I have decided to start sharing a few emails I have received in the past to help others who might have the same question. This is only done with permission from the original sender. I hope it helps.
Prospective Student (first email)
"... am 25yrs old, my husband wants me to go to Canada to study and he just came back from a 1yr program in the united kingdom. We married last year before my husband travelled to the united kingdom and i was alone throughout his program and i can't go to Canada to study without him.
1) how much is my husband suppose to be earning before he can sponsor me to study in Canada.
2) I want my husband and i to go to Canada together but he said that he can't afford couple expenses for the trip but he suggested that he can come to Canada with tourist visa and later he will change it to dependant visa inside Canada, is it possible.
3) with my age can i still apply to college because i have National Diploma in Accounting or i should go to university instead please i need your advise.
4) can my husband work full time in Canada because presently he is working with engineering company and his earn 300 ,000 Naira per month.
5) is it possible to go to Canada at the same time since he is going to Canada as a tourist and am going as a student, please remember what i said in question 2.
6) admission requirement?
7) I want to apply for September admission next year. when can i apply to the school? is it April or may? and how long does it take to get admission?
8) can i apply for student visa may or June and how long does it take to get student visa.
9) can i get student visa a month before my course start. "
My Reply (first):
I will attempt to answer your question to the best of my knowledge. Sorry for the late response. I only do this on my free time. Hope you understand.
1) Your husband will need to have enough money to last for the duration of your program. By that I mean Tuition and accommodation if possible. Not sure what the duration of your intended program is. That is just my opinion. According to the Canadian consulate there have to be a certain amount of money coming in every month aside from money saved. To do this, you will need to know how much your tuition is and what the program duration is as well. Also let me know what city you intend to study in. Cost of living differs from city to city.
So question 1 is incomplete until i get further details. By the way, are you the only person your husband looks after? His income will have to be divided by the number of dependants.
2) Your husband is right. You can help him apply for a work permit during your study. Read more here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/
3) Don't worry so much about your age but focus on what you like to achieve with your Canadian education. Where do you see your self in the next 5 years? Whether you end up in a college or university, which of the institutions or programs do you think can help you achieve your career goal? I really don't like deciding anyone's future. Only God can. I can only help you think in the right direction.
4) Your husband can work based on the answer to question 2. What is his profession? an engineer? If he is an engineer there is a process before he could be certified by the engineering regulating body in Canada. That could take a long time. Courses are recommended for most people to be certified. That just means he might need to go back to school and in that time he needs to support himself. However he can do any other non-professional work to support himself. 300,000 Naira (~$ 2000 CAD) a month is a pretty good salary for Nigeria. Are you sure he would really like to leave his job?
5) Your question 2 answers this question. He can't afford the trip for both of you. It's best if he comes after you have settled a bit or its best to push the plan a little forward until when there is enough finances to go together. No need fuzzing if you don't feel like going. I know it is really uneasy going to a place you have never been to before. There are lots of challenges that comes with the first year and you know it requires the right support and courage. If you don't feel like going alone please don't embark on it. Tell him you can't go by yourself whether there are enough funds or not. Listen to your heart on this one.
He can be given a visitor's visa but the question is, for how long? You certainly don't want to be left alone.
** Please advise and thanks for numbering your questions. It made it easy to respond to.
Prospective Student (second email)
"...1) Assiniboine Community College, Brandon City, Manitoba, Canada.
- 2 yr Program - Business Administration
Dependants - My husband and I
2) My husband suggested visitor visa and later he will change it to dependant or spouse visa inside Canada, is it possible?
3) with my age (25yr) can i still apply to Assiniboine Community College
Brandon City, Manitoba, Canada?
4) presently he is working with engineering company and his earn 300,000 Naira per month.
They offered him contract job and the contract is going to end next year December 2016.
5) is it possible to go to Canada at the same time since he is going to Canada as tourist and am going as student? The reason why i asked this question is that he was afraid the cost of couple expenses that why he came up with ideas of tourist visa, since he is going to get his visa before my own. My money is not a problem for the trip, accommodation and my tuition fees."
My Reply (second):
1) Manitoba is an ideal place for international students because it provides that affordability and the same standard of education from other parts of the country. But it is a little windy than other part of the country. I went to school in Manitoba by the way.
Prospective Student (first email)
"... am 25yrs old, my husband wants me to go to Canada to study and he just came back from a 1yr program in the united kingdom. We married last year before my husband travelled to the united kingdom and i was alone throughout his program and i can't go to Canada to study without him.
1) how much is my husband suppose to be earning before he can sponsor me to study in Canada.
2) I want my husband and i to go to Canada together but he said that he can't afford couple expenses for the trip but he suggested that he can come to Canada with tourist visa and later he will change it to dependant visa inside Canada, is it possible.
3) with my age can i still apply to college because i have National Diploma in Accounting or i should go to university instead please i need your advise.
4) can my husband work full time in Canada because presently he is working with engineering company and his earn 300 ,000 Naira per month.
5) is it possible to go to Canada at the same time since he is going to Canada as a tourist and am going as a student, please remember what i said in question 2.
6) admission requirement?
7) I want to apply for September admission next year. when can i apply to the school? is it April or may? and how long does it take to get admission?
8) can i apply for student visa may or June and how long does it take to get student visa.
9) can i get student visa a month before my course start. "
My Reply (first):
I will attempt to answer your question to the best of my knowledge. Sorry for the late response. I only do this on my free time. Hope you understand.
1) Your husband will need to have enough money to last for the duration of your program. By that I mean Tuition and accommodation if possible. Not sure what the duration of your intended program is. That is just my opinion. According to the Canadian consulate there have to be a certain amount of money coming in every month aside from money saved. To do this, you will need to know how much your tuition is and what the program duration is as well. Also let me know what city you intend to study in. Cost of living differs from city to city.
So question 1 is incomplete until i get further details. By the way, are you the only person your husband looks after? His income will have to be divided by the number of dependants.
2) Your husband is right. You can help him apply for a work permit during your study. Read more here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/
3) Don't worry so much about your age but focus on what you like to achieve with your Canadian education. Where do you see your self in the next 5 years? Whether you end up in a college or university, which of the institutions or programs do you think can help you achieve your career goal? I really don't like deciding anyone's future. Only God can. I can only help you think in the right direction.
4) Your husband can work based on the answer to question 2. What is his profession? an engineer? If he is an engineer there is a process before he could be certified by the engineering regulating body in Canada. That could take a long time. Courses are recommended for most people to be certified. That just means he might need to go back to school and in that time he needs to support himself. However he can do any other non-professional work to support himself. 300,000 Naira (~$ 2000 CAD) a month is a pretty good salary for Nigeria. Are you sure he would really like to leave his job?
5) Your question 2 answers this question. He can't afford the trip for both of you. It's best if he comes after you have settled a bit or its best to push the plan a little forward until when there is enough finances to go together. No need fuzzing if you don't feel like going. I know it is really uneasy going to a place you have never been to before. There are lots of challenges that comes with the first year and you know it requires the right support and courage. If you don't feel like going alone please don't embark on it. Tell him you can't go by yourself whether there are enough funds or not. Listen to your heart on this one.
He can be given a visitor's visa but the question is, for how long? You certainly don't want to be left alone.
6)
You need to start searching for the school that offers your program of
choice. On their website you should be able to see all the admission
requirement. I wrote about this a while ago:http://emakgaga.blogspot.
7)
It's always in your best interest to give yourself one year from the
admission process to visa and landing. That way you are not working
under immense pressure. The best time to start working towards September
next year is now. You should be looking at at least three schools by
now via the web. When it comes to processing your application it really
boils down to the school. Each school have different processing times
depending on the volume of applications.
8) You apply
for a student visa once you get your admission letter and other
documents like transcripts and bank statement, etc. The admission letter
is very important. Once you get your admission letter apply right away.
Hence, make sure everything is in place so that the only thing you
would be waiting for is admission letter from your school. So you
probably see why it is best to start working with your school right away
instead of waiting for the peak time which is summer months (May, June, July, August). Too many people apply for visa in this period and end up
deferring their admission or arriving late due to late visa arrival
from the consulate. Not even to talk about booking flights. Flights in
August gets really expensive because a lot of students are traveling in
this period. If you receive your visa on time you will save money on
flights. Apply for admission early if you want to receive your visa
early. There is no set time from my experience even though they list the
processing times, it changes depending on the number of applications at
hand. One thing that can delay your application is an incomplete
application. Pay attention to all that is required before you send in
your application. See the following links: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/
9)
Getting your visa a month before your program starts again depends on
how early you applied. If you apply for a study visa a month before your
program begins you will certainly not get it. Apply early once you get
your admission letter.** Please advise and thanks for numbering your questions. It made it easy to respond to.
Prospective Student (second email)
"...1) Assiniboine Community College, Brandon City, Manitoba, Canada.
- 2 yr Program - Business Administration
Dependants - My husband and I
2) My husband suggested visitor visa and later he will change it to dependant or spouse visa inside Canada, is it possible?
3) with my age (25yr) can i still apply to Assiniboine Community College
Brandon City, Manitoba, Canada?
4) presently he is working with engineering company and his earn 300,000 Naira per month.
They offered him contract job and the contract is going to end next year December 2016.
5) is it possible to go to Canada at the same time since he is going to Canada as tourist and am going as student? The reason why i asked this question is that he was afraid the cost of couple expenses that why he came up with ideas of tourist visa, since he is going to get his visa before my own. My money is not a problem for the trip, accommodation and my tuition fees."
My Reply (second):
1) Manitoba is an ideal place for international students because it provides that affordability and the same standard of education from other parts of the country. But it is a little windy than other part of the country. I went to school in Manitoba by the way.
For a 2 year Business Admin program (24 months) you are looking at the following for Assiniboine Community College:
Tuition + book supplies = $22,000 CAD ~ 3.3 million Naira.
Assuming an apartment is $ 500 per month or $ 800 per month
Rent = $ 500 to $ 800 × 24 = $ 12000 to $ 19200 ~ 1.8 million Naira to 2.9 million Naira
Brandon
is fairly affordable so you could even see something cheaper. This is
for a one bedroom apartment. If you were to rent a room in a house. It
would be way cheaper.
Here is the link to accommodation in that area: http://m.kijiji.ca/1-bedroom-
Food = $ 300 x 24 months =$ 7200 ~ 1 million naira
Transportation = $ 70 x 24 = $ 1680 ~ 260,000 naira - Assuming you buy a monthly bus-pass and it cost $ 70.
For some of these numbers see this link: http://assiniboine.net/
Those are the main ones. Every other expense depends on lifestyle.
A summation of the above is $ 42,880 - $ 50000 ~ 6 million Naira - 7.4 million Naira. That is for two years.
He
needs to be sitting above 300,000 Naira monthly to afford your total
expense. But if he has saved a lot of money already and can show that he
has assets then he can still sponsor you.
2) I
think a tourist visa is still classified under a visitor's visa. He
should be able to extend it within Canada I think. I have seen some people
do it here. He just has to give a valid reason.
3)
You are going in as a mature student. Your age shouldn't be a problem.
Just explain to the embassy what you have been doing in the past few
years after your diploma.
4) This falls within your first semester of study. It should be perfect for him to join you in Christmas.
5) I don't think this is an issue. As long as there's money to take care of both you. It should be fine.
Let me know if it helps.
Its bed time for me so I may not respond on time.
Prospective Student (third email)
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