Changes to citizenship laws have restricted what the centre can do for students

Changes to the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) laws are leaving post-secondary international centres with little information for students.

George Brown College’s (GBC) international centre will no longer be able to give students information on temporary resident visas, study, or work permits.

“As of right now all we’re able to provide students with, is to direct students to the CIC website or the CIC call centre,” said Ashley Sullivan, manager of international student integration and support at the GBC international centre.

According to the GBC’s Notice to International Students Regarding Change to Provision of CIC Information, the CIC has determined that employees at educational institutions that are paid to provide services to students are now prohibited from providing advice to students and faculty with regards to their immigration applications, visas or student and work permits.

“If we need to call and ask the CIC every time, then I cannot see the purpose of the front desk staff being there at the international centre,” said Rahul Borthakur, an international student in the strategic relationship marketing program. “Most of the international students’ queries revolve around work permits, permanent residency, and study permits.”

According to the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), “federal law requires that immigration consultants, in Canada or abroad, who provide Canadian immigration services for a fee, must be registered with the ICCRC and accredited as a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant.” Although GBC provides services, they are not accredited as an RCCIC.

“There is some confusion, definitely, it is a confusing process but a lot of it is, from my experience, is the students not knowing where to go to find the information,” said Sullivan. “We are able to direct students to the appropriate website, and once they’re able to find that, I find there’s less confusion.”

With the importance stressed by current students on the international centre, Sullivan preferred not to answer whether this was a disappointment to the centre, but is hoping to be able to provide students with information in the future.

Students like Gustavo Möller say that now “even the small things give students a hard time,” with regards to checking for proper documentation.

“It’s really important for us to provide services to our international students, so one thing that the college is doing is it’s supporting myself and another member of the international centre to actually do the certification, so that eventually we will be able to provide that service again,” said Sullivan.

For now, international students will have to deal with the confusion this situation may have caused, but rely on the CIC for important and required information.