I'm a student from a South East Asian country who wants to study undergraduate at a university in Canada. Meanwhile my family and I need to leave our country as we face persecution and fear for our lives. Which is why we want to fly to Canada and apply for a political asylum. I want to know if it will be helpful for me to apply at a university in Canada from here and hopefully receive my acceptance letter, which I can then take along with me to Canada. Will it be a wise choice? Will I then be able to continue my studies there after my refugee status is approved? Will I be able to get financial aid? Or should I not apply from here?
Studying as a refugee (political asylum)
- Thread starter avidphotographyaddict
- Start date
University acceptance is irrelevant to an asylum app. You are jumping way ahead. What grounds do you think you have to claim asylum?
I can fly there with a tourist visa and apply at the Port of Entry i.e the airport
Facing harassment and fearing persecution, mistreatment and imprisonment for political opinion and family’s background connection with politics. It’s almost like a national state of emergency to flee for our lives for people like us with a different opinion in politics
The acceptance letter won't be helpful to your refugee application and will not allow you to study in Canada. If you wish to study in Canada, then you'll need to apply for a study permit from outside of Canada. Financial aid is typically not available for international students at the undergraduate level. To be approved for the study permit, you must show you have enough funds to cover first year tuition + $10K in living expenses.
Sounds very generic. How specifically has your family been harassed/persecuted?
Threatened to either pay a big sum or be taken by police for no reason. The issue here is my father is a politician but he's been charged for things he never committed. The situation here is really bad, the police or unidentified men take young men, students of families like mine and put them in torture cells, once taken some make it back but have to pay a lot of money regularly but others are not so fortunate. There's no trace or news about their whereabouts once taken. If you have a specific political opinion you're automatically under their radar. And I being from a family who were a prominent figure in politics in the past puts me at a massive security threat. There's no protection here, you can't seek justice from the police. It's barbaric. It's a very bad situation, a lot of people like us are secretly fleeing the country for their safety before the next election comes ups. We know the government will come back to power illegally and our lives will only get worse over the coming years if we're stuck here. I can explain even more, that's just half of the issues. Our religious beliefs and activities also put our lives at threat. I know one thing for sure, my reason for wanting to move to a safer place is absolutely legitimate and I have documentation to prove it. I'd be very grateful if you could help me with my specific query in the initial questions asked.
Actually my query is if I do have an acceptance letter at the moment for say, an intake in 2019, will I be able to study there AFTER my refugee application is approved? Or will it become unusable?
Right now it's taking around 2 years just to get to the hearing stage of a refugee claim.
So by the time you are able to study, you would need to reapply to the program or ask the University if it's possible to defer your admission by a few years.
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