Canadian schools are accepting international students by the thousands — but nearly half aren’t being allowed into the country

Nearly half the international students who have been accepted by Canadian schools are being rejected by visa officers, and some public colleges in Ontario are seeing thousands of the would-be students they’ve admitted turned away.

New numbers analyzed by the Star offer a snapshot of the behind-the-scenes workings of this country’s international student system — a system that has become a major revenue source for post-secondary schools, but which critics, including the federal immigration minister, say has “lost its integrity.”