I am an international Masters student in the US, and got a full funded PhD offer from Canada. First time I applied for my Student Permit, I got rejected due to insufficient evidence of my ongoing study and my immigration status in the US. Actually, I didn't know that I have to attach that sort of documents to my application!!! Following is the information provided in my rejection letter:
You have not satisfied me that you would leave Canada at the end of your stay. In reaching this decision, I considered several factors, including:
-immigration status in country of residence
-purpose of visit
-current employment situation
-personal assets and financial status.
I have two questions:
1. What does personal assets and financial status mean when I am a student and don't have any assets or significant bank statement.
2. Should I write a letter explaining my first time rejection reason, next time that I apply fro the study permit?
Thanks for your help in advance
Dear annashad,
Your case is unique. Because you have a fully funded PhD. I have actually faced a similar situation with some one else's application. What I would recommend is the following:-
The immigration case officer is not happy that you NEED to study the PhD and has surmised that you have dual intent which you are not expressing. Also he/she has not been made fully aware of your status in USA.
1.
-immigration status in country of residence
You need to provide the necessary documents which prove that you are a bonafide/legal student in USA. For this you will need to provide them with your transcripts of the Masters. You can ask your university to provide you with partial transcripts. Secondly, You need to produce the Visa letters from the US government. Also please note that you need the police clearance certificate from the US FBI. This is very important because they WILL ask you for this. Include all pages of your current passport and old passports that have some sort of marking or Visa stamp on them.
-purpose of visit
I think that your statement of purpose was not good enough. Or maybe you did not write a statement of purpose at all. You need to make this clear. Also to answer your second question, you MUST include that you have been rejected a visa in your statement of purpose and explain each of the points (immigration status, purpose of visit, current employment situation, personal assets) in the letter. For example if you are talking about your current employment situation, explain how the PhD will help you in your career. Tell them why you want to do the PhD or why you are passionate about the PhD. About the purpose of visit, same thing, explain why you want to go to Canada to study the PhD. Why not the USA? Since you are already in USA, you cannot say, you like Canada better, you must explain why you are choosing Canada over USA or your country of citizenship.
Include your PhD statement of intent/research proposal (submitted to the uni). and also include e-mail communications with your future phd supervisor if possible.
-current employment situation
Again as per above, you are not currently employed. But have you ever been employed? If you have, dig up your old records and explain why you left your job to study for the Masters and why the PhD now. If not, then explain why you have never taken a job and you are pursuing your PhD in one go.
-personal assets and financial status.
This is very simple, You must provide the authorities with some sort of funding source. Since in your case it is the University itself, you must show how much they are going to pay. If it is only tuition fees then you must show them at least CAD$10,000 in your bank account to cover for your living expenses for the first year. If You are having family members, add another CAD$4,000 per family member to your account.
If the university is giving you money for living expenses, you must include it in your financial proof letter and also explain this inclusion in your SOP.
If you are from another country and have your parents and brothers and sisters in your country of citizenship, include NOTARY certified copies of their wealth statements and deeds of ownership. Include your parents bank statements and also let the Canadian authorities know that you mean to go back to your home country after your studies is over since all your family is back home. SAY IT. don't just assume that they will think so.
Explain to them that you are not staying in USA because you want to pursue your higher education and that is the most important objective for you.
Finally, please note, there is 4 MB of space for upload/online documents in which you should have enough space to add 60 pages of documents, In case of paper applications, this is unlimited. SO PLEASE USE THIS SPACE. do not waste the space and add as many documents you feel that would prove that your application is genuine.
Also please remember that the second time application will take much longer, so if you want to catch this fall term, your really really need to get all this done within a week. Before 25th June.
Hope the above info helps!
enywmara
