Indian students used to flood Canada's inbox with study permit applications.
Now they're ghosting it.
And a Canadian migration official just told her boss exactly why.
👉 The Indian marriage-of-convenience strategy just got exposed.
Here's the play that ran for years.
Study in Canada is expensive.
So some applicants married a partner just to unlock a spousal Open Work Permit.
The spouse works. The bills get paid.
It was advertised — openly — in newspapers and on dating apps.
Yes, dating apps.
In 2024, Canada tightened the rules.
Most spouses of undergrad and college students? No longer eligible for that permit.
Han Duan, a migration official at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, laid out the fallout in an internal note dated March 22, 2025.
Her line says it all:
"The recent policy changes have disrupted common strategies used by applicants who intended to change schools or prioritise work over study."
So where did everyone go?
Applicants with strong grades and language scores didn't wait around.
They moved to countries still offering spousal visas:
Meanwhile Australia, New Zealand and the UK — who ran their own spousal crackdowns — saw Indian applications fall too.
Same policy. Same result. Different flag.
This was never just about visas.
It was about incentives.
Close one loophole, and the market simply — instantly — reroutes.
Canada didn't just lose applicant numbers.
Duan admits it lost applicant quality too.
The message for immigration policymakers everywhere is blunt:
Students don't chase flags.
They chase pathways.
That's all for now!
