Visa and Immigration Trends: A Comparative Examination of International Student Mobility in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Abstract

This comparative study examines visa and immigration regulations for international students and focuses on macro‐level policy trends during the past five to ten years in four English‐speaking countries: Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study highlights the trends and motivations to recruit international graduate students as valuable skilled labor and potential designer immigrants in order to compete in the global economic market. Based on the analysis of policy documents and secondary data, it was found that there is a weak connection between higher education institutions and national security or customs and border protection agencies and the role that they play on international education. Also, the ease and expense of obtaining a student visa greatly influences international student enrollment trends.

Global Korea Scholarship students: Intention to stay in the host country to work or study after graduation

“…Governments have since long operated high-skilled migration policies, such as occupational visas or points-based systems. Yet, skilled worker shortages prevail in many advanced economies, prompting measures targeted specifically at the retention of international graduates, most notably in Australia and Canada (Gopal, 2016;Hawthorne, 2010;She & Wotherspoon, 2013;Ziguras & Law, 2006). Much of the research on poststudy mobility has focused on traditional study destinations, including the United States (McGill, 2013(McGill, , 2018Roh, 2015) and the United Kingdom (Baruch et al, 2007).…”

Is it a Trump Bump, Spike, or Plateau?

“…(Institute of International Education [IIE], 2018b). A Fall 2018 survey found 71.8% of U.S. institutions are somewhat or very concerned about maintaining their enrollment of Indian students (IIE, 2018a), which is consistent with the 9.6% decline in total new U.S. international student enrollment from 2015-2016to 2017-2018(IIE, 2018b.…”

“…Canada is well positioned to attract Indian students away from U.S. universities. As noted by several authors, Canada's visa-to-work eligibility-to-citizenship process is much more straightforward than in the US (Garcia & Villarreal, 2014;Gopal, 2016;Hegarty, 2014;Sa & Sabzalieva, 2018). While Canada has made several changes to streamline international students' application processes and visa eligibility, the U.S. has tightened its access (Gopal, 2016), and these trends have been underway prior to the Trump presidency.…”

“…As noted by several authors, Canada's visa-to-work eligibility-to-citizenship process is much more straightforward than in the US (Garcia & Villarreal, 2014;Gopal, 2016;Hegarty, 2014;Sa & Sabzalieva, 2018). While Canada has made several changes to streamline international students' application processes and visa eligibility, the U.S. has tightened its access (Gopal, 2016), and these trends have been underway prior to the Trump presidency. In 2014, the Government of Canada released its new International Educational Strategy in which India was identified as one of six key source markets for Canada's Global Market Action Plan aimed at increasing Canada's international students from 239,111 to over 450,000 from 2011 to 2022 (Government of Canada, 2014).…”

Immigration Gridlock: Assessing Whether Canada’s Express Entry is an Effective Immigration System for International Students’ Transition into Permanent Residency?

“…Previous research on traditional leading destination countries, such as the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, has highlighted the highly influential ideologies on attracting and retaining international students worldwide (Bedford & Spoonley, 2014;Facchini & Lodigiani, 2014;Findlay, 2010;Gopal, 2016;Hawthorne, 2010). Admittedly, international students' pathways to permanent status are sometimes restricted in certain countries.…”