Immigration rules have only become stricter. My daughter’s friend just completed his interview in August. With Covid issues, the scrutiny is very intense.
Hundreds of thousands won’t continue to be accepted. Local communities need to be able to support new residents, and new residents tend to target some of the over-populated cities; communities just don’t have the tax-based resources, nor employment options.
Yes, thousands have applied for visas, but the fields of employment are very narrow in scope and target occupational shortages.
This OP wants to do IB. There are no shortages of IB candidates.