Sept 23 2002 NATIONAL NEWS

International students asked to leave SFU:

Post-9/11 rules catch students by surprise

Over The Edge Page 4

By Mohamad El Masri, The Peak

VANCOUVER (CUP) — Over 100 international stu- dents at Simon Fraser University will be told to drop out of their courses and leave school.

Students holding study per- mits are facing strict regula- tions caused by changes to federal immigration regula- tions that came into effect this past June to which universities across Canada are being forced to adhere.

Before the new regulations, students who were out of sta- tus could be reinstated. Effective June 28, stu- dents must ensure that they satisfy and meet all the criteria on their study permits. Conditions placed on the permits outline where and how long a student can study, in accordance with the federal government's policies.

The main problem, according to interna- tional student advisor Chris Breedyk, is that students are taking the criteria for granted and

paying attention only to) sey international Office, home to when their study period | may no longer be able to finish their degrees.

ends. “Students are not looking at whether the permit allows them to switch institutions or place of residence,” said Breedyk. “They come here and study, and their friends tell them that it’s all right to change schools whenever they want and that they don’t have to do any paperwork.” The ramifications of this, she says, are that students must now be reinstated and restored to status before they can continue studies. If stu- dents are still within the 90-day period since infraction of the conditions on their permits, they can be restored with a $200 penalty payment. The problems start when students delay going to Immigration Canada to update their per- mits and go beyond the sanc- tioned 90-day buffer period to

restore themselves, in which case they are asked to drop their classes.

“Many students have been at SFU now for two or three semesters on a college per- mit,” said Breedyk. “[That] means they either have to reapply for a new permit which allows them to be at a univer- sity or leave school.”

While the effects of the new regulations are hitting students across the board, Simon Fraser Student Society Executive Member Clement Apaak, who is also the Canadian Federation of

Students international student

commissioner, says students most affected by the new poli- cies will be those who trans- ferred to SFU from local col- leges.

“For some reason a lot of students who transferred from colleges took for granted the fact that they had to go to Immigration to change their study permit from college to university,’ Apaak says. “Some of these people have been in university for close to three to four years, and some are even about to graduate. They are being asked to abandon their studies.”

Breedyk emphasizes that the new regulations are not directly related to attempts by the university to implement the Canadian government's new security measures, especially when it comes to students

are “ dhote students who

entering Canada exclusively for study purposes.

Apaak believes, however, that there is a direct connec- tion between stricter regula- tions on international students and attempts to implement new immigration security laws and conditions highlighted in new anti-terrorism and immi- gration legislation. Apaak sees obvious connections between what's happening to interna- tional students now and the events that occurred on Sept. 11.

“It was reported that some of the hijackers [of the planes] were living in the United States on expired stu- dent visas,” — said Apaak. “That is being translated in the pre- sent regulations on how North American countries should moni- tor the movements of international students. | see the new regula-

tions, where Immigration Canada is becoming more

junfriendly to interna- | tional students, to be a direct consequence of # what happened in the = U.S.

Breedyk indicates that the consequences of the new regulations are simply administrative and will require greater thorough- ness on the part of students in updating their permits.

“These new regulations do not target any specific group of people and have little to do with Canada’s new security measures,” she said. “The Canadian government is sim- ply asking students to pay attention to their permits and the conditions that allow them or don’t allow them to do cer- tain things during their study periods. Many students gain study permits and then just disappear without a trace and we are trying to avoid that.”

Students affected by the policies could not be reached for comment.

(continued on page 7)

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