In light of recent controversy over President Trump’s executive order involving refugees and immigrants, Canada has taken a different approach by welcoming – and incentivizing – international students. 

The Canadian government, in an effort to enrich their aging population and slowing birth rate, is offering a faster track to citizenship to international students. Several colleges are investing in programs and institutions to facilitate English instruction, and a pending bill will make half of the time a student spends studying in Canada toward the residency period required for Canadian citizenship. 

Immigrants in Canada already make up 75 percent of the annual net growth of the work force, and in the 2015-16 academic year, the country’s international student population grew to 8 percent, now representing almost 1 percent of the entire Canadian population. In America, international students account for less than one third of 1 percent of the population.

Some tensions have begun to brew from locals who claim schools pass them up for international students who pay higher fees, but most Canadians seem to think that the efforts will benefit everyone.

To read the full story in The New York Times, click here.