Student Visa

[Yasir]

Guys, i am gonna be leaving the country for my studies in a year or two (possibly canada).
Its my last year in O levels at the moment.
I wanna know when Can I apply to go abroad for my studies at earliest.
I've heard going after the first year of A levels is a good option.
Another thing, how long does the visa take to arrive, any complications?
I just want to get outta here as soon as possible. Need some spending money, possibly a part-timejob whcih I cant find here.
Anyway, anywhow. Studies is probably the best excuse I have.
I'm gonna be going in atleast a year so taking advice from consultants at the moment would be a bit too early.
ANy advice would be appreciated.

 

[asimov]

Try to find authentic educational consultans in Karachi.

visit this site too. but dont give them money before u get visa.

http://www.auspak.edu.pk/

 

[YanZZah]

he's leaned more into Canadian Edu. giving an Australian Study consultancy url won't help em much, though it's better to consult nearby consultant in ur area mate. plus if you are willing to study here in Aus then i may help u .. pls lemme know if u r willing to.

 

[old bigboss]

Guys, i am gonna be leaving the country for my studies in a year or two (possibly canada).
Its my last year in O levels at the moment.
I wanna know when Can I apply to go abroad for my studies at earliest.
I've heard going after the first year of A levels is a good option.
Another thing, how long does the visa take to arrive, any complications?
ANy advice would be appreciated.

well here is the thing,applying for GOOD universities abroad needs some hard work...For ground work you need good grades(at least B's in O levels or A's in 5 or more subjects will do good) then for Canada and US,the SAT test is the most basic requirement.I know many people related with O levels think that passing O levels English will do but No..you must do ielts for UK and AUS and now ielts is also highly recognized in USA as well,A levels grades are a different story, a mix of A's and B's will do good.Universities will ask you to submit your transcripts which is quite troublesome work at times plus you should aim to get good grades in order to earn a scholarship otherwise get ready to pay up to 20-25k $ yearly fees for college(which is exclusive of all other types of charges) oh and did i mention all the problem related to bank statements -_-

 

[CrashBandicoot]

until 2011 all students taking admission in swedish universities wont have to pay tution fees.All you have to do is support yourself.After you finish your education and find a job in sweden.they will issue you 2 year work permit without hassle,and then all you have tod o is pay your taxes (all the 35% that is) honestly.Then after 4 years you get Permanebt residence of sweden.
If you get admission is a scottish university with good status,you will get 2 year or 4 year work permit immediately after you finish your studies.If you find a job in your field during this time,you will get 5 year work permit,leading to a PR.
SOme good rules about studentd in Finland too,you need toi check with finland embassy in pakistan.Write them a letter if interested,and they will reply.
The thing is that the world is big...not limited to a few countries where all Pakistan wants to go.

 

[sarim2k]

Hi Yasir!

I am currently in my first year of electrical engineering in University of Toronto (UofT). I am on a student visa (or a study permit as they call it here). Let me first tell u a few things which might help you in making ur decision.

Firstly, I applied to McGill University (submitted my docs and all) in November 2008 (when i was doing A2 and I had the AS Level result with me). Then I applied to UofT in mid january 2009. I got admission to both of these universities a few months later. Then these unis mailed me their admission letter and letter for the embassy. U need both of these to apply for study permit. But remember, the admission is conditional coz u need to give them ur A2 result for it to be finalized.

Then u start ur visa stuff. U'll need to apply for temporary residence and study permit together. Just gathering the docs is the difficult part. After u apply, u focus all ur energy on final exams. The visa process usually takes 2-3 months but if u don't submit all the proper documents, they might ask u for them so it might get delayed. My class fellows who applied to McGill got their visa before me coz their condition of final grades was not specific. However, they told me to scan the A2 result as soon as i got it and send it to them so they can give me the visa (which i did and got the visa).

U said u want to leave right after AS. Well i don't know if it's possible to get into a good uni on basis of O level grades. Coz the unis always ask you for A2 result for ur admission to be finalized. If u manage to get into a uni which is not very reputed, u most probably won't get the visa.

Now a few things abt the visa:-

1) You only get the visa for 1 year and u have to re-apply every year.
2) You can NOT work on study permit (for Canada at least).
3) For McGill, u'll need to apply for another permit to be allowed to enter Quebec. U should apply for this thing as soon as u get the letter from McGill abt the acceptance.

So for now u don't need to worry. Just focus on ur grades and having shugal time in school! Do some extracurricular activities to improve ur CV. Trust me, u'll miss Pakistan as soon as u "get outta here as soon as possible"

PM me if u wanna know anything else.

Cheers!


---------- Post added at 08:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:06 PM ----------

PS: SAT is not a basic requirement for canada. As long as u had english in O levels and u had a good grade, u're good

---------- Post added at 08:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

PPS: UofT doesn't give scholarships or financial aid to international students. McGill might give it to u but if u plan for engineering, it's gonna be realllllly tough to get any aid.

 

[old bigboss]

P.S SAT helps a lotttt,and no O levels English won't do much good,not anymore -_-

@sarim2k

mate kindly mention ur grades of O and A levels with subject names

 

[Yasir]

Wow, thanks for the long answer Sarim.
Ill look into it.
Just need to get out asap

 

[Sire Ahsan]

Sarim has given you all the details you need.

Good grades first, resulting in admission in uni abroad ...

My advice would be to not look at Canada alone ... target Europe as well. Canada is getting overcrowded and they are very choosy as far as I know.

 

[sarim2k]

My life is an open book so here goes:

In O-Levels, I had: Math (A 95%), Physics (A 90%), Chemistry (A 92%), Additional Math (A 92%), English (A 94%), Islamiyat (B 88%), Pak Studies (B 88%), Urdu (B 89%)
In Islamiyat at first I had a D (68%) but then i re-appeared to fix it...

In AS: Mathematics (A 96%), Physics (A 96%), Chemistry (B 89%)
In A2: Physics (A ), Chemistry (A ) and Mathematics (B) [No %ages were issued for this result]
yeah i know math sucked

SAT is a requirement for USA but for Canada, it might be good but at least I know it's not a requirement. Canada required IELTS or TOEFL (one of the 2) before but now it doesn't. If u had O-Level english as a first language then u r good. (The FSc english will not do) If anyone from FSc wants to apply or if anyone got a bad grade in O-Levels then i think IELTS would be a better option coz it will work for both, UK and Canada.

I applied to UK too. If u r in a British system of education, then UK admission is very easy. U just need ur personal statement basically. I applied to 5 UK universities and got admission in all. Some ppl i know who had extremely poor grades got into UK too. Applyint to UK is quick, cheap and easy so everyone applies there for backup even if they don't plan to go there.

and yasir, y do u want to get out asap man?

I think u should also apply for LUMS and NUST etc if ur aim is to get good education and not just to get out of the country

 

[Yasir]

@ S.A
The reason im going to Canada in particular is because my aunt lives there. My mom wants someone to watch over me so I don't involve in the bad stuff<_<
P.S I got 2 As n 2 Bs so far.

---------- Post added 08-03-10 at 12:02 AM ---------- Previous post was 07-03-10 at 11:55 PM ----------

and yasir, y do u want to get out asap man?

I think u should also apply for LUMS and NUST etc if ur aim is to get good education and not just to get out of the country

Get out first, education after I get out:8
Let's just say Im not the best example of a Pakistani Patriot

 

[sarim2k]

sad to hear that... well the best option to get out would be if ur family applies for permanent residence coz that way u're tution fee will be really low and u can study on student loans which most of the students here take. U can discuss it with ur parents if they could apply for permanent residence coz that will save them a lot of $... and when i say a lot i mean A LOTTTTTTTTT

Good luck with everything!

 

[CrashBandicoot]

UK has restricted student visas recently.It was on BBC.In addition to that finding a job fis extremely difficult for students,although they are allowed 20 hours a week during term,40 hours off term.But i heard there will be anew law which will reduce work hours to 10 per week.

 

[sarim2k]

actually it's very difficult to be a full time student and work at the same time... i don't know of anyone here who studies full time and works too... though there might be some ppl...

 

[mugen1990]

i am doing engineering from university of calgary, canada and i am in first year. Sarim told u most of the thing but i would like to summerize it

1) No Sat required in most of the good universities
2) Ielts or Toefl is required no matter what ur grade in O levels English is, if teofl or ielts is not a requirement, then embassy definitely requires it although it is not mentioned in their requirements
3) U need to show them lots of money, as in, u need to show 6 months bank statement which should be urs or ur father's or mother's. The amount of money you need to show should equal to (ur whole 1 year's fee(normally $20,000) + $10,000 + $2000 canadian dollars)
4) Never tell them that you have a relative in Canada
5) Most universities wont take you in a 4 years bachelors degree program without your A2 result. So it is good that you apply after A2 rather than AS. However, if u wish to try, collages will take you into a diploma program, but according to what i have heard from people, 95% of people dont get visa if they wish to join a collage or polytechnic rather than university.
6) Most universities grant conditional admission on O levels grades, so make sure they are super good, it wont matter much if ur A levels sucks a bit, but still, A levels shouldn't be below C grades and should consist of atleast 2 B's
7) http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/index.php keep in touch with people on this forum as it contains many people from pakistan who would be applying for visa or have successfully received their visa. This site helped me most.
8) Mostly, Pakistani's get visa for only 1 year, so u have to apply for visa renewel after 1 year, it is comparitively easy to renew visa than to get it. All you need to do at renewing stage is to show that u r enrolled for second year in university as full time student and show the amount of money mentioned above again.
9) For the first 6 months, after you have arrived in canada, u can only work oncampus, but after 6 months, u can apply for work permit to work offcampus, but it requires u to have maintained satisfactory grades in university, satisfactory grades are different for each university.
10) One last tip, i know many people who have applied and recieved or been rejected a visa for canada, and from my research, i will suggest you to complete your A levels (means AS and A2 both) and then consider your foreign education. and make sure your parents have money to support u for atleast 1 year in canada.

 

[sarim2k]

2) Ielts or Toefl is required no matter what ur grade in O levels English is, if teofl or ielts is not a requirement, then embassy definitely requires it although it is not mentioned in their requirements

i'm not sure abt this coz i didn't give either of those :S maybe they added this requirement this year but when i applied in summer '09, they accepted my O-Level English result and a proof of english proficiency letter from my school.

---------- Post added at 07:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:29 PM ----------

@mugen
do u have any idea how long it takes for them to process the renewal of study permit after u submit the stuff? i wanna leave as soon as the exams end for this term but i dunno when i should apply... and do i have to wait until the results are out??

 

[mugen1990]

@sarim
i applied in summer 09 too and came in fall09. I had B in English and still embassy asked for my toefl result although i did it as a precaution. Another of my friend had A in English and he had to give toefl to. I dont know how long renewel takes as i have to apply too keep in touch with me, my visa expires in august. I think they require us to apply atleast 1 month before it expires. I think ill apply in june

 

[Yasir]

Thanks for all the info guys, really appreciate it.

 

[sarim2k]

@mugen
so u r not planning to back to Pakistan in may? i am actually planning to go in may and latest by june... i'll apply as soon as i can... my visa also expires in august and they say we can apply latest 1 month in advance.. means it's better if we do it 2-3 months b4...

 

[eViLrAcEr]

@mugen
so u r not planning to back to Pakistan in may? i am actually planning to go in may and latest by june... i'll apply as soon as i can... my visa also expires in august and they say we can apply latest 1 month in advance.. means it's better if we do it 2-3 months b4...

SAME!!!

i also have to apply asap, expires june i think and if i apply this week hopefully then they'll have just a bit more than 2 months

btw, do we apply for renewal online or what?