About 14,000 foreign students who’ve come to Canada this year alone through a study permit or visa have claimed they are in need of asylum. 

Asylum claims are only supposed to be made if an individual is “fleeing your country because you fear persecution,” as per the UN refugee agency. 

The Liberal’s Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, says most of claims in Canada are being made “falsely,” meaning they come nowhere close to qualifying for asylum status, and are simply taking advantage of the system. 

“It is quite obvious someone that’s here, that’s been here a year or even more, claiming asylum where no conditions have changed in their home country – it doesn’t smell good, it doesn’t look good,” he said. 

Many of the claimants don’t even begin their program of study. Instead, they use their student visa as a gateway to the country, then immediately claim asylum upon entry. 

Others are claiming asylum right before their student visa expires so that they’re given a free place to live, with monthly taxpayer welfare checks.

Miller further said that a number of these foreign students, most of which get accepted into community colleges like Ontario’s Conestoga college, are being advised to take this route as a gateway into Canada.

The majority of these claimants come from India, Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as reported by the Globe and Mail.

$224 per day per claimant 

As reported earlier this year, Ottawa allocates roughly $224 per day (or $81,760 per year) per asylum claimant to receive housing, food, and “essential items.” Amid the uptick, Liberal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in January that he was committing another $362 million towards temporary housing (hotels) for them. 

In Niagara alone, between February 2023 and January 2024, the feds spent more than $100 million taxpayer dollars on 4,896 asylum seekers.