00:00It's been said that when America sneezes, the entire world catches a cold.
00:05No wonder the Trump 2.0 administration's foreign policy and crackdown on both legal and illegal immigrants
00:11are helping reshape international relations to include Canada's education landscape.
00:16This VOA report.
00:20Canada is cutting the number of international students it accepts to 437,000, down 10% from last year.
00:30Cheikh Omar Kirakoya came to Canada from Burkina Faso less than a year ago.
00:35His journey mirrors that of thousands of international students across Canada.
00:40I chose Canada because there were more opportunities in my field.
00:50But it's harder now to stay and work in Canada after graduation.
00:54Prospective students will need to show they have more than $20,000 in savings instead of the previous $10,000 requirement.
01:03And to work in Canada after they get their degree, students need to be proficient in English or French.
01:10And they need to graduate in a field Canada really needs like science, farming or healthcare.
01:15When I first left the country, it was to work in mining field.
01:20But now with the new immigration laws, I had to change my field of study because I had to adapt to the new laws.
01:26Canadian officials say the new rules are designed to pause population growth in the short term to give the Canadian government time to improve access to housing and healthcare.
01:39With so much uncertainty, students are turning to immigration services and apps like Shira, founded by Bakiwanda.
01:48Her site provides tools that guide students through visa applications, immigration rules and job searches.
01:54This is the time where a DIY process would not work for you because the immigration is changing per second.
02:02So you need to be strategic to be able to say, OK, what are my options?
02:06Amid the uncertainty, Kira Koya says he still believes he can contribute to both his adopted and home countries.
02:13What I plan to do after my training is to gain experience here, look for good opportunities and after a few years return to my country because I want to put what I've learned here to good use in the service of my country.
02:27Wanda points out that international students contribute over $22 billion to Canada's economy every year.
02:36And she says reducing their numbers could weaken Canada's economy and access to talent.
