As my whole family (me, my wife and 2 sons) plan to visit Canada this summer on a Temporary Resident Visa (We got TRV) and intend to apply for the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in Alberta. The processing time is approximately 5 months. During this period, we have two children, with one entering 3rd grade and the other starting 9th grade in the upcoming semester. As temporary residents, can we enroll them in public schools while awaiting the PNP results, and are both public and private schools options for them?
Enrolling children for public schools while awaiting PNP results with TRV
- Thread starter ozer
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What is your status in Canada? If visitor and you are not a worker or student, they can register for public school once they are PR. You can register them for private or public school and pay international fees but they will need a study permit until PR. You want to show about $25k per child. So have you received nomination from province and applied for PR through IRCC?
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Your children need study permits to attend school and you will need to pay international student fees.
At the outset, we will only have a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV). Our plan is to apply for the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) in Alberta, which typically takes 5-6 months to complete. To ensure our children don't miss out on school and considering the high costs associated with obtaining a study permit and international student fees, we are exploring alternative options. One possibility is applying for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to expedite the process of obtaining a Work Permit (WP).
Can holders of Work Permits enroll their children in public schools?
How does it only take 6 months…which program and when have you received nomination? You need nomination first and depending on stream that can take several months. Do you have a positive LMIA with your employer? If not you still need a LMIA so employer has to prove no Canadian/PR could be hired. They need to start the process. Then you can apply for a work permit proving you are the only person with the education/work experience to do the job. If so, child can be eligible for school.
Finding an employer willing to hire you and who already has an LMiA or is willing to go through the LMIA process is quite difficult and then you would have to apply for WPs and see if they are approved. This process can take over 6 months and during that time your children will not qualify to attend school without a study permit and paying internationals fees. There is also no guarantee that you or your spouse will get selected for PNP or PNP right away. Securing PR is incredibly difficult at the moment except in certain fields that are in high demand in Canada. There has been a very large number of temporary residents who have entered Canada in the past few years and they all are competing to try and secure PR. Securing PR used to be fairly easy but it has become much harder. Why do you believe you will be able to secure a PR within 5-6 months through PNP for example? Have you looked at very recent processing for PNP applications since if you looked at applications even a year ago it was much easier to obtain PR. What are your NOCs? What are your CRS scores? Doesn’t sound like you have job offers. Being able enter Canada and visit Canada for 6+ months is also not guaranteed. If you arrive without ties to your own country (jobs, a home, etc.) and it appears as though you may be attempting to move to Canada then your family could be denied entry into Canada or be given a limited period to visit and have to report to the airport to return home after a short visit. Is there a reason you are determined to apply for PR or a WP from inside Canada and especially with your whole family? It would be much better to apply from abroad or send one parent to Canada to try and secure employment and a WP for example to ensure that the children would be able to attend school, that you would have health coverage, so that you have a better chance securing housing since it can be challenging to secure housing without a job and credit history especially given the tight supply of available housing.
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Still confused on how people think they can come as visitors, repeat visitors, and think they’d be able to just plunk the kids into a education system they’ve never paid into with no fees involved