Page 13 - BICF College Prep 101 Fall 2019

Applying for the Canadian Student Visa: Avoid the Panic. A Bermudian family’s experience. Whew!! Submitted by a parent of a student studying in Canada 2 using the link in red: scroll to the bottom of the page a. b. Set up your profile – CLICK and click the big red box – APPLY ONLINE This is quite a process. We’ll share our experience and hope that it will help you. For further guidance, check out the Canadian Government website. https://www.canada.ca/en/ immigration-refugees-citizenship/ services/study-canada.html (this link takes you straight to the page – scroll to the bottom of the page and click the big red box – APPLY ONLINE All of this must be complete before leaving the island. We were told by Canadian immigration that a Bermudian had been sent back home the day before because all paperwork was not in order. You don’t want that to be YOU! So, here we go. Save all of your STEP Documents in a folder 1 so that you can quickly upload them to the Visa Application Center (VAC) website: a. College Acceptance letter b. Canadian Visa Photo (any photography kiosk that does passport photos) c. Photo of valid Passport d. Bank letter indicating ability to pay tuition (Apply for at your bank where your funds are located, a cost is involved and takes about a week to obtain) e. Security Vetting Request Form from Police (a cost is involved and takes about a week to obtain) Complete the online STEP Study Permit request g. If all is in order once documents are submitted, the wait is about 10 days to two weeks. You will received an email instructing you to log into your account which will inform you if anything is missing or if you are good to proceed to the next step – Biometrics! h. Print it out the Biometrics letter and have it with you when you travel. Biometrics must be obtained outside of Canada and there is a 2 two week window that you have to obtain it, if not it EXPIRES. Get the biometrics STEP (Valid for 10 Years) 3 (fingerprint & photo) a. Make an appointment on the site to go to a (VAC) to complete the Biometrics process. Select a processing center in the country or state of your choice (other than Canada). All the processing centers will come up and you choose one, book a date and time, then go book your travel! Not the other way round like we did. b. Book Travel! • You have a two-week timeframe REGISTER c. Be sure to save username, password and security questions and answers someplace safe for future reference. You will need them over and over again. d. Complete the steps and Upload documents as requested. There are some forms that will need to be downloaded and physically signed and then saved and uploaded again. e. There is a cost online for the Visa where they accept all major credit cards. Note that your payment will include your biometrics payment as well. ($150 for Visa and $85 for Biometrics CDN) f. When applying for a Canadian Visa, be sure to apply for the number of years that it will take for you to obtain your certification or Degree, if not, you will have to apply and pay every time your visa expires. Also, if your degree requires you to work, be sure to apply for ‘Study and Work’ visa. If not you will be stuck. c. to get this done, so don’t wait. Most Bermudians go to the New York Centers (Brooklyn or Jamaica) • The entire process takes about 5 minutes. (continued on pg. 14) COLLEGE PREP 101 FALL 2019 13