At 87%, students from Francophone African countries have the highest rate of visa application refusal in Canada compared with applicants from any other region, according to an article published by University World News Africa Edition.
Ebenezar Wikina, the founder of Policy Shapers, an open-source platform that aims to inspire young people to get involved in creating the policies that will shape the world, believes Canada is expressing racial discrimination. Meanwhile, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) counters with the argument that African students are usually refused visas on the basis of not demonstrating sufficient funds or income to support their studies and stay in the country.
Policy Shapers, along with the African Scholars Initiative, are also lobbying for the IELTS requirement in both Canada and the UK be dropped for Nigerian and other African countries’ students where citizens are taught in English.
Wikina told University World News, “To ask English-speaking Africans, who mostly grew up speaking their first words in the English language and have more than 10 years of basic and secondary education in the English language, to write English proficiency tests with results that expire every two years is unjust.”
He is calling on IRCC to review student visa applications on a case-by-case baiss.
