Lakehead University is set to welcome a record number of international students this year despite a labour dispute with workers in the Canadian foreign service.
Members of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers have stopped most visa services at 15 key processing centres, which includes student visa.
Lakehead University international director Leigh-Ellen Keating said that has hit about 20 students still waiting for visas but the school still expects up to 450 international students this year compared to 300 last year.
Keating said the school is in contact with the international students every day so see where their visa applications are at and are making it clear that there are options if students can't make it to Thunder Bay by the Sept. 20 deadline.
"We're helping with the process to get them in January or the next possible date," she said.
Keating said she's not sure why some students are having trouble and others aren't but the university is hoping that more visas are processed before school starts.
"We don't know when that will happen," she said.
As for the students who are going to Lakehead, most are coming from Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
"They're coming from all over the place," Keating said.
