Study in Canada

International study in Canada is an attractive prospect for foreign students, as they can gain the benefit of learning English (and potentially French) without paying the high prices of many American schools. Study in Canada, in general, is much more affordable than study in the US, but with the same quality of education. The number of international students studying in Canada currently sits at about 90,000 and rises every year. For a country with a small population of just over 30 million, that's a good figure.

Sample ExpensesBased on the costs of St. Thomas university in Fredericton, New Brunswick. An international student could expect to pay in one academic year:
Tuition: $12,480
Health (mandatory) and Dental (optional): $215.64 & $90.24
Student Fees: $350 (including bus pass)
Residence (Double Room) & Meal Plan: $6,720
Residence Fees (Including refundable damage deposit): $360
Approximate Total: $20,200

The Process
Before getting a study permit, you have to be accepted to a university. As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to apply for Canadian universities well in advance. Most prospective students start the process a year before their first semester. Start researching schools you're interested in and request an information packet from your top schools, which will usually include an application form. Some schools require a fee for an application, the amount varies depending on the institution, but usually doesn't exceed $50. Upon acceptance, you may also be required to pay a deposit to secure your spot and also a deposit to secure a dorm in residence (if you plan on living on campus). Your deposit will usually be around $100 and a residence deposit is roughly $300.
Once you've been accepted, you can apply for your study permit. There is a standard that you must meet to study in Canada, you must prove that you have enough funds to cover your tuition, accommodation, living expenses and return travel. You must also have no criminal record and be in good health. There are processing times for these permits that must be taken into account when applying.
If you are approved, you will be issued a letter of introduction that should be presented upon entering Canada. If you need a temporary resident visa, you will also be issued one.
When entering the country to study, you need to have your passport, letter of introduction, temporary residence visa (if applicable), the acceptance letter from your school and proof that you can support yourself financially during your stay.
If you wish to renew your study permit, you should apply no less than 30 days before your current permit expires. If your permit expires before you receive an answer, you can remain in the country until a decision is made.
Some foreign students can apply for a student work permit allowing them to work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week during courses and full-time during breaks.
Students who graduate from a Canadian institution can apply for a post-graduation work permit that would allow them to get Canadian work experience if they qualify. The permit cannot be for a longer period of time than their program of study was. A four year course wouldn't qualify for a permit for more than four years.

An interactive tool that allows you to compare Canadian universities
http://www.globecampus.ca/navigator/

How to apply for a Canadian study permit
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study-how.asp#step1

Processing times for study permits and temporary residence applications
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/temp.asp 

Institutions that permit off-campus work for international students
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/institutions/participants.asp
Applying for a post-grad work permit
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/work-postgrad-who.asp

Article written by ashleakelly
Last update on 2010-11-09 07:12:41
Guide section: Study

Startup Visa Canada movement launched

A new movement has been launched to focus on making the Canadian immigration process easier for prospective entrepreneurs looking to enter the country.

The new Startup Visa Canada movement has been launched.

Startup Visa Canada is a new Canadian immigration movement which is looking to make it easier for international entrepreneurs toemigrate to Canada and work with Canadian investors to launch new science and technology companies.

The movement is comprised of three founding principles: Boris Wertz, Danny Robinson and the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA). Both Wertz and Robinson have history as entrepreneurs and investors, and the CVCA is comprised of over 1,800 members who have a combined capital of over CA$75 billion under management.

The reasoning behind Startup Visa Canada being formed was summarised by Wertz: "We are already falling behind countries like Chile, Singapore and Britain, who have already upgraded their programs....but I believe we can learn from their programs and make ours better."

CVCA's director also commented on the need for the Canada visa process for entrepreneurs to be overhauled: “Our belief is that we must promote a culture of entrepreneurship in order to successfully compete in the new global economy.

"Canada can become a beacon, attracting the best and the brightest from across the globe.” 

The Pathway Clear to Canada

By: Hanna Eliasson

Canada has become an increasingly attractive study destination for international students. In the last 10 years, the number of foreign students has doubled, making Canada one of the most popular destinations among international students in the world. Education institutions and the different levels of government are now working closely to help international students with Canadian credentials apply for permanent residency in Canada, if they wish to do so. Typically, half of the international post-secondary students studying in Canadasubmit requests for permanent residency after graduation. Through the help of programmes like the ‘Canadian Experience Class’ and the "Provincial Nominee Programmes", about 86 percent of these applications are approved. The "Canadian Experience Class" is a federal programme directly targeting international students’ transition to permanent residency. Introduced in 2008, the Canadian Experience Class allows international students to make an easier transition to permanent residency. As a result, post-secondary institutions are now key factors in Canada’s immigration system.  The federal government projects granting permanent residency to up to 25,000 immigrants a year (for both international students and temporary foreign workers) by 2014. Attracting international students to Canada is a priority at all levels of the government and educational institutions. International students contribute approximately C$6.5 billion (US$6.4 billion) to the Canadian economy not to mention intangibles to which a price tag cannot be placed such as skills, innovation and diversification. According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), students are currently an immigration priority and there has been a shift in thinking from "temporary residents, to a pool of highly-qualified permanent residents." In Canada, where immigration will soon account for all net population growth, and where a majority of new jobs will require a post-secondary education, new immigration strategies that attempt to leverage and harness the skills of international students are being implemented. Naomi Alboim, Maytree Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, has noted that immigration policy shifts in Canada have been made with student migration in mind, based on the assumption that international students will be able to avoid those barriers regularly encountered highly-skilled immigrants, by virtue of their Canadian education, language skills and work experience. Preliminary research suggests that immigrants with former international student status can also lead to better economic outcomes. Immigrants with previous Canadian education and work experience earn approximately C$12,000 more per year than skilled workers without work or educational experience in Canada. For international students, there are a number of important factors behind the decision to remain in Canada. In a recent Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE) survey of international students in Canada, half of surveyed university students and three-quarters of college students chose Canada as a study destination because of post-graduate work opportunities, and 51 percent of university students and 57 percent of college students planned to pursue permanent residency. If you are interested in furthering your studies in Canada by becoming a foreign graduate from a Canadian post-secondary institution and gaining at least one year of full-time (or equivalent) skilled work experience in Canada under the proper work or study authorisation, you are on the right path toward becoming a Canadian.

Study: Canadian skilled migrants highest earners

A new study on Canadian immigration policy has found that immigrants who come to Canada as independent skilled migrants had "consistently and substantially" the highest earnings of four categories of immigrants. 

The researchers concluded that Canada should continue to focus on skilled migration. The researchers also hope that their study will influence future Canadian immigration policy.

The Queen's University study, Immigrant Earnings Differences Across Admission Categories and Landing Cohorts in Canada examined the first ten years after immigrants landed in three different time periods: 1982, 1988, and 1994.

The four categories include independent primary skilled migrant applicants, accompanying economic immigrants, family class immigrants, and refugees.

"The ten-year average of median earnings levels of skill-assessed economic immigrants exceeded the average median earnings levels for all immigrants by 30-37 percent across the [three periods studied] for men and by 39-56 percent for women," the study noted.

Family class immigrants and refugees had the lowest earnings out of the four categories.

"Refugees, both male and female, also experienced declines in their real earnings levels across the three successive [study periods]", the study said.

However, refugees had the highest earnings growth rates for both male and female immigrants during the first decade after coming to Canada.

Independent skilled migrants despite having the highest overall salary rates had the lowest growth rate over the first decade after coming to Canada.

The study also found that the economic downturns had a negative effect on immigrant earning levels and growth rates and that this effect was more pronounced for male immigrants than for female immigrants.

Immigrants who landed in Canada during the 1988 study period generally had the lowest median earnings growth rate for the three study periods due to the economic downturn in the early 1990s. The highest growth rate was in the 1994 study period, which experienced no economic downturn during the ten years.

The study noted that "since skill-assessed independent economic immigrants had substantially higher earnings levels throughout their first ten post-landing years, Canada should continue to place heavy weight on skill-assessed immigrants and not reduce the proportion of new immigrants admitted in the skilled worker category."

Service Improvements make it easier for Latin American travellers to come to Canada

Santiago, Chile, September 3, 2011 — The Honourable Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas and Consular Affairs), today announced improvements to make Canada an even more attractive destination for Latin American travellers. 

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is expanding its visa application centre (VAC) network around the world to make the application process more efficient. In August, nineVACs were opened in various countries in Latin America, including one in Santiago, Chile, with eight more set to open in September. With these openings, there will now be VACs in 35 countries.

“Service improvements are key to making the system for processing visas more effective and responsive to the needs of travellers,” said Minister Ablonczy, speaking on behalf of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “The outcome is a better use of resources, which will benefit both travellers to Canada and Canadians alike.”

VACs provide valuable administrative support by phone, by email or in person to individuals submitting applications. In particular, client service agents at VACs are available to verify that visa applications are complete, thereby helping applicants avoid unnecessary delays or refusals due to incomplete applications.

“VACs are an example of our government’s commitment to improving service to applicants and processing efficiency,” added Minister Ablonczy. “By facilitating the process and making it easier to travel, we make Canada a preferred destination for visitors and business travellers alike.”

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CitImmCanada.

For further information (media only), please contact:

Candice Malcolm
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Extension of measures for Haitians applying for work permits

If you are a Haitian national who arrived in Canada prior to January 13, 2011, and are applying for a work permit or extending a work permit, your exemption from the requirement to provide a labour market opinion (LMO) as part of your application is now being extended. The requirement for an LMO will remain in place for all those who arrived in Canada after that date.

Eligible individuals will now have until September 1, 2012, to apply. Work permits are normally valid for one year.

For further information on these measures please visit our news release.

For further information on work permits:
www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.asp

Cut immigration during recessions: study

Adrian Humphreys  Sep 1, 2011 – 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Aug 31, 2011 10:30 PM ET

Canada should reduce immigration during deep economic recession, say the authors of a detailed analysis of the earnings of immigrants over their first 10 years in the country that also touts the benefits of selecting newcomers based on earning potential.

Canada should emphasize skill-assessed immigrants because their earning power “consistently and substantially” out-performed other classes of newcomers, the study says.

Written by two Queen’s University professors and released by the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network Wednesday, the study calls on policy makers to look closely at how rapidly immigrants are integrating into the Canadian labour market as the wage gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers widens.

“In setting immigration policy and targets, it is important to know how well immigrants in these different admission categories have done, and which have produced better earnings outcomes,” say authors Charles Beach, professor of economics, and Michael Abbott, associate professor of economics.

They assessed the annual earnings over 10 years of immigrants who arrived in three different years: 1982, 1988 and 1994.

Immigrants enter Canada under different admission categories, each addressing a different objective, both altruistic and selfish — providing labour to help the economy, promoting family welfare through reunification and offering safe haven from war, persecution or natural disaster.

Across all of the landing cohorts, skill-assessed economic immigrants exceeded the average median earnings levels for all immigrants by 30 to 37% for men and by 39 to 56% for women, the authors found.

However, refugees showed the highest earnings growth rates, while those who arrived for reasons of family reunification had the lowest.

The study shows recessions have major negative effects on immigrants’ earnings levels, particularly men. The impact is seen by comparing immigrants arriving in 1988, who faced the early 1990s recession soon after settling, with those arriving in 1994, during the economic recovery. Regardless of which class the immigrant was admitted under, in troubled times, their earnings growth was lower.

“These results reflect on two aspects of Canadian immigration policy,” the authors say. “First, since skill-assessed, independent economic immigrants had substantially higher earnings levels throughout their first 10 post-landing years, Canada should continue to place heavy weight on skill-assessed immigrants.

“Recession appears to have had very marked and long-lasting scarring effects on the real earnings of immigrants,” the authors say. “Perhaps thought should be given to ways to reduce total immigrant admission levels when severe recessions hit.”

The report confirms what many have long suspected, said Sergio Karas, a Toronto immigration lawyer.

“Immigrants who come to Canada with prearranged employment become better integrated and more easily established than those in other immigration categories,” he said.

“The federal government and the provinces must give top priority to address the looming skilled-worker shortage and the entrepreneurial innovation deficit that threaten Canada’s economic future rather than wasting funds on programs that cater to politically driven goals.

“There is no point in bringing immigrants to Canada if they will be unable to find jobs,” Mr. Karas said.

The Canadian Council for Refugees, however, cautioned against assessing immigration to Canada only in dollars and cents. The different categories have differing goals.

“You can’t measure the success of the family reunification program by assessing their rates of earnings,” said Janet Dench, the council’s executive director. “We don’t protect refugees because we think it will be good for the economy — we do it to protect them from persecution.”

Ms. Dench said the government is already leaning too heavily toward skills-assessed, economic immigrants.

The study used data provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The CLMSRN is a network of academic researchers studying the labour market funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

National Post

ahumphreys@nationalpost.com

As Irish economy staggers, youth set eyes on Canada.

BY L. IAN MACDONALD, FREELANCE

At Tralee, on Da tour of golf courses in southwest Ireland, a caddy named Danny explained that he had a mortgage of -250,000, or $375,000, on his house. He can't possibly pay it on a caddy's earnings and tips, and the golf season in Ireland ends in mid-October.
He got the mortgage five years ago when he was a foreman in the housing industry, a boom that went bust.
Danny's story is all you need to know about the origins of the Irish financial and economic crisis. Nearly 20 per cent of Ireland's housing stock is empty, and hundreds of thousands of Irish families are holding mortgages now worth twice as much as their homes. As The Irish Times wrote in an editorial last week: "Their assets have plummeted in value but their liabilities have not."
Of 780,000 mortgage-holders, the Irish Independent reported last weekend, 50,000 are three months or more in arrears on their payments. There is much talk of debt forgiveness, or restructuring, for those hardest hit.
But as Danny asks: "Who decides whose debts are forgiven, and how?"
At one time, 20 per cent of the Irish workforce was in the construction industry, building homes and office towers, many of which are now unoccupied. Gleaming new office buildings on the outskirts of Dublin stand empty - "see-throughs," as they are called in the real estate industry, with no curtains, no furniture, no offices and no people.
In the long term, Irish investments in education and infrastructure, as well as low business taxes to encourage investment, will pay off. In the near term, Ireland's challenges are daunting.
When the bubble burst in the United States three years ago, Washington rescued Wall St. by lending it $700 billion U.S., all of which has been paid back. In Ireland, instead of lending money to the banks when the housing bubble burst, the government guaranteed or bought -80 billion ($120 billion) of debt. Since then the European Central Bank has come through with a further -85 billion in loans, and the International Monetary Fund has also stepped in with a bailout. Where it formerly ran a surplus, Ireland's deficit is now one-third of gross domestic product, and its debt is 130 per cent of GDP. Where unemployment was only four per cent before the housing bubble burst, it's now 14 per cent.
And people are leaving Ireland. Again. Not because of famine, but because of the folly of their banks and government.
At the Waterville golf links, a caddy named Robert is finishing up his degree in civil engineering, and is thinking of emigrating to either Canada or Australia. At Tralee, Danny's colleague, David, is a plumber who wants to move to Alberta, where there's a shortage of skilled tradespeople. At Old Head, the caddy master, Paddy, has a son, a mechanical engineer, who has just found a job in Vancouver.
Everywhere our group went, people asked about Canada, which they had heard was booming, and how they could get there.
They have a lot to offer. Ireland's workforce is the one of the most literate and among the most highly skilled in the world. They speak English. There's community support for resettlement in cities such as Toronto with large Irish populations.

The question is, what is Ottawa doing to encourage them to choose Canada over Australia or the United States?
Quite a bit, as it turns out, according to Loyola Hearn, Canada's ambassador to Ireland. A former Conservative MP, Hearn is Newfoundland Irish, which makes him as Irish as anyone.
"We've doubled the number of student and youth visas to 5,000 from Ireland," he was saying the other night. They've all been snapped up. Student visas are being extended from one to two years, to encourage young Irish people to stay on in Canada.
Immigration files are being fast-tracked, though for reasons passing strange, the paperwork is done from the Canadian High Commission in London - which means it takes weeks, even months, when the embassy in Dublin could handle it in days. Given the history between the Irish and the British, the symbolism alone is unfortunate.
There is also the minor inconvenience that Canada isn't easy to get to for those coming from Ireland. There are no nonstop commercial flights except in summer, and then only to and from Toronto on Air Canada.
But that's a pretty minor obstacle given the opportunity to start over again in a welcoming new country. By the time the Irish have worked through all their fiscal issues, the best and brightest of a new generation will have left for distant shores.
"But," as Hearn says, "the Irish are like Newfoundlanders. They may work somewhere else, but they always come home."
imacdonald@irpp.org

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

 

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