The Canadian government today has made a huge announcement for students planning or hoping to Study in Canada.
What problems does this fix?
What is this news? CUAC can explain.
Since the virus hit Canada, like most countries, Canada has been closed to people from abroad entering Canada. Today this is still the case; but for international students, it has been more complicated. This is because, in Canada, most institutions are offering the September session classes on-line. Students in most cases don’t want to delay their studies. But an international student will feel better to register for classes and pay the tuition fees if she knows she already has been approved for a Study Permit (study visa).
There was another complication. Most Canadian study permit processing became very slow, or stopped completely, as Embassies and Consulates closed. Many parts of the process, in many countries, were also impossible to fulfill. Examples of this include giving biometric information or passing the medical clearance. Even another part of the process – getting a security clearance from the student’s own country – was also difficult or impossible.
Why is this big news?
The new announcement is big news because it means international students have a much higher chance now of getting a study permit approved before September, 2020.
The new announcement says, importantly, study permit applications will be given top attention for fast processing.
Secondly, today’s announcement says that there will be a new system that will tell students that they received an « approval-in-principle ». If a student has this, then it means everything is mainly fine. It means a study permit will later be issued if there is no medical issue or security issue. For almost every student, this will not be any problem at all. It will only mean waiting to complete a medical exam, to get a security clearance from the student’s government, or for Canada to complete the process after receiving the medical exam results or security clearance.
So with the approval-in-principle confirmed, a student can plan everything except travel to Canada. Travel to Canada will only be possible once Canada announces that it is open and decides in what circumstances international students, who later get the study permit, can plan their arrival.
Especially for students in programs of 2 years or less, the announcement is also valuable. It confirms that if the student has the approval-in-principle before starting on-line classes, then this will count towards her Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP). For students in academic programs of 2 years or more, the PGWP gives a 3 year open work permit after graduation.
Summary
We at CUAC are very happy on behalf of the hundreds of students we are serving and the tens of thousands of more international students who were planning or hoping to come to Canada to pursue their studies. Most students will still need to wait until at least the January, 2021 semester to take classes in the classroom. But now international students know they should be completing their study permit applications to be in the best position to start virtual classes in September. For international students reading this, or their families, if an application for a study permit has not been submitted, do so as quickly as you can!
For students who are in programs without online classes in September, or whose semester was changed to January 2021, this is still a valuable announcement. It means these students will be able to make firm commitments much sooner because they will know, at least, that they have an approval-in-principle.
The official Government of Canada announcement can be found at this link:
Media coverage from one of Canada’s largest television networks can be found at this link.
For questions about this new announcement or anything else, email us at blog@cuac.ca