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“I cried every day. It was so hard. I cried and cried and cried. But I had to go back.”

Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen has repeatedly urged international students to stay in Canada, and the governments of all four provinces in Atlantic Canada have created special pathways to help international students transition to permanent resident status.

But only 11 per cent of the students who graduate from Atlantic Canada universities and colleges are still in the province of their study one year after they become permanent residents, according to research, as yet unpublished, by Prof. Michael Haan of the University of Western Ontario.

Students fear breaking the law

A new survey shows that a fear of running afoul of Canada’s complex immigration laws is one factor driving students to leave the country after graduation.

The International Student Barometer is the largest survey of students in the world. More than 2,000 international students in Atlantic Canada were included in the latest survey, released March 1, 2018.

It is Nannette Ripmeester’s job to explain the results of the survey to governments, associations and institutions around the world. The biggest problems in Atlantic Canada, she says, are unrealistic expectations and false perceptions.

For example, four in 10 international students say they might leave Atlantic Canada after graduation because there is no suitable job in their career. However, research shows that immigrants to Atlantic Canada actually fare better than immigrants to other regions.