Canada’s Federal Court on Tuesday initiated the Study Permit Pilot Project in an attempt to streamline the judicial review process for rejected student visa applications. The initiative aims to expedite the handling of cases in response to an unprecedented surge in application rejections within Canada’s immigration system in previous years.

The Study Permit Pilot Project, initially launched in partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and members of the Federal Court Citizenship, Immigration, and Refugee Law Bar Liaison Committee, is designed to significantly reduce the processing time for leave and judicial review requests from 14-18 months to five months. The expedited process would allow judges to rule on leave and judicial review simultaneously, without requiring a hearing provided that certain criteria are met. Under the normal process, a judge initially evaluates the applicant’s request, and only after that does judicial review begin.

Chief Justice Paul Crampton of Canada’s Federal Court described the initiative as a “win-win for applicants who will save significant time and costs, and for the Court, which will save scarce judicial and registry resources.” Critics of the new streamlined process contend that parties choosing the project’s simplified procedure will not receive hearings or the chance to present new evidence. Coupled with the limited 15-day application window, this raises significant concerns regarding applicants’ ability to fully articulate and substantiate their cases.

The launch of the pilot project comes at a critical time for Canada’s immigration system. For a third consecutive year, rejection rates for study permit applications reached record highs, adding additional pressure to an already strained system. This also comes after the Canadian government announced an international student cap that is expected to result in 35 percent fewer study permit holders from 2023. This also comes in the context of a broader national conversation on record immigration levels, with the government announcing a decrease in the issuance of temporary immigration visas in March 2024 and Quebec’s premier calling for “waiting zones” for asylum seekers entering the country.