Punjab students spend a whopping Rs 68,000 crores annually for studying in Canada: Report 

Amid India and Canada's diplomatic tussle, Chairman of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, Kamal Bhumla, informed that the Indian students from Punjab who migrate to Canada for education spend an estimated Rs 68,000 crore annually in fees. Bhumla stressed that Indian parents end up paying a hefty sum of money to be able to afford their children’s education in Canada, according to the staggering statistics that were cited by the Khalsa Vox outlet. 

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data reveals that a total of 226,450 visas were approved for Indian students in 2022. Of these, an estimated 1.36 lakh students were residents of the state of Punjab. 60 percent of all Indian students who moved to Canada were of Punjabi origin.They applied for education in Canadian institutions to pursue courses that were of an average duration of two to three years.

Approximately 3.4 lakh Punjabi students are currently studying in Canada across various educational institutions, according to the data released by visa processing agencies. 

“Based on the figures available to us, nearly 60 percent of Indians migrating to Canada are Punjabi, accounting for an estimated 1.36 lakh students who went last year," Chairman of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, Kamal Bhumla was quoted as saying. 

3.4 lakh Punjabi students in Canada

Chairman of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, Bhumla, further stated that on average, each student, who mostly hailed from Punjab, paid approximately 17,000 Canadian dollars in annual fees. This included the deposit amount of an estimated 10,200 Canadian dollars which was taken as the Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC) funds. The figures have risen significantly, as until 2008, only an estimated 38,000 Punjabis migrated to Canada each year, Bhumla, who has over three decades of experience in visa services, reportedly said. 

A senior official at the forex company in Jalandhar said that it is often observed that the "average expenditure incurred by Punjabi parents to send their children to Canada on a student visa amounts to approximately Rs 20 lakh per year." The official reportedly informed that as per the data, "it is safe to estimate that there are at least 3.4 lakh Punjabi students in Canada, collectively contributing Rs 68,000 crore annually to the Land of the Maple Leaf.”