Canada Study Permit: Justin Trudeau govt drops police clearance mandate for international students, temporary residents

In a significant development which could help temporary workers and international students, Canada has acknowledged that police clearance is not mandatory for those entering the country on a temporary basis, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.

Responding to queries in Parliament by Indo-Canadian MP Arpan Khanna, Immigration Minister Marc Miller clarified, “I have never said such certificates are required for temporary residents,’ the daily reported.

The Canadian immigration minister indicated that verification is done mainly through biometric data, such as fingerprints, which are cross-checked on law enforcement databases internationally. As for the police certificates from the country of origin, the HT quoted Miller as saying, “We do not, as a routine matter, require them for temporary residents.”

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However, police certificates from abroad may occasionally be requested on a case-by-case basis if further scrutiny is necessary.

“They may be required if an officer decides to do so as part of a cascading security screening,” he added later.

The minister's clarification comes amid debates about security checks for temporary residents, including international students, following recent criminal cases involving past visitors.

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It is important to note that at least two of the four persons arrested in relation to the killing of pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar had reached Canada in that category. Nijjar was killed on June 18 last year in Surrey, British Columbia. Canada has claimed that it has arrested four Indian nationals who were involved in the murder of Nijjar. Two of the arrested, Karan Brar (22) and Kamalpreet Singh (22), were in the country on student visas.

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Earlier this month, during an interaction on his book 'Why Bharat Matters' in Bhubaneswar, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar criticised the Justin Trudeau-led government in Canada for issuing visas to people with links to organised crimes for “political purposes" despite warnings from the Indian government. The minister said the Trudeau government has given legitimacy to “extremism, separatism and advocates of violence" in the name of free speech.

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"In some countries, these kinds of people have organised themselves politically and become a political lobby, and in some of these democratic countries, the politicians of these countries are made to believe that if they defer to these people or pander to these people, these people have some ability to get a community to support them. So, they have tried to create space for themselves in the politics of these countries. I mean, at this time, it's not so much a problem in the US," ANI quoted Jaishankar as saying.