Friends,
Canadian High Commission in New Delhi conducted a seminar and QA session for students who wish to apply for a study visa (SPP and General ) on 12 April 2011. The presenters were the two visa officer who process student visa in CHC New Delhi and they answer a lot of question by students and their parents during the session.
I found the visa officers very humane and helpful even during that short contact period. I'm not sure why people had been cursing them on this and other forums.
I'm providing highlights of the information shared and summary of the discussions that happened in the seminar for benefit of my fellow brother and sisters in this forum:
Presentation by Visa Officers
The presentation was short, simple, and easy to understand and was divided into four sections:
Visa Officer Assessment
This was the most important section. They explained what they look for in a student visa application for acceptance, and what things force them to reject application. The most common sentence I heard during the complete seminar was "submit <an application, document, or proofs> that makes common sense".
They told us that they start assessing the application with a belief that the candidate is a genuine student, and that S/He has sufficient funds for his/her study. And then they validate this belief by the documents that we provide along with the application.
They also gave us several other important tips and information which I will try to put in this list as summary points. If you need clarification, more information about any one of these then please add ur note in this thread and I will try to answer.
They said that the processing time of SPP and General applications is same (they {CHC} have not made SPP processing any faster). However, since SPP application contains lesser number of documents, they take less time in processing those and the result is that SPP application gets cleared faster compared to general application which had more required number of documents.
It may lead you to a Canada Visa ban (for all types of visa) for next 2 years. Also, even after 2 years it will be in system and every time a visa officer will see your application, he will see an alarm.
They told us that they have internal fraud detecting teams in place who keeps on checking for fraudsters. They also said that mistake is one thing and fraud is another. They also gave example of common frauds like inventing a job for fake experience. They say that it is OK not to have a job or a gap period but please do not invent a job just for fake experience. They verify every information and this may lead to a ban if you are found out cheating with the system.
However, it is NOT that they will not allow a visa if the course do not match. If the course is not matching then they simply investigate it a bit more than usual. They said that they have issues visa to genuine students whose prior course was not matching with the enrolled one but they keep their guard up for any abuse of the visa system by immigrants.
They said that they are not financial expert so they rely more on banks to assess financial health of a candidate. They also consider other source of income such as FD, bank statement, IT returns etc but bank loan is preferred.
I've tried to list out the important highlights. There are lots of other things that I would like to share as well. However, since this post if getting extremely long (and my fingers are numb), I will post some more useful information in the same thread later. Please keep a tab on this thread for some more useful information.
I hope this information will be of some use to you. Thanks for taking time to read it.
Regards,
GS
Canadian High Commission in New Delhi conducted a seminar and QA session for students who wish to apply for a study visa (SPP and General ) on 12 April 2011. The presenters were the two visa officer who process student visa in CHC New Delhi and they answer a lot of question by students and their parents during the session.
I found the visa officers very humane and helpful even during that short contact period. I'm not sure why people had been cursing them on this and other forums.
I'm providing highlights of the information shared and summary of the discussions that happened in the seminar for benefit of my fellow brother and sisters in this forum:
Presentation by Visa Officers
The presentation was short, simple, and easy to understand and was divided into four sections:
- Visa Officer Assessment
- Application Submission
- Tips
- On Agents
Visa Officer Assessment
This was the most important section. They explained what they look for in a student visa application for acceptance, and what things force them to reject application. The most common sentence I heard during the complete seminar was "submit <an application, document, or proofs> that makes common sense".
They told us that they start assessing the application with a belief that the candidate is a genuine student, and that S/He has sufficient funds for his/her study. And then they validate this belief by the documents that we provide along with the application.
They also gave us several other important tips and information which I will try to put in this list as summary points. If you need clarification, more information about any one of these then please add ur note in this thread and I will try to answer.
- Submit ONLY required number of documents. No more and no less. If they need more information, they will ask.
They said that the processing time of SPP and General applications is same (they {CHC} have not made SPP processing any faster). However, since SPP application contains lesser number of documents, they take less time in processing those and the result is that SPP application gets cleared faster compared to general application which had more required number of documents.
- Submit all required information and make sure the information is correct(such as DOB of your parents etc in the family info form).
- Never submit any false information or forged documents.
It may lead you to a Canada Visa ban (for all types of visa) for next 2 years. Also, even after 2 years it will be in system and every time a visa officer will see your application, he will see an alarm.
They told us that they have internal fraud detecting teams in place who keeps on checking for fraudsters. They also said that mistake is one thing and fraud is another. They also gave example of common frauds like inventing a job for fake experience. They say that it is OK not to have a job or a gap period but please do not invent a job just for fake experience. They verify every information and this may lead to a ban if you are found out cheating with the system.
- They told us that you can add a small note or a 1 pager to explain any inconsistency in your document and it helps them to assess , say a gap year or anything you want them to know but they don't want a 10 page book explaining everything in your application that makes sense. {@Nazia, does it answers your question}
- They say that they review the past studies and the current course for a possible match.
However, it is NOT that they will not allow a visa if the course do not match. If the course is not matching then they simply investigate it a bit more than usual. They said that they have issues visa to genuine students whose prior course was not matching with the enrolled one but they keep their guard up for any abuse of the visa system by immigrants.
- If you are an experienced candidate, and had done any kind of job, submit proof such as offer letter or past 6 month payslip etc along with your application. It helps them to assess.
- For SPP, they want a 80% loan sanction letter along with application. If you submit a loan less than that, they will still process the application but as a general application.
- For General applicants, it is strongly recommended to have a loan sanction letter along with application (may be 80%).
They said that they are not financial expert so they rely more on banks to assess financial health of a candidate. They also consider other source of income such as FD, bank statement, IT returns etc but bank loan is preferred.
- If you are showing bank statement, try to show them past 4 months statement, and do not show them multiple accounts. Also, IT returns can be shown along with it as well, especially if the course is a longer one.
- IELTS is strongly preferred as English Language Proficiency proof. They said there are a number of reasons for which they do not consider TOEFL and recommend IELTS for any visa application. For SPP, 6.0 is required.
Also, they said that even if your course does not required IELTS/TOEFL scores, they still recommend to have IELTS scores in your application.
Some people raised question that they had given SAT or GRE or GMAT etc and TOEFL. Do they need to give IELTS as well? The answer was No. They said if you have given higher exams (like GRE, GMAT, etc), and are admitted to a reputed university/college, they do not need IELTS then.
But for other cases, yes IELTS is a must.
I've tried to list out the important highlights. There are lots of other things that I would like to share as well. However, since this post if getting extremely long (and my fingers are numb), I will post some more useful information in the same thread later. Please keep a tab on this thread for some more useful information.
I hope this information will be of some use to you. Thanks for taking time to read it.
Regards,
GS
