Students have an authorization for working twenty hours per week, off campus* when classes are in session and full time during scheduled breaks/vacation.

Students must start work only after they receive the off-campus work permit.

Eligibility

• You should have been accepted by a school, college, university or other educational institution in Canada.
• You must provide substantial proofs featuring that you have enough money to pay for your:
  • Tuition fees
  • Living expenses for yourself and any family members accompanying you to Canada and
  • Return transportation for yourself and any family members who accompanies you to Canada.
• You may have to provide a police certificate to prove that you do not have any criminal record and are a law-abiding citizen. You should not be a risk to the security of Canada.
• You are to be in good health and willing to complete a medical examination, if necessary.
• You must satisfy an immigration officer about your leaving Canada after completing your studies.

In some cases, you do not require a study permit to go to school in Canada.

If you wish to study in a short-term course or program

A study permit is not required if you plan to take a course or program in Canada that lasts six months or less. You must complete the course or program within the stipulated time period of your stay in Canada.

Even if a study permit is not required, it’s better to apply for a permit before you come to Canada. If you decide to continue your studies in another program after completing your short-term course or program, you should apply through a Canadian visa office outside Canada.

Foreign representatives to Canada

You do not require a study permit to study in Canada, if you are a family member or staff member of a foreign representative to Canada accredited by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada,. You should contact your embassy in Canada, which can contact the Office of Protocol at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to find out if you need a study permit.

Members of foreign armed forces

You do not need a permit to study in Canada, if you are a member of a foreign armed force under the Visiting Forces Act. Your family members, including minor children, must meet the requirements, in case they are willing to study in Canada.

Students cannot work off campus, without a work permit. The work permit authorizes the student to work up to 20 hours per week during regular academic sessions, and full time during scheduled breaks (for example, winter and summer holidays, and spring break).

IMP: A work permit does not guarantee a job. It is the student’s responsibility to look for work.

If your application is approved, you will receive the following:

• A letter of introduction, confirming the approval, will be sent to you. This letter is not your study permit. You should bring the letter of introduction with you, for showing to immigration officials, after your arrival in Canada.
• A temporary resident visa (TRV) will be issued if you hail from a designated country for which Canada requires a visa. The TRV will be in your passport. The expiry date on this visa indicates the date by which you must enter Canada. You must enter Canada before your TRV expires. The TRV will also indicate if you have a single-entry visa (enter Canada only once) or you have a multiple entry visa (can enter Canada multiple times).

If you move or change your address, telephone number or any other contact information after you submit your application, you must notify the visa office where you submitted your application.

If your application is not approved

If your application is not approved, the visa office will send you a letter explaining why your application has been refused. An application might be refused for several reasons:

• You fail to prove that you have enough money to support yourself, while studying in Canada.
• You failed in the medical examination if one was required.
• You failed to satisfy the visa officer about your primary intentions of studying in Canada.
• You failed to satisfy the visa officer about your will leaving Canada, at the end of your stipulated period of study.

You can contact the visa office that issued the refusal letter, for queries related to your refusal.

The documents you need to enter Canada

The CBSA officer will ask to see your travel documents when you arrive in Canada. Make sure they are not packed in your luggage, and that you have them with you. This will help speed up your entry to Canada.

You should be ready to show the following documents:

• A valid passport or travel document.
• The letter of introduction from the visa office that you received when your study permit was approved (this letter contains your permit reference number and the CBSA officer needs this letter to issue your study permit).
• A valid temporary resident visa (if required).
• A copy of the letter of acceptance from the school at which you are permitted to study.
• proof that you have enough money to support yourself during your stay in Canada and letters of reference or any other documents recommended by the visa office where you applied.

You may apply to restore your status as a student within 90 days of losing it. You may only apply if you have continued to meet the requirements under which you were allowed to enter and stay in Canada and you have met all the conditions imposed on your permit.

After applying to restore your status, you may stay in Canada until a decision is made on your application. You are not allowed to study until your status has been restored.

There is no guarantee that your application to restore your status will be accepted. On your application, you must provide full details of all the facts and circumstances that caused you to lose your status.

In addition to a fee for renewing your study permit, there is also a fee for restoring your status. Each family member who has lost status is required to pay the fees.

The Off-Campus Work Permit Program allows certain foreign students to work off campus while completing their studies. To qualify, the student must be a full-time student enrolled at a participating, publicly funded, post-secondary educational institution; or in an approved program at an eligible privately funded institution.

Participating publicly funded post-secondary educational institutions:

• Are public post-secondary institutions, such as a college or university or a collège d’enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP) in Quebec or
• Are private post-secondary institutions that operate under the same rules and regulations As public institutions, and receive at least 50 percent of their financing for their overall operations from government grants (currently only private college-level educational institutions in Quebec qualify) or
• Have signed an off-campus work agreement with their provincial or territorial government.

Eligible privately funded post-secondary institutions:

• Are located in a province or territory that has signed a memorandum of understanding with CIC.
• Have signed an off-campus work agreement with their provincial or territorial government and
• Have approval from their provincial or territorial government to grant specific degrees.

Please note that not all programs offered by private post-secondary educational institutions qualify. Please contact the Canam office close to you for a list of participating institutions in the Off-Campus Work Permit Program.

Students cannot work off campus, without a work permit. The work permit authorizes the student to work up to 20 hours per week during regular academic sessions, and full time during scheduled breaks (for example, winter and summer holidays, and spring break).

IMP: A work permit does not guarantee a job. It is the student’s responsibility to look for work.

You ought to have a letter of acceptance from a school, college, university or other educational institution in Canada before applying for a study permit.

Generally, you should apply for a study permit before coming to Canada. You can apply at the Canadian visa office responsible for your country.

You should apply as soon as you receive your letter of acceptance from the educational institution. The time needed to process an application to study in Canada may be different at various visa offices.

You must pay a processing fee with your application. The fee will not be refunded, even if your application is refused.

You require a medical examination if:

• You are in Canada for more than six months, and you come from a designated country for which Canada requires a visa or
• You would be studying or working at a place where it is important to protect public health, as in a school, hospital, daycare centre or other facility.

You can get the lost immigration documents, issued by the Government of Canada, replaced. You ought to complete an application and pay a fee. There is a fee for replacing immigration documents that have been lost, stolen or destroyed.

If you leave Canada and want to return, you must have:

• A valid passport or travel documents
• A valid study permit if you are returning to study in Canada and
• A valid temporary resident visa if you are a citizen of a designated country for which Canada requires a visa.

If you are a citizen of a designated country and you travel to a country other than the United States, Greenland or Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, you require a multiple-entry visa to re-enter Canada. If your temporary resident visa has expired or if your visa was only valid for a single entry, you must re-apply for a temporary resident visa at a Canadian visa office outside Canada before you can re-enter Canada.