How to Avoid International Student Visa Clampdowns in 2024
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RIF Trust on the Educational Advantages of Residency and Citizenship by Investment
David Regueiro, the RIF Group COO, understands the multi-faceted benefits of a new residency and second citizenship. These apply to all your family, including your children. They include mitigating against international student visa issues.
“At the RIF Group,” David explains, “we do everything with a SMILE.”
“This is our bedrock philosophy. We help our clients invest in Security, Mobility, Insurance, Lifestyle, and Education.”
Our COO concludes: “If your children apply to a university in the country in which the family has residency or citizenship rights in, they are domestic applicants rather than foreign ones. This can help to boost the number of offers they receive to study at the best universities.”
The International Student Visa Clampdown
Studyportals‘ The Global Enrolment Benchmark Report came out in November 2024. It was produced in association with NAFSA: Association of International Educators and The Oxford Test of English.
This report collates data from 365 universities across 66 countries. The Anglophone countries, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States dominate the higher education market.
93% of Canadian universities, 58% of US institutions, and 61% of UK ones view “restrictive government policies and/or problems obtaining a visa as a significant issue.”
Studyportals notes that global student intake rose steadily until recently. This survey attributes the subsequent fall to student visa complications. These are “the likely effects of major shifts in government policy particularly in Canada and the UK.”
Another 2024 survey, this time commissioned by Open Doors, shows the number of international students dropping at US universities. This contrasts with 3 years of growth in global intake. The latest figures show a 46% increase, a 42% decline, and a 12% no change.
The data records a 5% dip in overseas arrivals. This includes the traditional hotspots of Africa and Asia. There’s a concern that Donald Trump’s return as President will make it even bleaker for international students, given his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
On the other side of the border, in Canada, student visa issues have been coming to the fore. Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, has gone on record to state that: “When people come here and decide they want to be students, there are no guarantees to become permanent residents. Some students will have to make a difficult decision as to whether they leave the country or not.”
Miller has a quota in mind: “We had to reduce permanent residency by a little over 20% to address Canada’s aging population and labour shortages while avoiding overburdening housing and public services.”
Residency and Citizenship by Investment Solutions to Student Visa Issues
If you don’t want your child to enrol as an international student, there are Residency by Investment and Citizenship by Investment options to enable them to apply as a domestic candidate. The most suitable programs are in the already mentioned Anglophone countries. Those of Canada, the UK, and the US.
The Canada Start-up Visa is a Residency by Investment program that allows you to add dependent children aged up to 21. You and your family will naturalize as Canadian citizens by residing in Canada for 3 years in the 5 years following you qualifying as residents.
Another education-friendly Residency by Investment program to circumvent the student visa problem is the UK Innovator Founder Visa. You can add child dependents aged up to 18. 3 out of the top 10 universities in the world, according to Times Higher Education, as in Imperial College London, University of Cambridge, and University of Oxford.
The final Anglophone Residency by Investment is the US EB-5 Investor Visa. You can include unmarried children up to the age of 21 among your dependents. 7 out of Times Higher Education‘s highest-rated global universities are in the US.
In terms of European Residency by Investment programs that help solve international student visa problems and beyond, the Spanish Golden Visa stands out. You and your family will become citizens after 2 years if from Latam or the Philippines rather than the usual 10. Your children are also eligible to work, so they don’t have to change status after finishing their studies.
When it comes to Citizenship by Investment, you should consider Maltese Exceptional Investor Naturalization (MEIN). The limit for unmarried child dependents extends here to the age of 29. There are some interesting education in Malta opportunities that are worth exploring.
How to Gift Your Children the Best Start in Life
Graduates typically secure the best jobs. A degree can also be the perfect path to launch an entrepreneurial career or continue the family business. Canada is the birthplace of modern Residency by Investment and is home to leading universities.
You’ll find even more highly-rated institutions in the likes of the United Kingdom and the United States. Family-friendly Malta might not be the obvious choice when deciding upon the higher education of your children, but you should give it some thought.
There are other factors to take into account when deciding upon a new residency or second citizenship. Turn to an expert advisor like RIF Trust to discover all the benefits and requirements of the various Residency and Citizenship by Investment programs. So, contact us now and we’ll show you how to work out which investment migration route suits your circumstances and needs most.
How to Avoid International Student Visa Clampdowns in 2024
