Canada is one of the most amazing countries visit. From its attractive tourist destinations to its stable economy, little wonder student find it a one-stop destination to studying. In this article, you would come to learn everything you need to know about getting a Canada student visa.
A lot of families want to enroll their children in a Canadian school and most international individuals are trooping in to the country in the hopes of getting into an undergraduate degree in a Canadian University. To be able to achieve this, you are going to need a student visa.
Canada has over 250,000 applicants coming into the country for the chances of studying in any of their prestigious universities.
Here are what we would be looking at in this article:
- What is a Canada Student Visa?
- Why is a Canada Student Visa Important?
- Eligibility Status for a Canada Student Visa
- Canada Student Visa Requirements
- How to Apply for a Canadian Student Visa?
What is a Canada Student Visa?
A Canada student visa is a piece of document that allows a person to be able to study in Canada. The Canada student visa also comes with the study visa permit. This enables you to be able to study in Canada in a university or institute that admits international students.
Most of these institutes are called DLI (distant learning institute). DLI offers admission to international student coming to Canada to study for the duration of their program. After your study is completed in Canada, you would be required to possess another form of identification that can allow you to stay in the country like the work permit or work visa.
To be able to keep your student visa valid, you must do the following:
- Must be enrolled into a DLI
- Must meet all requirements for a student visa
- Must be active in your study program
- Must vacate the country when your studies is complete
There are many benefit in that comes with having a Canadian student visa but it does not give you access to governmental benefits like grants, health benefit or others. The question now is why do you need student visas, who are student visas meant for?
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Why is a Canada Student Visa Important?
All international applicants looking to come to Canada to study must get a student visa and permit before they are able to do so. This is meant for only international applicants and not home-based applicants.
A student visa is important because it gives you access to be able to study in Canada without any sort of hassle or disturbance from the official authority. But there are a few cases whereby international applicants might not need to get a student visa to study; below are some of the cases that might require such:
- If your study is less than 6 months, you would require only a visitor permit and not a student visa.
- If you are a member of foreign armed forces in Canada and you are in the country in an official capacity, you would not need a student visa to study unless for your family members and relatives.
- If you are a registered India Status recipient in Canada you would not need a student visa
- If you are a refugee
- If you are a minor (Underage coming into either Kindergarten or Nursery)
Eligibility
Checking your eligibility status of a Canadian Student Visa in order to avoid been disappointed or rejected numerous times. To be eligible for a Canada student visa and permit, you must have fulfilled the following criteria’s:
- Must have been accepted into a DLI in Canada and be able to provide a valid acceptance letter from the school to the necessary authorities.
- Must be at least 18 years of age
- Must not have any sort of criminal records
- Must fill and sign the Visa Application Center Consent form
- Must be able to prove that your stay in Canada is only temporal and that you would be leaving after your studies are completed.
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Canada Student Visa Requirements
In this section, you would come to know the various requirements and documents to have in order to complete your Student Visa application form. Below are some of the requirements for a Canada student visa.
- Your whole travel history. This means you have to scan your entire passport to validate your identity and also find out if there are blank pages on your passport.
- Proof of a clean record. This means you have to get a letter from the court and police in your home country to validate that you have no criminal history or past.
- Two photos that meets the Canada Photo requirements
- A Declaration letter explaining why the Canadian Government should allow you into their country.
- Medical Reports
- Employment of education status
- Proof of finance (Bank statements would be needed)
There are also financial requirements for a Canada Student Visa for example, you must be able to prove that you can cater for other expenses while studying and living in Canada. For each student, the minimum financial requirement per year is about $11,000 and for each family member, you bring that is an addition of about $5100 per year.
Some locations in Canada can be higher than others, for example studying in Quebec the minimum financial requirement is about $11,000 per year while outside Quebec is about $10,000 that is about $1000 difference.
How to Apply for a Canadian Student Visa?
To be able to start studying in Canada, you must first apply and get approved for a study permit. You can either decide to apply Outside of Canada, Inside of Canada, or at the Port of Entry.
Applying at the Port of Entry requires you to travel to Canada to do the application. This however can only happen if you are a citizen of the United States of America or have permanent resident there.
