Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all members of the committee for engaging on this important topic.
My name is Martin Basiri. I came to Canada as an international student from Iran to study at the University of Waterloo for my master's in engineering. Six years ago, I co-founded one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world with my brothers—who are also international students who came here with me—with a mission to educate the world. ApplyBoard is the largest platform for international students to discover and apply to educational institutions.
Thanks to IRCC, my brothers and I received our permanent residency through Canada’s start-up visa program and we were able to stay here in Canada and grow our company. We now include team members in over 30 countries, with 1,000 here in Canada. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity that the Canadian education system has given me as an international student. I wish for future leaders of Canada to follow the same pathway.
We have insight from helping over 300,000 applicants to Canadian institutions from 125 countries in the world. As well, I studied the last six years of study permit applications for this committee and would be happy to answer any of your questions after my recommendations.
The first recommendation is on dual intent. Our institutions, immigration system and government all promote the post-graduation work permit pathway to stay and work in Canada legally after graduation. We motivate the world’s best students to choose Canada over other countries because of our leading institutions and career opportunities after graduation. Then, at the time of application, we want them to tell us that they won't stay in Canada and will return to their home country.
Why are we doing this? Why are we discouraging applicants from being transparent and truthful about their intentions for coming to Canada, when in fact we want them to stay?
Madam Chair, you and this committee can create the political will to change this once and for all and to transform Canada’s talent attraction pathway to enable a better future for all Canadians.
Second, we must evaluate students on their potential and value to Canadian institutions and communities, not their ties to their home countries. Asking students to show ties to their home countries, families and businesses is a huge disadvantage to so many of the top students. Think about the top student in a west African country who happens to be an orphan. They have no chance of showing family ties. That’s not who Canadians are. That's not who we are and that needs to stop.
Third, IRCC is evaluating potential students from over 200 countries and fraud is one of the major challenges they have. They can’t solve this alone. They need to shed light on the importance of eliminating fraud and push all stakeholders—especially universities, colleges and test providers—to help in ending fraud altogether, forever.
Fourth, in this hearing, you've heard from other witnesses testifying to different problems that IRCC is having with time, processing, transparency and everything else. That being said, I have to say that IRCC has accomplished a lot during the pandemic. They have made policies in weeks that would normally take years, in a fast-changing pandemic environment.
Data suggests that there are persistent correlations between study permit acceptance rates and students' countries of origin, school attending, age and a number of other factors. To build efficiency, there is no better approach than for IRCC to create an AI-driven dynamic visa application system with dynamic requirements based on Canada’s needs, academic credentials of the application, intended institutions and other factors. This would not only increase the transparency of the system, but it would also end confusion.
Sector stakeholders want to be a part of the solution and have the expertise to help, so please continue to ask. We are willing to help build a better future for all Canadians.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair, for having me here.