Questions about declaring student loans

[qwerty011235]

Hello all,

I have more than 15,000 Canadian Dollars in a personal account in India that I am using for Proof of Funds (which is enough as I am applying alone). However, I also have a huge student loan from the USA which I took out for a graduate degree. The outstanding amount is >170,000 Canadian Dollars and the loan is from a federal credit union. Also, at the time of application, I do not have a steady income as I am working on a startup; however, my family is helping with monthly payments.

My questions are:

1. Do I have to declare my student loan? What are the consequences of not declaring it? As it stands, I plan to declare just my Indian bank accounts for proof of funds.
2. Will they know of the existence of my student loan if none of my accounts (american or otherwise) are involved in paying them off in the last 6 months?
3. If I do declare it, how do I make sure they do not take the entire principal amount as a liability and end up considering my finances insufficient? Do I need a clarification on an LOE or a signed letter from a family member or something similar?

Your help is appreciated.

 

[paulm0920]

Most people in this forum would say that you should declare and that it would be misrepresentation if you do not. I consulted an immigration lawyer about this, however, and she mentioned that no, declaring would not be necessary because you are not really using your funds in India to pay for those loans. In fact, American student loans cannot be paid with an Indian bank account as they only accept direct debit from a US bank, meaning there are absolutely no liens on your funds in India.

 

[navinball]

if you declare your student loan you will definitely get denied.