Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) recently announced the new Nigerian Student Express (NSE) pilot program for Nigerian students. The goal of this initiative aims to reduce the study permit applications processing time from the current eight weeks to less than three weeks.

This pilot is geared towards students who are seeking admission in either undergraduate, graduate or PhD programs in Canadian colleges and universities.

Students applying to study through this pilot require to prove they have sufficient finances to study in Canada. Their finances have to be verified through a secure monetary system called ‘MyBank’, which is offered from most commercial banks in Nigeria.

IRCC stats for the last quarter of 2019 showed a steep increase in study permit applications rejections. For the period January to June 2019 four in ten study permit applications were rejected which translates to 39%, as compared to 28% in 2014 and 34% for fiscal 2019. In 2019, the rejection rates for Nigerian students was 81% which showed that Nigerian students were among the top three for rejection in Africa.

The NSE is similar to the current Student Direct Stream (SDS) for students from India, Pakistan, Morocco, Senegal, China, Vietnam, and Philippines. The SDS is a fast-track study permit processing program for those who are applying to study in Canada at a post-secondary designated learning institution (DLI). SDS applications are processed within 20 days and applications are submitted online.

If you have any questions, we will be glad to assist you. Please Call/Text/Email JM Immigration +1 416 904 3815 / info@onecanadavisa.com.