We recently reported on a big announcement from the Canadian federal government (Canada Immigration) regarding a new two-step system for helping as many students as possible qualify for a first step approval by the start of the September, 2020 semester.
The CUAC has now received our first Canadian immigration office letter with the new terminology approving the first step. The earlier policy announcement referred to the first stage as being an approval-in-principle. This letter uses the language ”preliminary eligibility assessment”.
If your letter has this language “preliminary eligibility assessment” it is very likely your study visa (officially called a study permit) to study in Canada will be later granted. The letter basically means only one or more of the following items: medical check, security clearance and biometric information have still to be completed.
As a general guideline, this should satisfy most students and families that the final study permit is very likely to be issued. As a result, it makes sense to transfer the tuition fees and begin the September semester on a distance basis, until Canada is widely open to receiving international students in person again.
Please consult our earlier blog item at the following link where it explains the value and importance of this first step approval as well as the limitations of it.