5 Mistakes to avoid on a Canadian Study Permit application

Canada is the top study abroad destination for international students due to the high reputation of Canadian education and growth opportunities within Canada. Many of the readers are either planning to study in Canada or know someone who is planning to study in Canada. This post is aimed to help the readers to avoid some of the costliest mistakes on their Canadian study permit application.

• Study Program: The primary objective is to study in Canada and no doubt the choice of the program is very important for your Canadian study permit application. Imagine someone who has background in arts and wants to suddenly come to Canada to study engineering. The hierarchy of the study program needs to make sense to the career goals of the students. Also, not all colleges and courses are eligible for the the Post Graduate Work Permit (PGWP). There are countless cases where agents got the prospective students to the colleges/courses not eligible for PGWP and students had no choice but to change colleges and study again wasting both time and money.
• SOP: Statement of purpose or letter of intent is a missed opportunity sometimes. I have seen many prospective students see at as a burden instead of opportunity. Not using this opportunity wisely could be a very costly mistake. There are numerous cases of refusal where providing some details in SOP could have avoided refusal on Canadian study permit application. Use this to address any shortcomings on your application.
• Application Form: It is a very powerful tool as this is the official form to apply for the study permit for Canada application. There is not much that could go wrong with the form, however there are few common mistakes that applicants make which could put them in trouble. Lying or providing wrong information on application form is an offence and can result in a 5 year ban. If you have had any issues with the law or had previous refusals from any country, mention it there. Canada has information sharing agreements with many countries and the information may show during the background check. Which will lead to study permit application being refused and may lead to a 5 year ban.
• Ties to Home Country: You will need to prove strong ties to your home country to satisfy the visa officer that your visit to Canada is temporary and you will return to your home country or country of residence after you study in Canada. This could be very tricky especially if you have previous refusals. At yciCanada, our experts can help you guide through how you could demonstrate strong ties to home country and increase the chances of success!
• Unauthorized/illegal Agents: This is probably the least talked about mistake and it is possibly due to lack of awareness regarding Canadian immigration matters. As per Canadian law, it is illegal to advise or represent on Canadian immigration matters in Canada or outside Canada unless one is authorized by Canadian law. The education agents helping you are not authorized by Canadian law in most cases. Canada asks to complete Use of a Representative form (IMM5476) and unauthorized agent or consultant would never complete that for you because they know it’s illegal. They will likely ask you to submit paper application or they will apply online posing as you. If the visa officer is suspicious that someone else is helping you and you didn’t include the completed IMM5476 form. This could be a ground for misrepresentation and may result in a 5 year ban.

At YCI, we provide services of Regulated Canadian immigration Consultant authorized by Canadian law to represent and advise clients in Canadian immigration matters.