STUDY IN CANADA

Upon When Authorization is Required

Section 10(a) and (b) of the Immigration Act provide that a person other than a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who seeks to come to Canada for the purpose of: a. attending any college or university authorized by statute or charter to confer degrees; or b. for the purpose of taking any academic, vocational or professional training course at any college, university or other institution must obtain a student authorization prior to appearing at a port of entry. Where the proposed course of study does not fall within this language, no student authorization will be required. The words "academic, vocational or professional training" are not defined. However, section 14.04(3)(a) of the Immigration Manual states that these words do not encompass short-term, self-improvement, general interest courses. Also, section 14.05 of the Immigration Manual states that children who attend day care centres and nursery schools do not require student authorizations. Section 14.2 of the Immigration Regulations provides that certain persons are exempt from the requirement of having a student authorization. Exemptions contained in section 14.2(a) include dependents of: (a) foreign diplomats, (b) consular officials, (c) officials of the United Nations, or (d) other intergovernmental organizations of which Canada is a member, who are coming to Canada to perform official duties. Section 14.2(b) also exempts persons, who are studying in Canada, from the requirement of a student authorization where the sole course taken or to be taken is a French or English training course that is three months or less in duration. However, according to s. 14.04(4) of the Immigration Manual, if a person attends such a course and wishes to continue past the three month limit, he or she may not get a student authorization from within Canada. He or she will have to apply through normal procedures to obtain such an authorization. .