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International Student Compliance Reporting by Designated Learning Institutions Context On February 12, 2014, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) published regulatory amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations to strengthen the integrity of the International Student Program. These amendments can be accessed in the Canada Gazette Part II, including at the following link: http://gazette.gc.ca/rppr/p2/2014/2014-02-12/html/sor-dors14-eng.php. Key reforms include: Limiting issuance of study permits to international students destined to designated learning institutions, including those that are designated by provincial and territorial ministries of education; Introducing new study permit conditions that require international students to be enrolled at a designated institution and actively pursuing studies while in Canada; Allowing the issuance of removal orders by officers in circumstances where students are not complying with new study permit conditions; Making it easier for certain international students to work off-campus; and Streamlining access to international student work programs. These changes will come into force June 1, 2014. The overall objective of these amendments is to strengthen the integrity of Canada s immigration program by explicitly requiring study permit holders to actively pursue their studies, reducing the number of non-genuine and poor quality learning institutions hosting study permit holders, and facilitating the entry into Canada of those foreign nationals who sincerely wish to obtain a Canadian education. Learning institutions play an active role in the promotion, recruitment and admission of international students and are a key source of information on students enrolment status. Compliance reporting by institutions on the enrolment of their international students supports the CIC regulatory amendment requiring study permit holders to be enrolled at a designated institution and actively pursuing studies while in Canada. CIC first put forward the idea of a new compliance role for institutions during crosscountry consultations held in every province over January and February 2013, conducted in partnership with provincial ministries of education. Compliance reporting by institutions to CIC will be facilitated through provincial/territorial requirements for institutional designation to accept international students with study permits. For more information on designation requirements or processes, please contact the ministry of 2
education or advanced education in the province or territory in which your institution is located. Overview of the Portal CIC has developed a Designated Learning Institution Portal (DLI Portal) to support the management of compliance reporting for the International Student Program. The DLI Portal will allow CIC to capture, in a systematic way, relevant information to assess each international student s compliance with study permit conditions. The Portal was developed in consultation with a Working Group comprised of CIC, provincial officials, and approximately 30 institutional representatives who provided valuable input on frequency and timing of reporting, and reporting indicators. Information provided by institutions to CIC via the Portal will not directly result in the removal of international students from Canada. Rather, this information will support CIC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in identifying where follow-up activities/investigations of international students may we warranted. Process The implementation of compliance reporting by Designated Learning Institutions will be completed in three phases: Phase I: Notification to Enroll from CIC (beginning in April 2014) CIC will notify learning institutions whose designation to host international students has been confirmed by their provincial/territorial authorities to begin the enrolling in the CIC DLI Portal. Phase II: Completion of the Online Enrolment Process by Institutions (beginning prior to June 1, 2014 and ongoing) Designated learning institutions will be required to enroll online through CIC s DLI Portal. Institutions will be required to provide the following information during enrolment: o name of the institution; o address, business phone number and email address of the institution; and. o full name, title/position, business email and phone number of the institutional representative. The completion of this enrolment process is crucial to ensuring that designated learning institutions are recognized in CIC s internal system used to process study permit applications. Please note that it may take up to five business days for CIC to validate an enrolment request. 3
Upon successful completion of the enrolment process, the institution will be issued a Designated Learning Institution number (DLI #). The DLI names and associated DLI#s will be published on the CIC website at a later date. Phase III: Compliance Reporting (tentatively scheduled for late 2014 or early 2015) Twice a year (winter and spring), CIC will generate an institution-specific report for institutions to complete via the DLI Portal. The institution-specific reports will provide the biographic information of students (e.g., name and date of birth, CIC client ID) enrolled at the respective institution. Learning institutions will then be prompted to complete the report by selecting an enrolment status indicator (e.g. full-time; academic suspension; no longer enrolled, etc) for each student. The reports will be submitted directly to CIC via the Portal. CIC will review the reports and identify cases where follow-up activities may be warranted. It is important to note that a learning institution will only be expected to report on the status of study permit holders who submitted an application for a study permit as of June 1, 2014, and are subject to the new study permit conditions. Institutions will not be required to report on the status of international students who have applied for a study permit prior to June 1, 2014; students who may be exempt from the reporting process; and current study permit holders. CIC will be responsible for following up with those students directly, as required. Benefits to institutions of Compliance Reporting Information provided by institutions to CIC would allow CIC to analyze data on international student compliance trends, including by institution. Institutions whose recruitment practices result in high levels of compliance would benefit as visa officers would have access to quantifiable indicators on risk levels to facilitate processing. Additionally, aggregate compliance data provided to institutions by CIC would allow institutions to adjust recruitment practices, including their choice of recruiters, to ensure that the international students being recruited are those who are actually likely to pursue study after arrival in Canada. Next steps CIC is currently developing training materials on the compliance reporting process for designated learning institutions. A Portal Enrollment Guide will be made available on the CIC website in April 2014. Additional details concerning Compliance Reporting will be available on the CIC website shortly. Please forward questions regarding the DLI Portal to the following address: DLI-listliste-EED@cic.gc.ca. 4
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