Overview
- Advocacy groups say roughly 130 Palestinian master’s and PhD students in Gaza cannot submit required biometrics for Canadian study permits.
- About 30 accepted students are reported stuck in Egypt, and some applicants have waited up to 18 months even after providing biometrics.
- Immigration Minister Lena Diab told a parliamentary committee that admission letters do not guarantee visas and that Canada cannot control Israel’s border decisions.
- Campaigners argue the minister can waive biometrics and point to Canada’s limited waivers for some Ukrainians and to France’s recent facilitation of student passage.
- Diab said IRCC is handling files as information arrives but stressed security screening and reliance on external partners constrain what her department can do.