Title: Far from perfect: Iranian international students' experience of human dignity within the Canadian/Quebec immigration system

Authors: Erfaneh Razavipour

Addresses: School of Social Work, McGill University, Canada

Abstract: Every year a significant number of international students (ISs) move to Canada to pursue university education, encountering myriad challenges at the various stages of their migration. This paper explores how Iranian international graduate students experience human dignity (HD) in relation to the Canadian/Quebec immigration system (CQIS). Drawing on in-depth interviews with 24 current and former Iranian international students (IISs) (ten men and ten women IISs in Montreal, and two men and two women graduates who had left Canada), this paper adopts a conceptual framework of HD to analyse the data. Two themes emerged as key to Iranian international students' experiences with CQIS: 1) frustration with immigration rules during their studies; 2) lack of clarity regarding processing times and procedures. These themes provided empirical support for the HD framework including equality, humanity, respect, and human rights. An awareness of ISs' experiences of HD within the immigration system could strengthen the support offered to ISs in Canada. The findings also have useful implications for Canadian/Quebec Government personnel and policymakers, as well as administrators of educational institutions that seek to attract ISs.

Keywords: Canada; Quebec; human dignity; international students; Iran; migration; permanent residence; immigration policy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2024.140113

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2024 Vol.8 No.1/2, pp.94 - 118

Received: 30 Jul 2022
Accepted: 01 Nov 2023
Published online: 24 Jul 2024 *

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