Canada student visa holders to do distance learning on pre-COVID rules

Highlights of Canada distance learning measures

• Canada is reverting to its pre-pandemic terms about its Canada student visa program for distance learning.
• The new measures governing the transition to the old system will provide an extended transition period for international students.
• Foreign students currently studying online from abroad or applying for a student permit on or before August 31, 2022 will get an exemption.

Now that the pangs of the pandemic are mostly over, Canada is coming back to pre-pandemic ways of affairs. It has just announced that it will extend the transition period for international students who are currently on a Canada student visa doing their courses online. The new measures will also be applicable to students applying for a study visa before August 31, 2022.

What’s Canada trying to achieve?

Canada wants to migrate to Canada back on track to the way it was working before the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes the key category of migration beneficiaries constituted by international students.

The pandemic had created a huge requirement of letting international students to be allowed to complete their courses in Canadian universities online. The Canadian government even temporarily retracted the criteria of deducting the online learning period from the PGWP visa validity.

Now, it’s time to bring matters back to how they were. So, the Canadian government is taking some important steps.

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The new measures for Canada student visa

The new measures are applicable to international students who are either

• Studying online from abroad or
• Submitting an application for a Canada study permit on or before August 31, 2022

These international students will continue to be able to complete up to 100% of their study program online without having any effect on their eligibility for PGWP. But there’s a catch.

The study time completed from abroad from September 1, 2023, will be taken away from the validity period length of their PGW permit. This will be done regardless of when a student started their studies.

*Know your eligibility to immigrate to Canada through Y-Axis Canada Immigration Points Calculator.

The effect of the extension granted to temporary distance learning measures will be felt by those international students starting study programs from September 1, 2022, to August 31, 2023. In specific terms these measures will apply in the following ways:

• Up to 50% of the credits earned can be completed outside Canada so that those students can retain their eligibility for a PGW permit.
• Studies completed online from outside Canada from September 1, 2023, will be taken away from the validity period of a PGWP issued in the future.

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What’s going on with Canada immigration in general?

• The Canadian government is hard at work to solve the issues of visa processing delays as well as longer waiting times.
• Canada is focusing on reducing current backlogs, which include student permits.

If you are willing to migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the leading immigration and career consultant in the UAE.

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