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It’s a popular time to be an international student in Canada. In the first five months of 2022, nearly 125,000 international students have been approved for a student visa,¹ just a notch below where approvals were at this time last year.²

Close to 2,000 of those students are coming from Nepal. What was once a small, secondary market in Canadian international education, has emerged as one of the fastest growing places of origin for new international students in Canada.

Today, we’re looking to understand this recent boom of interest. What sparked such rapid growth for a country that sent just over 100 students to Canada in 2016, how did the pandemic impact Nepali students, and what can schools do to take advantage of this rising interest? We’ll tackle all that, and more.

Nepali International Students –– Applications and Approval Rates to Canada

The number of new Nepali international students in Canada has grown every year since 2016, with the exception of the pandemic-related slowdown in 2020. From 2016 to 2019, student visa approvals to Nepali students grew by an average of 70% per year.

Following the pandemic, growth from Nepal skyrocketed:

After a 27% dip in 2020, Nepal’s student visa approvals came roaring back in 2021, when over 2,200 Nepali students were approved to study in Canada. This marked the single-year record high for Nepal, tripling the previous peak of 672 set in 2019.

5 months of recently published 2022 data has confirmed that the staggering growth seen from Nepal last year was no outlier. Through May of 2022, Nepal has already reached 89% of its 2021 student visa approval total.

Nepal is on track to shatter last year’s high mark, continuing its rapid ascension up the Canadian student visa rankings.

International Students from Nepal Submitting Quality Applications to Canada

The number of Nepali students applying for Canadian student visas ballooned pre-pandemic, growing by over 250% from 2016 to 2019. But quality was a lagging characteristic in the majority of those applications. In 2016, just 17% of Nepali applicants were approved, with a slight bump to one in four in 2017.

In 2020, that approval rate jumped up to 41%. Then, post-pandemic, applications coming from Nepal had a substantial increase in quality. Let’s take a look at how this progression compared to all markets:

In 2021 and 2022, approval rates for Nepali students reached to 71% and 62%, well above the all-market average for both years.

From 2019 to 2021, the volume of applications from Nepali students increased by just 15%. During the same period, student visa approvals rose by over 230%. The pandemic didn’t cause a disproportionately large number of Nepali students to apply for student visas, but it did spur an increase in application quality.

Nepal Jumping up Canada’s Source Market Rankings

So how does the growth trajectory of Nepal compare to other countries? While it’s too early in the year to accurately project the total number of student visas that will be issued to Nepali students in 2022, we can compare student visa approval rankings between years:

Through the first five months of 2022, Canada has seen a surge in the number of students coming from Nepal. Despite Nepal being ranked 14th on this list, its growth relative to last year remains impressive.

Nepal has jumped 10 spots in the rankings in the first five months of 2022, marking the largest increase by any source market. Given that more student visas are typically issued in the latter half of each year, this early growth from Nepal is extremely encouraging.

Look for student visa totals from Nepal to continue trending upwards throughout the remainder of 2022. This is a prime opportunity for Canadian schools to target their recruitment efforts toward high-potential markets such as Nepal. Those who stand pat may lose out on competitive advantages that exist today.

Study Permit Approvals by Province

Let’s take a look at where all of these Nepali students are settling across Canada. The map below shows the number of study permit approvals for Nepali students by province during 2021:

Ontario was by far the most popular destination among Nepali students. In 2021, Ontario saw the highest increase in study permits, with the number of approvals growing by nearly six times compared to 2020. Three out of every four study permits issued to Nepali students in 2021 were in Ontario.

Nepali students also showed significant interest in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island. Lower tuition and cost of living is a major draw for schools in these provinces. With students growing more cost-conscious as inflation rises, demand for institutions in these provinces which offer similar PR pathways to Canada’s more populated provinces will grow.

Other low-cost destination provinces across the Prairies and Atlantic Canada would do well to get into the Nepali market now

What Do Nepali Students Study in Canada?

On the heels of Nepal’s 2021 growth spurt, we saw a significant shift in the distribution of Nepali students across different study levels. The following pie charts show what level Nepali students studied at from 2020 to 2022:

A large share of Nepal’s recent growth is driven by an interest in the college sector. From 2020 to 2021, the number of Nepali students approved to study at the college level increased by over seven times. The share of students studying at that level increased from 31% to 51% over the same period.

Early in 2022, Nepali students’ interest in Canadian colleges only seems to be growing, as 54% of all study permit approvals through March of 2022 were at the college level.

In 2019, four in every 10 approved Nepali students were at the university level. But this has declined every year since then. In 2021, just 23% of study permit approvals were at the university level.

Colleges should act on this rapidly growing interest from Nepali students. With 2022 sure to see a record number of Nepali students approved to study at the college level, now is the time to market directly to prospective students in Nepal before all colleges become wise to this trend.

Nepal The Next Potent Market for Canada’s Education Sector

Much has been written about secondary, emerging source markets that have helped propel Canadian international education in an upward direction. Mexico, the Philippines, and Nigeria have all emerged as strong, promising markets in Canada.

The next country entering that conversation looks to be Nepal. With a three-year growth trajectory that’s only picking up speed, we’re excited about the potential of this small but potent market.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. The terms student visa and study permit are generally used interchangeably for Canadian international students. Rather than student visas, Canada provides accepted international students with study permits, which allow those students to enroll in classes at Canadian institutions. When a student is accepted for a study permit, they are also usually provided with a visitor visa, which allows that student to enter Canada for their studies.

2. Data courtesy of