‘If you couldn’t survive here, forget India’: PR rule change ends Indian man’s Canada dream

An Indian man is packing his bags for home after nine years in Canada — debt-ridden, without permanent residency, and caught in the crossfire of Ottawa’s tightening immigration rules, according to a Reddit post that has sparked heated debate.

Posting in the “returnToIndia” thread, the man wrote: “I will be moving back from Canada to India in November. After spending 9 years in Canada I have failed to get PR because of new immigration rule.”

He said he spent six years in university, a year unemployed, and two years working as a junior data analyst. Despite earning a mechanical engineering degree with management, he remains saddled with student debt.

His case became more complicated after revealing his girlfriend — an American — opposed his move to India. With his visa expiring, he asked the Reddit community for advice on avoiding what he called a “potential nightmare.”

The post lit up with reactions. Some questioned how someone could spend nearly a decade in Canada without PR. “There are plenty of people who lived in Canada for 9 or even 10+ years and didn’t get PR,” one wrote, citing similar stories on other forums. Others were blunter: “If you couldn’t survive here, forget India. You need to hustle 10x more… You are doomed!!”

The man, originally from Ahmedabad, rejected claims he “couldn’t survive” in Canada, saying he had been paying down debt month by month.

His predicament follows a May 28 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) policy change that ended legal status protection for foreigners filing a second stay-extension application. Lawyers say the update hits Indian students especially hard, as a refusal now ends status immediately.

BT could not independently verify the claims made in the 

Canada has also moved to cut its temporary resident population by 5%, dropping numbers from 485,000 to 430,000 this year. Study permits for foreign nationals have plunged 48% year-on-year, according to IRCC.