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Student Visa Rejection (PhD student Application)

imisstraveling

Hero Member
Feb 11, 2021
245
117
Hey brother, this is very sad news. I know someone who was in exact similar situation but when he re-applied, he got a support letter from the supervisor/school saying that his visa should be issued. I know its ridiculous to provided a support letter when you already have a offer and funding letter but that's what worked for him. Past few months have showed that IRCC is one of the most incompetent authority. I have so many friends doing their PhD in US and they even reached their Universities whereas we are still waiting for PPRs.
 

adhik

Hero Member
Jun 1, 2021
261
116
Hey brother, this is very sad news. I know someone who was in exact similar situation but when he re-applied, he got a support letter from the supervisor/school saying that his visa should be issued. I know its ridiculous to provided a support letter when you already have a offer and funding letter but that's what worked for him. Past few months have showed that IRCC is one of the most incompetent authority. I have so many friends doing their PhD in US and they even reached their Universities whereas we are still waiting for PPRs.
I rejected my US offers and applied for study permit 4 months ago and my friends applied for US just a week ago. They are packing right now and I'm stuck here refreshing my gmail every other minute.
 
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kwaame

Star Member
Jul 11, 2021
113
30
I rejected my US offers and applied for study permit 4 months ago and my friends applied for US just a week ago. They are packing right now and I'm stuck here refreshing my gmail every other minute.
I keep checking my email every seconds. We are in a very stressful situation, but we should be hopeful, everything will be fine.
 
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Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
41,643
8,630
About sponsorship and Financial Arrangements:
Estimated tuition fees and living expenses, as per the information provided in my Letter of Acceptance, for 1st -year full-time on-campus student are as below:
Tuition: CAD $6,731
Student Fees: CAD $1,054
Living Expenses: CAD $13,410 - $ 17,260
In total, the expenses will be CAD $23,000 approximately. To cover these expenses, I already have my own savings of around INR 7,00,000 (CAD 11,500 approximately). Moreover, I am entitled to receive total financial support per annum no less than 25,750.00 CAD from the University of Saskatchewan. This is a maximum 6 years of the program, where financial support for 56 months is guaranteed.
So for a 6 year program, you only showed $11,000 in total of your own funds?
 

sb22651

Hero Member
Jul 15, 2021
255
64
All PhD and MS students get fellowship letter with conditions. I have contacted and asked many students regarding the same. I have attached a fellowship letter with a bank balance of 10k cad, whilst others just attached a fellowship letter.
Funding can be cut, you know that you're not "entitled" to anything, right? You still need to show how you're able to pay if your funding gets cut for any reason. Funding for PhD and master's is not guaranteed.you can't twist an offer of conditional funding as an "entitlement" in your study permit application. Did you make clear that it was conditional and explain how are you going to fund your studies if your funding gets cut?
 

kwaame

Star Member
Jul 11, 2021
113
30
Funding can be cut, you know that you're not "entitled" to anything, right? You still need to show how you're able to pay if your funding gets cut for any reason. Funding for PhD and master's is not guaranteed.you can't twist an offer of conditional funding as an "entitlement" in your study permit application. Did you make clear that it was conditional and explain how are you going to fund your studies if your funding gets cut?
You have good point here . But in real life situations, every source of funding ( e.g. fund from parents due to accidents, government/company including personal sources ) can be cut or stopped and are also not 100% guaranteed. I feel PhD funding seems more reliable and secured subject to meeting the conditions as a student.
 
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ayesha_llk2

Hero Member
Aug 11, 2020
631
209
You have good point here . But in real life situations, every source of funding ( e.g. fund from parents due to accidents, government/company including personal sources ) can be cut or stopped and are also not 100% guaranteed. I feel PhD funding seems more reliable and secured subject to meeting the conditions as a student.
it is, they are just trying to justify the financial point even though it is not justified at all.
 
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Naturgrl

VIP Member
Apr 5, 2020
41,643
8,630
You have good point here . But in real life situations, every source of funding ( e.g. fund from parents due to accidents, government/company including personal sources ) can be cut or stopped and are also not 100% guaranteed. I feel PhD funding seems more reliable and secured subject to meeting the conditions as a student.
A PhD is reliable but funding can be cut or modified. OP estimates that it will take 6 years and showing only $11,000 in funds is not a lot. You can use that money up in the first few months if a person needs to rent an apartment and purchase essentials. Then OP already is living paycheck to paycheck.
 

sb22651

Hero Member
Jul 15, 2021
255
64
You have good point here . But in real life situations, every source of funding ( e.g. fund from parents due to accidents, government/company including personal sources ) can be cut or stopped and are also not 100% guaranteed. I feel PhD funding seems more reliable and secured subject to meeting the conditions as a student.
Sorry but you're not correct. COVID has shown that students that rely on external sources of funding, got their income stream cut during Covid, because of shutdowns. Some students that rely on, for example, working part time at Tim Hortons, could not find work for a long time and they cannot pay for their school fees. Or they rely on their parents to pay, but their parents lost their jobs and cannot send money to them.

Since then, ircc has been very strict on financial means to study. A conditional offer of funding is not strong enough today.
 

amairena95

Hero Member
Apr 19, 2017
616
184
Did you also pay tuition fee or not? I'm also going to usask with 19K/year funding and I've shown 48K in my parents banks account, but I have not paid the fee. My fee is 7.5K per term. Do you think this fund is enough?
I did not pay fee upfront. Yes that should be enough
 

parisi

Full Member
Aug 3, 2021
25
15
I think most of people in this thread really don't understand how PhD funding works. And can be really discouraging with their comments.

At the time of admission there is an offer of funding or no offer at all. Sometimes for only one year, sometimes for several years. In the case of OP, funding is guaranteed for 56 months, which is the minimal expected length to complete a PhD. The only way to lose the funding under these conditions is usually by not passing the courses, not passing the steps required for the PhD (defence proposal for instance, comps). This can happen but rarely. PhD students usually have a very good academic record. Failing the doctorate can be related to various personal factors, rarely to the academic level. If OP failed as PhD student failed then he will no longer be in the program.

Stating that funding is not guaranteed is like saying to an employee who wants to immigrate "your job is not guaranteed because you can always get fired". There is no guarantee for anyone then.

Also, there is not always a "contract" for the fellowship. By federal or provincial granting agencies yes, but universities rarely. If from the university, the funding can take different forms: grant, research contract, teaching contract etc. This is arranged when the academic year starts. A PhD student can decide to not TA for a semester and hence get less funds.

Finally, 25000$/ yr might not be enough for some of you. If you deduct the tuition fees, the amount is in line with the immigration requirements. Therefore, there is no reason to reject the app based on a lack of funds. Whether some people here find it insufficient is another debate. But this is not going to help OP's case by pointing to a false problem.
 

ayesha_llk2

Hero Member
Aug 11, 2020
631
209
I think most of people in this thread really don't understand how PhD funding works. And can be really discouraging with their comments.

At the time of admission there is an offer of funding or no offer at all. Sometimes for only one year, sometimes for several years. In the case of OP, funding is guaranteed for 56 months, which is the minimal expected length to complete a PhD. The only way to lose the funding under these conditions is usually by not passing the courses, not passing the steps required for the PhD (defence proposal for instance, comps). This can happen but rarely. PhD students usually have a very good academic record. Failing the doctorate can be related to various personal factors, rarely to the academic level. If OP failed as PhD student failed then he will no longer be in the program.

Stating that funding is not guaranteed is like saying to an employee who wants to immigrate "your job is not guaranteed because you can always get fired". There is no guarantee for anyone then.

Also, there is not always a "contract" for the fellowship. By federal or provincial granting agencies yes, but universities rarely. If from the university, the funding can take different forms: grant, research contract, teaching contract etc. This is arranged when the academic year starts. A PhD student can decide to not TA for a semester and hence get less funds.

Finally, 25000$/ yr might not be enough for some of you. If you deduct the tuition fees, the amount is in line with the immigration requirements. Therefore, there is no reason to reject the app based on a lack of funds. Whether some people here find it insufficient is another debate. But this is not going to help OP's case by pointing to a false problem.
Exactly !!! Thank you !
It's obvious so many people commenting have no idea how research funding works and are just pulling arguments out of the air. You put it very well. Visa requires 10k per year + tuition fees which OP is well able to do within his funding with 6k to spare.

I think in OPs case there was an unfortunate oversight from the VO in not recognizing that he has scholarship from university. Maybe some form was not filled properly or some other issue, funding cannot be an issue for this.
 

kwaame

Star Member
Jul 11, 2021
113
30
Sorry but you're not correct. COVID has shown that students that rely on external sources of funding, got their income stream cut during Covid, because of shutdowns. Some students that rely on, for example, working part time at Tim Hortons, could not find work for a long time and they cannot pay for their school fees. Or they rely on their parents to pay, but their parents lost their jobs and cannot send money to them.

Since then, ircc has been very strict on financial means to study. A conditional offer of funding is not strong enough today.
Hi ; if you can read my post well , i am confirming that internal funding (PhD scholarship) is very secured than external sources .
 
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parisi

Full Member
Aug 3, 2021
25
15
Exactly !!! Thank you !
It's obvious so many people commenting have no idea how research funding works and are just pulling arguments out of the air. You put it very well. Visa requires 10k per year + tuition fees which OP is well able to do within his funding with 6k to spare.

I think in OPs case there was an unfortunate oversight from the VO in not recognizing that he has scholarship from university. Maybe some form was not filled properly or some other issue, funding cannot be an issue for this.
I think so to. I once had an intention of refusal from Quebec because my funding letter did not indicate the total amount over 4 years but just the amount per year... Once corrected I got the aprroval. Sometimes agents can miss the information.
 

Anachronistic

Member
Feb 10, 2021
13
13
I
Sorry but you're not correct. COVID has shown that students that rely on external sources of funding, got their income stream cut during Covid, because of shutdowns. Some students that rely on, for example, working part time at Tim Hortons, could not find work for a long time and they cannot pay for their school fees. Or they rely on their parents to pay, but their parents lost their jobs and cannot send money to them.

Since then, ircc has been very strict on financial means to study. A conditional offer of funding is not strong enough today.

Why do you have to be so demoralising? I've seen you do this in multiple posts. Funding is always conditional, based upon your performance, just like your admission in a university is contingent upon you not failing multiple classes and how your job is contingent upon satisfactory performance.

University funding is clearly not the issue here, instead the amount he's shown seems low and shows that he is not in a strong financial position.
 
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