Nigerians, Indians make up majority of foreign students in Guyana

Citizens from Nigeria and India account for the majority of foreigners issued student visas in Guyana during the last three years.

Figures provided to the National Assembly on Monday by Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn detailed that a total of 182 student visas were issued between the period September 2020 and June 2023.

Of that number, 89 visas were issued to Indian nationals while 54 were issued to Nigerians.

Benn was at the time responding to a question asked by Opposition Parliamentarian, Amanza Walton-Desir.

She asked that the minister indicate the number of student visas issued for the period and the total number per nationality.

In his written response, Benn also pointed out that 22 Venezuelans and 10 Chinese nationals were issued student visas.

There are also Congolese (2); Malaysians (2); Cameroonian (1); Ghanaian (1), and Indonesian (1).

No figures were given for students from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

A student visa is issued to persons desirous of studying at any of the universities based in Guyana.

More often than not, if a foreign national is residing, working or owns a business in Guyana and is accompanied by his/her child/children for the duration of stay in Guyana, then the child/children would be issued with a student visa, providing that he/she is of age to attend school.