This petition has been filed on behalf of a group of Iranian students who have submitted complete study permit visa applications for more than 12 weeks and up to 2 years. According to the IRCC website, the average processing time for issuing study permits has always been between 8 and 13 weeks. When we inquire about the delay in our study permits, the only response we receive is a template stating that we are undergoing additional background checks and that we ought to be patient. Furthermore, the IRCC promised to do their best to complete applications submitted before May 15th by the end of August 6th, and we were counting on them to fulfill their promise. However, due to the "further background check" notice, we are about to lose our fully-funded positions. As a result, we have decided to distribute this petition and notify correspondence organizations about this sign of discrimination against Iranian students.

It is undeniable that obtaining fully-funded M.Sc. and Ph.D. admissions to a prestigious Canadian university necessitates a significant amount of effort, time, energy, and financial resources. Because there are no Canadian VACs, consulates, or embassy in Iran, the process is more onerous for Iranian students. After all of these efforts, it is simply unjust to lose our admission opportunities because of a prejudiced decision to do further background checks on the majority of Iranian students in comparison to students from other countries. Delayed background checks will take a heavy toll on our lives. Because many supervisors do not allow their students to defer admittance more than one or two times, this processing period is unreasonable and challenging for students to deal with in many instances. Such delays cause us to lose our ambition of studying in Canada and have a significant detrimental influence on our mental health. Anxiety, depression, and disappointment are all present in our lives. Because a Visa officer decided to lengthen the background check process, everything we've worked for would be for naught. This issue may potentially jeopardize the efficiency of Canadian universities, as professors' research grants may be revoked after a certain period of time. Also, many supervisors may become pessimistic about Iranian applicants in the future because of the lengthy process and the fact that they do not want to wait until the completion of the visa process to conduct their research. Having said that, our request to IRCC is that they provide us with the final status of our study permit application in a reasonable time frame. This way, we will be able to make informed decisions about our future.

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