Survival challenge for IELTS centres?

The once-booming International English Language Testing System (IELTS) economy in Punjab currently faces a direct blow as Canada, the most-preferred country for Punjab students, tightened its noose around student visa and migration.

Since last year when Canada announced harsher scrutiny for international students and capped student visa grants, the IELTS and immigration economy in the state have crumbled with domino effect, forcing several coaching centres to shut down.

In Amritsar, since the beginning of 2025, 25 IELTS coaching and training centres have shut shop, with some willingly not applying for the renewal of their licences. The DC office had also launched a review of several IELTS centres-cum-immigration consultancy services after receiving no applications from these for the renewal of their licences.

While cancelling the licences, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Amritsar Jyoti Bala said these centres were not interested in getting their licences renewed and some had even closed down their offices. As a result, the licences of several coaching institutes and consultancies, including Grand Leys International Immigration, Tuli’s Academy, Lingua Franca and English Hub, have been cancelled.

ADM Jyoti Bala has cancelled the licenses of various licence-holders running coaching institutes of the IELTS/travel/ticketing agencies and consultancies under the Human Smuggling Act 2012 and the Punjab Travel Professional Regulation Act implemented by the Punjab Government.

The ADM said no request had been made by these agencies to renew the licence of this office and some agencies had given a request that they were not willing to renew their licence and many centres had closed their centres.

“At this time of the season, coaching and IELTS centres used to face a rush of students as they enrolled in classes as soon as board examinations concluded. But now, there is at least a 70-80% decrease in students,” said Saloni Poddar, an independent IELTS trainer from Amritsar. Teaching for a decade, Saloni said the IELTS industry was facing survival challenge as a direct result of Canada restrictions. Even the independent trainers, who used to work with a group of 15-20 students every quarter, are now taking up alternative jobs due to the lack of students.

Rajwinder Pal Singh, an IELTS trainer and educator, had to shut his centre due to the dwindling number of students. “In the year 2021 till 2023-24, my annual turnover crossed Rs 1 crore. But last year, the turnover remained below Rs 10 lakh. Now, there are very few students who willingly apply for student visa to Canada or Australia, given the increased scrutiny and the inflated cost of migration.

A year ago, going to Canada on student visa cost around Rs 15-16 lakh, but now that cost has inflated to Rs 30-35 lakh. There are no work permits allowed and it’s not easy getting permanent residency (PR). So, undergraduate-level students prefer to stay quiet and not apply. This is affecting business,” he said.

Saloni added that even countries like the UK, where it was easy to acquire student visa with a band of 4.5 or above, have also tightened their student visa policy. “This has led to a decline in legal migration. The IELTS trainers and visa counsellors are not getting students’ applications. Where earlier the trainers were on their toes at the time, planning training schedules and student intake, this year, it has become difficult to even get the due rent paid.”

While many in the industry feel that the IELTs and immigration market is going to continue facing this challenge in the year, they do hope that policy review by Canada and several countries might just save the day.