Do You Have Your Student Visa Yet?

It's summer, for crying out loud! The heat, the beach, ice cream, no coats, no boots, no shoveling, flowers and trees in full bloom, vegetable and fruit produce aplenty. Summer tires, convertible tops down, radios blaring, loads of pedestrian-traffic downtown, air-conditioning. Day camp, overnite camp, bbq's, summer decks, ice cubes and lemonade. Rain, laundry hanging to dry on clotheslines, alternate-side parking, going to the park with your kids, sidewalk sales. Crocs! Bumping into friends on the street you haven't seen all winter. Going on vacation. It's a great time, summer. Nature's breather until fall comes around knockin' at our doors to make sure that we don't forget that winter is really but a bitterly cold day away. Sorry to interrupt your summer's daydream and remind you of the autumn, but there are pressing matters which must be attended to now and cannot wait until after the summer. Namely: are you, your child or someone you know from outside Canada, planning to come study in Quebec (or Canada) for the academic year of 2007-08? If so, the information in this post is vital for you.

Generally speaking, Canada allows non-Canadian visitors into her borders for short visits, usually for a period of up to six months at a time. Depending on country of origin, a person may or may not require a permit or visa to enter. Thus, for example, US citizens may normally enter Canada for a period of up to six months with no visitor visa necessary; Venezuelans, on the other hand, will require a visitor visa.

These 'temporary' guests are allowed to come and...visit. And that's it! They are not allowed to work and /or study, unless they have first received a special dispensation from the federal government for that purpose, namely a work or study permit. In this post, I would like to discuss study permits.

Coming to study in Canada can truly be an exciting and rewarding experience. In Quebec, our educational system has many fine world-class institutions, in good company with the better known international ones. Open up a Montreal Yellow Pages and a quick survey of schools will indicate that indeed, there is almost every kind of educational possibility available here in Quebec. Coupled with a sizable and varied international student body (last year about 25,000 persons came from around the world), studying here is an experience that can provide anyone with a great future and a lifetime of precious memories.

Furthermore, our bilingual French and English character acts as a true-life laboratory language experiment. (Just promise yourself that you will ignore and stay away from associated political overtones.) The fact is that there is no other city in the world that can rival our bilingual (or even multi-lingual) status. Even if you were to choose to live and function in a unilingual English or French environment, you could not help but be infected, one way or another, with the feeling of cosmopolitanism that one gets from living in a city that speaks these two beautiful international tongues.

And finally, who can forget the weather?! Ah, the weather! You have to accept it , to embrace it, to love it. Summers are great, but aahh...the winters! The snow, the snowstorms, the piles and piles of snow, the cold, the brutal cold. And yes, the skiing, the skating, the sledding and being the first to make footprints and imprints in the snow, anticipating that loud crunch under your boots. Or if you're not the sporty type and would rather prefer winter cocooning, well, there's lots of that too. How's standing inside your cozy living room late at night, staring out the window, basking in the heat pouring out of your radiator while nursing a double, steaming hot chocolate, mindlessly watching the cascading sheets of snow accumulate in artful and deliberate snow dunes, burying trees, cars and anything left helplessly outside. Or perhaps simply cultivating and nurturing relationships by just spending more time with friends and family indoors. Montreal is not your beach destination getaway. This climate builds character and really must be experienced.

OK, you're convinced. You're coming. Great!

However, in order to be able to come take advantage of the Quebec / Canada learning experience, you must first obtain a study permit if you are not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident and to this there is some effort and focus involved. It's not as simple as coming to Quebec for a visit, deciding on a school, filling in the application, going off to some downtown government office and receiving the study permit that day. If only! On the other hand, it's not an impossible task to do either, but it does require will, patience and planning. There are many tasks and details to pay attention to, which eventually all come together in your application.

Planning is crucial because even when you think that you're on top of your application and that you've got your end covered pat, you might quite rudely discover that suddenly you have to contend with external, unforeseeable and development-delaying circumstances over which you have utterly and absolutely no control! For example, you're ready to send out your application, but need some small information / a letter from your intended school or your bank or whomever. Guess what? You call them, only to be told that they're closed / gone off on vacation for three weeks till the end of whenever / working on a reduced staff / can't find your file or some other willy-nilly excuse and you're left holding the bag. The government-person-type who will ultimately be processing your application at the receiving end is certainly reviewing many, many others as well and if you want your application to be processed properly and quickly, without getting stuck in the system, you want to be 100% sure that you have crossed your t's and dotted your i's. Your application must be complete and perfect.

Coupled with the above, according to statistical information provided by the CIC for the period of April '06 to March '07, it took an average of a minimum of 28 working days (which translates into much more time when you include those inevitable nasty statutory holidays, Saturdays and Sundays) to process a study permit. This number has to be higher prior to the start of the school year.

Also, you have to be in possession of your initial study permit before you come to Canada as a student. You cannot come in as a visitor and then obtain your study permit. It is regularly not possible to have an initial study permit request completed in Canada.

Unfortunately, I have been contacted by would-be students to Quebec, who have been stymied by such a lack of proper planning. Believe me, it's upsetting to see how distraught these potential students become when they encounter these otherwise avoidable delays. Thus, in order to avoid big-time aggravation and disappointment, as well as possibly missing those seriously crucial first days of school, when everybody else gets the best ofs, it it absolutely necessary to start thinking and acting on your study permit now, if you haven't already begun.

Very generally and in a nutshell, in order to get a study permit, a person must submit the following:

• all the completed forms and documentation;
• a letter of acceptance from the school which he/she plans on attending;
• proof that he/she has enough financial funds to cover the tuition; and living expenses and return transportation at the end of the studies for all family members;
• proof that he/she will be leaving Canada at the expiry of the study permit (don't worry - renewals are possible);
• a police certificate with a clean police record, if requested;
• a medical examination, if necessary; and
• additionally, Quebec-bound students must first obtain a CAQ or a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec (Certificate of Acceptance) from the Quebec government, before applying for a Canadian study permit.

As Quebec provides health insurance to all her citizens, it is necessary for a visiting student to also prove that he/she is in possession of valid health insurance.

Depending on where you are coming from will also determine where your application for the study permit must be presented.

Thousands of people come to Quebec / Canada each year, in many different capacities. You can too. Put down the suntan lotion and get crackin'. Good luck!

Believe in Miracles!

If you don't believe in miracles, well then, you might want to start believing now! What may be an incredible reprieve for thousands of ('lost') Canadians will hopefully come into effect as law soon. Read on.

In a previous post (Are you a Canadian living abroad?), I highlighted the importance of registering children born abroad to a Canadian parent, as Canadian citizens. I mentioned that historically, this privilege has been time-sensitive and indeed, there have already been instances where this right has expired for certain classes. Please hold that thought while we move on and consider another related topic.

For many years back, if one were travelling from Canada to the US, one could usually present a birth certificate or other government-issued document in order to pass through the immigration control at either border. Getting through with a photo-less, signature-less birth certificate or with just a driver's license was typically considered uneventful.

However, figuring post 9-11 fears and concerns, the US has decided to tighten immigration control at its borders so as to prevent 'undesirables' from slipping through and sneaking into the US. As a result, the US passed the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which requires all travellers in the western hemisphere, including Canadian and US citizens, to provide a valid passport or other secure identification when wishing to enter the US. According to the US rules released in November 2006, all persons travelling by air in the western hemisphere through the US, on or after 23 January 2007, are required to present a passport or a NEXUS card (to be used with a NEXUS kiosk at select Canada-US entry points) upon entry to the US. This rule has already come into effect and is being applied.

Rules for travel by land or sea have yet to be released, though it is certain that a passport will also be an accepted mode of identification. The US Congress has given a delay period of up till 01 June 2009 to implement the rule regarding travel by land or sea, once certain safety considerations relating to travel documents have been met. Cf.: http://cbsa.gc.ca/agency/whti-ivho/poster-affiche-e.pdf.

(Ironically, according to an AP article from 07 June last, processing times for applications for US passports from within the US, has slowed to a crawl. Consequently, it may be announced this Friday, that the US may temporarily suspend its requirement for US travellers going to and from Canada and Mexico, if the traveller can prove that he/she has already applied for a passport.)

In response to this US law, many Canadians decided to go ahead and apply for their Canadian passports, so that they be prepared in the event of travel to the US. This is where the story gets weird. Anticipating routine passport process, some applicants discovered instead, to their palpable horror, that they were in fact not legally recognized as Canadian citizens! These include persons who were not born in Canada, but rather born abroad to a Canadian citizen and unbeknownst to them (and others), had missed the deadline (for their class) for citizenship registration. They have been affectionately labelled in Canada as 'lost Canadians'. How generously sensitive! Imagine spending your whole life in what you thought was your home country, only to learn that you are not, in fact, entitled to its citizenship. Cf.: http://www.lostcanadianchildren.com/.

And then when all seems lost for the stranded, the Conservative Party steps in to save the day. Hurray for Prime Minister Stephen Harper!

On 29 May last, the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, appeared before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. She announced that she is planning amendments to the Citizenship Act so as to help and rescue these 'lost Canadians'. She stated, "... I announced that I plan to introduce new legislation to amend the Citizenship Act. This will mean that anyone born in Canada on or after January 1, 1947, will have citizenship even if they had lost it under a provision of the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act. Anyone naturalized in Canada on or after January 1, 1947, will have citizenship even if they had lost it under the 1947 Act. And anyone born outside the country to a Canadian mother or father, in or out of wedlock on or after January 1, 1947, will have citizenship if they are the first generation born abroad." Cf. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/speech-2007/2007-05-29a.html for the full statement.

The deadlines which these new 'non-Canadians' had missed are indeed very significant ones, having evidently produced serious consequences for them thus far. In effect, it has meant nothing less than losing their right to Canadian citizenship forever (barring exceptions). It is not my intention to provide political comment on this blog, but really hats-off to the Harper government for wanting to remedy this situation instead of just washing its hands of this affair.

It's not everyday that one gets a second chance to fix something like this. This is really really grand, a true gift! So...once again, for those of you who have not yet registered as Canadians, whether a 'lost Canadian' or not, don't lose this or any other precious opportunity to register yourselves or children. Good luck!

Don't Leave Home Without...Your Valid Permanent Resident Card!

Nearly five years ago, the Canadian government issued its first 'Permanent Resident Card' for Canadian Permanent Residents (PRs). Canadian citizens don't require this card and once PRs themselves become citizens, they no longer require it either.

Generally, if a PR travels anywhere outside Canada (using commercial carriage, such as a bus, plane etc.), then he/she must be able to present his/her valid PR Card in order to board and gain re-entry back into Canada. If he/she does not have such a (valid) card, he/she might then have to obtain an emergency travel document from the nearest Canadian emergency-travel-document-issuing authority (which might end up not being so near at all!), in order to get back home. Frankly, if you are at the close of your voyage and you're familiar with that 'just wanting to go home already' feeling, who then needs this kind of hassle and headache?! We're not even talking about lost time, lost money and maybe even your ticket home!

Well, those first cards which were issued by Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) way back in June 2002, are nearing their 5-year expiry date. This means that if you are a PR and you plan on travelling outside Canada some time soon, and you currently have a valid PR Card, then please check the expiry date on your card before leaving Canada. If there is enough time to renew your card before travel, then by all means do so; otherwise, you may have to contact CIC in order to request a rush service and/or perhaps consider modifying your travel plans.

Not to belabour the point, but if you are a PR and have never had any card at all yet, you might want to consider applying for one asap. One never knows when one might be unexpectedly summoned outside of Canada and when that happens, the last thing you'll want to be fretting about is about being able to eventually get back into Canada.

Make your trip an enjoyable one, one that will end happily. Plan ahead.

See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pr-card.pdf

Are you a Canadian living abroad? Do you have children?

Canada is a great country and a great place to live. Really. At once cosmopolitan and friendly, nice people, high quality-of-life, good health and education systems and great weather. (OK, maybe not really so much the weather. But, respectfully, other areas with more temperate climates are themselves weather-challenged, what-with their heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and so on. Those I can't live with - snow and cold weather, skating and tobogganing I can.) We live in a democratic society where we speak our minds with no fear of reprisal. It's destiny's gift to be able to live our lives in this glorious country.

Immigration to Canada, or to most countries for that matter, requires effort, concentration and drive. It can be costly. It often creates an upheaval in people's lives, hopefully in a positive way. Still, especially when coming to Canada, these efforts are well worth it. This is evidenced by the fact that thousands of people around the world apply to immigrate to Canada and would love to come to Canada, to live here and join in our rich lifestyles.

Why the pontification?

I know some people who were born in Canada and are consequently Canadian citizens. For whatever their personal reasons, they have moved from Canada and have established their families and households elsewhere now. They love Canada, though they may or may not still retain strong ties to her. This is fine.

However, and this is where I have my beef with them: they have not yet registered their children as Canadian citizens! This is incomprehensible! Generally speaking, the privilege of Canadian citizenship is generously extended to children born abroad to Canadian citizens, if either or both parents are Canadian at the time of their child's birth. Registration is not that complicated to do and is not very costly. Imagine that - gifting your child, almost effortlessly, with a nationality that most people can only dream of obtaining.

Why bother, you may ask? To me the answer is simple: it's about awarding your child the privilege of being part of this great Canadian family and nation. Consider also that one never knows what the future may bring. Perhaps right now, Canadian citizenship for your child may not be a priority and you cannot imagine how he/she may ever have any advantage from it. However, it helps to think about the years to come. What if your child may wish to come live in Canada at some point in his/her life? What if he/she one day desires to come study in one of our world-renowned and acclaimed universities and pay Canadian-student tuition rates? More seriously, our world's political situation is not quite as stable as we would perhaps like it to be. What if your child's current host country decides to implement homeland security measures and/or a draft for a war effort, implementations to which he/she may be ideologically opposed? While I am not suggesting any kind of civil disobedience and/or disrespect to his/her current home country, as a Canadian however, he/she could have the right to view political issues from a uniquely Canadian standpoint and correspondingly will always have a home to come to.

This registration privilege has limitations and does not last forever. Already on August 14 2004, transitional provisions of the Citizenship Act expired, such that persons born outside Canada before 14 February 1977 are no longer allowed to register under these provisions. (There has been much in the news recently about persons who applied for Canadian passports and because they had previously not registered, found out that they were technically not Canadian citizens! The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has set-up a dedicated unit in the CIC to deal with this issue). These could-have-been-Canadians have been denied their rightful birthright of a national heritage. How dreadfully sad!

So to all you expatriate Canadians: if you have children, unless you have clear beliefs and/or other pressing concerns which stand in your way, please register your children asap! Save any later regrets and don't let this incredible opportunity slip away.

Just one more practical reason: don't wait until it's too late and your kid has yet another reason to tie you to the whipping post for another alleged misdeed!