Study permit refused, need advice.

[Shaild]

I applied for my study permit on 16 Oct 2020 and I received the refusal on 28 Nov 2020. Actually, I thought my SOP was not strong, so I applied once again for April 2021 intake on 20 Dec 2020. I am waiting for a decision. I have a very strong travel history. I have traveled to more than 18 countries including most of the countries in EU. And I have 15 years of work experience as a construction estimator and planner. Of which 6 years of project management and strategic planning experience. My husband is working in Kuwait since 1994 and he has a very stable job here so after 2 years of MBA I was planning to return back to Kuwait. If they are questioning my ties in country of residence it’s my husband (together for 18+ years) who is still working in Kuwait. I believe they are refusing without reviewing the application properly. If I get another rejection I would like to go for an appeal. For ties in my home country I have showed 2 properties one bought by my husband and another one a residential building, which has a registered will on my name, from my mother.

From what I have read, VO in GCC countries have a closed mindset & pre-conceived notion that you will not go back home or country of residence. They must be using some sort of checklist & not logic. If they did, I can tell you there would have been many more approvals. Some profiles are very strong and I don't understand why someone with great education and career progression decide to live in Canada illegally on streets. I mean yes we all want a better life by moving to Canada but not that desperate to live illegally which give us nothing but even more worse life.

 

[Shaild]

I understand, UCW doesn’t have a good reputation. Now I am preparing for GMAT so that I can apply to better universities.
I am an Indian citizen, mother of two adolescent children. In my application I have included my children too, that can be the main reason for refusal.

Yes UCW is a private university & has got bad reps from previous management. Most people bad mouthing the university here have no first hand experience and base it on hear-say and its private status. I have personally interacted with few people on linkedin & they say it is not bad like people claim. The professors teaching there are also part time lecturers in esteemed public universities. Also lot of alumina have successfully been placed in various top management roles(you can lookup on linkedin). You need to understand, UCW may not be good for a fresher but bundled with experience you will not have any difficulty coz end of day lot of employers also look at what skills you can bring on table based on your past job roles and not just an MBA.

 

[Danny1981]

From what I have read, VO in GCC countries have a closed mindset & pre-conceived notion that you will not go back home or country of residence. They must be using some sort of checklist & not logic. If they did, I can tell you there would have been many more approvals. Some profiles are very strong and I don't understand why someone with great education and career progression decide to live in Canada illegally on streets. I mean yes we all want a better life by moving to Canada but not that desperate to live illegally which give us nothing but even more worse life.

Very true. As a girl brought up in a conservative Indian family I got married very early and couldn’t pursue a masters. It was always a dream to do my masters in a western country. Now that my children are grown up, my husband is very supportive and I have earned myself to pursue my dream, why are they stopping me. I would never ever live in a country illegally. I don’t have to, we are very well settled in India too. But how will I convince the VO. If they called me for an interview in their embassy, I could convince them. They operate from Abudhabi so I am helpless here.

 

[Danny1981]

Yes UCW is a private university & has got bad reps from previous management. Most people bad mouthing the university here have no first hand experience and base it on hear-say and its private status. I have personally interacted with few people on linkedin & they say it is not bad like people claim. The professors teaching there are also part time lecturers in esteemed public universities. Also lot of alumina have successfully been placed in various top management roles(you can lookup on linkedin). You need to understand, UCW may not be good for a fresher but bundled with experience you will not have any difficulty coz end of day lot of employers also look at what skills you can bring on table based on your past job roles and not just an MBA.

Thank you for your response about UCW. Even my presumption is the same. An experienced person like me doesn’t need a top tier business school. An international MBA is an add on to my profile in this corporate business world.And also UCW is dynamic and growing, though it’s a comparatively new university.

 

[Simmidas]

Very true. As a girl brought up in a conservative Indian family I got married very early and couldn’t pursue a masters. It was always a dream to do my masters in a western country. Now that my children are grown up, my husband is very supportive and I have earned myself to pursue my dream, why are they stopping me. I would never ever live in a country illegally. I don’t have to, we are very well settled in India too. But how will I convince the VO. If they called me for an interview in their embassy, I could convince them. They operate from Abudhabi so I am helpless here.

The very little what I understood about the VO assessment is that
- Too much of international Travel history doesn't favour the application. For e.g. out of 10 years exp 2 years in home country and 8 years outside is not considered good where as if this is vice versa then it's fine.
- too long in outside country and applying from there is also a sign of potential rejection. I saw many folks just go back to home country, apply study permit and then go back to their work country. Many try this method and become successful. The main reason why they do so is the Visa Processing center gets changed to home country and many countries Visa Processing centers have good success rate.
- If returning to home country to apply study permit is not an option, then try to establish a tie to your country of residence. Like a letter from employer that the student will join back, or any investment in country of residence or any PR card etc

 

[Danny1981]

The very little what I understood about the VO assessment is that
- Too much of international Travel history doesn't favour the application. For e.g. out of 10 years exp 2 years in home country and 8 years outside is not considered good where as if this is vice versa then it's fine.
- too long in outside country and applying from there is also a sign of potential rejection. I saw many folks just go back to home country, apply study permit and then go back to their work country. Many try this method and become successful. The main reason why they do so is the Visa Processing center gets changed to home country and many countries Visa Processing centers have good success rate.
- If returning to home country to apply study permit is not an option, then try to establish a tie to your country of residence. Like a letter from employer that the student will join back, or any investment in country of residence or any PR card etc

Thank you for the advise. In my second application I have attached a letter from the employer stating that I will be employed as a Project Manager on completion of my MBA. To get a PR in Kuwait, it’s never ever possible, even the residency permit for expats, they renew it yearly.

 

[Shaild]

The very little what I understood about the VO assessment is that
- Too much of international Travel history doesn't favour the application. For e.g. out of 10 years exp 2 years in home country and 8 years outside is not considered good where as if this is vice versa then it's fine.
- too long in outside country and applying from there is also a sign of potential rejection. I saw many folks just go back to home country, apply study permit and then go back to their work country. Many try this method and become successful. The main reason why they do so is the Visa Processing center gets changed to home country and many countries Visa Processing centers have good success rate.
- If returning to home country to apply study permit is not an option, then try to establish a tie to your country of residence. Like a letter from employer that the student will join back, or any investment in country of residence or any PR card etc

What you say is unfortunately true. This is where I feel is a flaw in the way VO look at files. There have been people who simply applied from home country & were approved. Nothing really changed in the profile, probably VO has a checklist which calculates accept/reject and if he ticks applied from home country gives output as success. This is my best bet of how the VO works on file, there is no other explanation that can prove otherwise as there is simply no logic in the rejections of great profiles.

 

[canuck78]

Very true. As a girl brought up in a conservative Indian family I got married very early and couldn’t pursue a masters. It was always a dream to do my masters in a western country. Now that my children are grown up, my husband is very supportive and I have earned myself to pursue my dream, why are they stopping me. I would never ever live in a country illegally. I don’t have to, we are very well settled in India too. But how will I convince the VO. If they called me for an interview in their embassy, I could convince them. They operate from Abudhabi so I am helpless here.

There are many large North American universities that have international campuses in the a middle East so you could easily attend one of these programs. It doesn’t make sense to separate your family and pay all that money for an MBA at UCW. If you want a better chance of being approved apply to one of the better programs in Canada. There will likely be concerns that you are studying in Canada for your children’s future not your own.

 

[canuck78]

Yes UCW is a private university & has got bad reps from previous management. Most people bad mouthing the university here have no first hand experience and base it on hear-say and its private status. I have personally interacted with few people on linkedin & they say it is not bad like people claim. The professors teaching there are also part time lecturers in esteemed public universities. Also lot of alumina have successfully been placed in various top management roles(you can lookup on linkedin). You need to understand, UCW may not be good for a fresher but bundled with experience you will not have any difficulty coz end of day lot of employers also look at what skills you can bring on table based on your past job roles and not just an MBA.

Those getting top management roles is usually based on there previous multinational experience and very little to do with the UCW MBA.

 

[Danny1981]

There are many large North American universities that have international campuses in the a middle East so you could easily attend one of these programs. It doesn’t make sense to separate your family and pay all that money for an MBA at UCW. If you want a better chance of being approved apply to one of the better programs in Canada. There will likely be concerns that you are studying in Canada for your children’s future not your own.

Yes I know that there are international universities in Middle East. In Kuwait’s international universities, most of the students are nationals so lecturers are mostly Arabic speaking and they deliver lectures in Arabic (at times), for the majority to understand. I would prefer to do my MBA in an international campus for better exposure.

 

[Shaild]

Those getting top management roles is usually based on there previous multinational experience and very little to do with the UCW MBA.

Agree & this is what I meant. I was more hinting in the direction of mature candidates trying to pursue PR & are not qualifying with enough points can consider this route. Obviously if you have the time to prepare for GMAT & get into top level public universities, why not !

 

[canuck78]

Agree & this is what I meant. I was more hinting in the direction of mature candidates trying to pursue PR & are not qualifying with enough points can consider this route. Obviously if you have the time to prepare for GMAT & get into top level public universities, why not !

Not quite what you and others were saying.... Many of the statements were about the good quality of the education and being similar to other schools and leading to good management positions. In general most attending are trying to secure PR and don’t want to take the GMAT. Would encourage others to do the GMAT so they can use their Canadian MBA to hopefully secure employment. Not everyone has been working in top multinationals and may not understand that those securing jobs after graduation have very little to do with their Canadian MBA from UCW.

 

[canuck78]

Yes I know that there are international universities in Middle East. In Kuwait’s international universities, most of the students are nationals so lecturers are mostly Arabic speaking and they deliver lectures in Arabic (at times), for the majority to understand. I would prefer to do my MBA in an international campus for better exposure.

There are many English MBAs in the region and part-time MBAs where you could fly in for a few days or it is partially online. How old are your children? If you want a chance at approval you should be applying for a better school. It creates a lot of red flags that a family would want to be separated for 2 years and re,ove 2 children from the school system they have attended for their whole lives to complete their schooling in Canada. Given that you seem to have a good career at the moment it would make much more sense to remain in Kuwait and do a part-time MBA in the region. Given your situation it is very hard to justify family separation, relocating your children from the schooling they have attended their whole lives, money spent, potential career advancement, etc. for a low ranking Canadian MBA. I am guessing there is a good chance that your children have 3-6 years of secondary school left and by the time you are able to secure PR they will be ready to attend university as domestic students and that is the primary reason you are wanting to do this MBA. If this is the case I believe you will need to get admission to a good MBA program to have a good chance of approval.

 

[Danny1981]

There are many English MBAs in the region and part-time MBAs where you could fly in for a few days or it is partially online. How old are your children? If you want a chance at approval you should be applying for a better school. It creates a lot of red flags that a family would want to be separated for 2 years and re,ove 2 children from the school system they have attended for their whole lives to complete their schooling in Canada. Given that you seem to have a good career at the moment it would make much more sense to remain in Kuwait and do a part-time MBA in the region. Given your situation it is very hard to justify family separation, relocating your children from the schooling they have attended their whole lives, money spent, potential career advancement, etc. for a low ranking Canadian MBA. I am guessing there is a good chance that your children have 3-6 years of secondary school left and by the time you are able to secure PR they will be ready to attend university as domestic students and that is the primary reason you are wanting to do this MBA. If this is the case I believe you will need to get admission to a good MBA program to have a good chance of approval.

I clearly understand how difficult is it to get a study permit for an expat applying from Middle East and my submitted second application is my last try. I am not so desperate to study or get a Canadian PR. To be honest, my children who are 16 years old and 14years old prefer to do their university in Canada or USA. But, I am done with Canada as this is my first visa rejection ever and this will have a negative impact on my profile in future when I apply for a tourist visa/student visa in another country. As you have suggested, I have already started looking for online masters from UK and New Zealand universities, not giving my money to a Canadian university anymore.

 

[sqfit]

There are many large North American universities that have international campuses in the a middle East so you could easily attend one of these programs. It doesn’t make sense to separate your family and pay all that money for an MBA at UCW. If you want a better chance of being approved apply to one of the better programs in Canada. There will likely be concerns that you are studying in Canada for your children’s future not your own.

Hi!

I, as an Indian citizen applied from KSA ( I am 27) and my visa was rejected even though I clearly stated my husband will stay back in KSA and I will return back here after completion but in the GCMS notes they stated that the employment opportunities are meek and refused citing the immigration status being non permanent.
Hence, even added the reason that no job security means purpose of visit is also fishy.
I showed husband's employment as my funding source and they all pinned it on instability of the job & refused.

I read on this forum several cases like mine and some applied saying after studying in Canada, they will go back to Indian, hence I am planning to re apply doing the same.

Do you think the chances are better now that I will say that due to the pandemic etc etc we have decided that I will study, my husband will accompany on OWP and then we will permanently move back to India. Increased our funds to 37000CAD (2nd year tuition and remaining as living expenses) and paid 1 year tuition too. Even showed ourselves as heirs to our parents' property as we are both under 30 and too young to own properties or businesses.

What are the chances?
thanks.