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Visa policy and international student migration: evidence from Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Jerome Gonnot
  • Mauro Lanati

Abstract

This article examines how visa policy affects international student migration. Using administrative data on community colleges in Canada, we evaluate a reform that introduced a new visa stream—the Student Partners Program (SPP)—with shorter processing times and higher approval rates for student visa applicants able to demonstrate that they have the financial resources and language skills to succeed academically. Using a triple difference estimator, we find that SPP increased student migration from treated countries by 34% relative to what would have occurred without the reform, and that this effect materialized only among students from origin countries suffering from low approval rates. Moreover, we show that higher enrollment was driven in roughly equal proportions by an increase in visa approval rates and the volume of visa applications, suggesting that the policy helped reduce statistical discrimination and increased the attractiveness of treated institutions. We also leverage the SPP reform to investigate potential crowding-out effects. While inflows of international students did not reduce the number of domestic students enrolled at Canadian community colleges, the reform helped foreign enrollment outpace domestic enrollment by crowding-in international students from countries that were not eligible to SPP.

Suggested Citation

  • Jerome Gonnot & Mauro Lanati, 2025. "Visa policy and international student migration: evidence from Canada," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 255-291.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:25:y:2025:i:2:p:255-291.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbae034
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    international migration; students; visa policy; information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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