On November 10, 2020, I appeared before a sitting of this committee. I raised some concerns with regard to high study visa refusal rates for applicants from Africa, especially at the Canadian visa office in Nairobi, Kenya.
Madam Chair, I'm privileged to appear before this committee again, 10 months later, to report that things have changed—sadly, not for the better. In illustrating the growing difficulty faced by African students to secure study visas to study in Canada, I'm going to use Nigeria as a case study.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. It is among the top 10 source countries for Canada's study visas—specifically, number three after China and India. It is the only African country on the top 10 list. It also has the lowest Canada study visa approval rate on that list. For example, Korea and Japan are on the top 10 list. At a point in time when Korea and Japan had 95% and 97% study visa approval rates, Nigeria had a dismal 11.8% study visa approval rate.
For many years, scholars and academics of African descent in Canada, as well as stakeholders, have sought reasons for the high study visa refusal rate from Canadian visa offices in Africa. That answer seemed to to emerge in October 2021, when the IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups report was released.
Among other points, that report noted the following: racism in IRCC had impacts on processing of immigration applications in seven countries; widespread reference to African countries as “dirty” by IRCC agents; and stereotyping of Nigerians as particularly corrupt and untrustworthy by IRCC agents. The report specifically noted the additional financial document requirements for applicants from Nigeria as part of the discriminatory rules reflected in the racism in IRCC. This fact was evident in a recent Federal Court judicial review case relating to a study visa application from Nigeria. I refer the committee to the case of Onyeka v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration).
Further evidence of the discriminatory policy relating to a study visa application can be seen by comparing two IRCC study visa programs: the student direct stream, SDS, and a similar program known as the Nigeria student express, NSE. The financial requirements under the SDS requires the applicant to show that they “have a Guaranteed Investment Certificate of $10,000” in Canadian dollars.
Compare this to the financial requirements in the Nigeria student express, which is a similar program by IRCC for study visa application in Nigeria. Under the Nigeria student express, the applicant is required to produce a bank statement showing the existence of “the equivalent of 30,000 Canadian dollars for at least 6 months”. The applicant from Nigeria is required to show proof of funds that are three times more than those of the applicant from the SDS countries, and yet, when this applicant overcomes this high burden of proof, most of the study visa applications from Nigeria are still refused.
Madam Chair, I recommend the IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups report to this committee. I have submitted as my exhibit to the committee both the final copy as well as the draft copy of this report. That study will greatly help or assist this committee in contextualizing the real reason for the [Technical difficulty—Editor] high study visa refusal rates by IRCC visa offices in Africa. That reason, Madam Chair, is the elephant in the room. It is racism.
I know that my time is up, so I'm not going to spend more time. Also, I'm going to stop here and then welcome further questions on the issues I have raised, as well as other issues such as Chinook and the use of artificial intelligence technology by the IRCC visa offices and the impact these technologies are actually having on study visa applications.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.