities, and ensure equal and transparent access to students in the application process, according to a notice on the Government of Canada website.
Applications under this scheme are accepted till November 8. Then the rest of the applications will be accepted under the regular study permit stream, the website said. Through this scheme, a large number of applications were accepted at a faster time.
Canada launched the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) program in 2018 to expedite study permit applications for international students.
Under this, the country offers SDS visa to students from 14 countries including India, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines and Vietnam.
14 countries including India will have to go through a lengthy visa process as this scheme is closed.
Canada has clamped down on immigration for the first time in years. The government took this dramatic decision to control the arrival of immigrants in the country in an attempt to retain power as its popularity declined.
But once the country provided easy immigration for foreigners. Canada has moved to reduce immigration as the housing crisis and pressures on the cost of living and health care continue to grow.
The issue of immigration has become a hot topic in Canadian politics ahead of the October 2025 federal election. Opinion polls leading up to the election show that a large portion of the country's population thinks Canada has too many immigrants.
