Changes to Student Visa Policies
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has proposed several changes to student visa policies (which were announced on December 29, 2012. This survey is intended to obtain your thoughts on the proposed changes. UBC and the AMS will be using the results from this survey to guide and form a submission to the Federal Government communicating their position and that of UBC students.
The changes are far-reaching and are currently open for public comment. Sent jointly by the Alma Mater Society, UBC’s International Student Development at International House and the International Students’ Association, this brief message is the first of several messages you will receive on this topic. Your feedback will help the AMS and UBC craft our formal submissions to CIC on these issues.
We invite you to take five minutes to send us your feedback through a short survey. The survey closes at midnight on Sunday, February 3. Your responses will be confidential and anonymous and will not affect your standing as a UBC student or a member of the AMS. You can link to the survey at http://almamatersociety.wufoo.com/forms/proposed-student-visa-changes-survey/
If these changes are made law, the impacts for you could be:
– you could be allowed to hold a study permit only if you attend an institution designated by the province to host international students; UBC is expected to be on the list of designated institutions, so UBC students could still be eligible to apply for study permits
– you could be required to actively pursue studies after arrival in Canada in order to hold your study permit
– if you are in an academic program of at least six months, you could be eligible to work off-campus part-time without a work permit as soon as you begin studies
– if you are a new visitor, you could be eligible to apply for an initial study permit from within the country, if you fit the proposed list of programs
– other student work programs are not expected to change, including on-campus work, co-op work permit, spouse/partner work permit and post-graduation work permit
– the ability to study without a study permit in a program of less than six months as a new visitor or worker is not expected to change
For the full text of the proposed changes, see http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2012/2012-12-29/html/reg1-eng.html.
Thank you for taking time to tell us what you think about the proposed changes. Feel free to contact me with any questions about the survey or the proposed changes.