Are you wondering what are the steps you should take to study a language in Canada? How should you start your search to learn a language? Well, here we actually give you the step-by-step information you need to know before, during, and after you come to study English or French in Canada.
There are many ways to start your new journey to come to Canada, however, we recommend you start with the basic information. There is a lot of information on the internet that is very useful and easy to read even if your English or French is not that good yet. Some people get help with our best friend Google Translation, who helped me personally in the past.
Here you have a list of the steps we are going to touch on in this article. If you need to jump from one step to another, just close the tab and go to the next one.
STEP 1 - CHOOSE THE CITY TO STUDY
In order for you to come to Canada, you have done a search about the cities you want to study, visit, or be part of. This is something that we all do. When we get the idea to go to a country, we decide if we go to a big city for its skyline and busy lifestyle or a small city for its quietness, small population and diversity as well as being part of the tradition of the city.
In this case, we can consider big cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria or others like Calgary or Ottawa. These cities have the advantage that they are very touristic and there are many languages schools competing with each other, like in Toronto where there are more than 20 schools and they compete with each other with promotions that you may qualify.
There are also small cities like Mississauga (Ontario), Halifax (Nova Scotia), and Charlottetown (P.E.I). In these cities, there is not much competition and their prices can be high, however, depending on your nationality we have promotions available for you. The good thing about a small town is that the school has better care for the students. Compare the service of a 1,000 students school to the one with 200-250 students, however, the experience in each school will be completely different. In Halifax specifically, the city contains the whole of Canada's history, something that most of us should visit one day.
So now that we have chosen the city we want to go to, we have to ask for the price options and available promotions to our agent.
2. ASK FOR THE PRICE OF THE AVAILABLE SCHOOLS
Once you know where you want to visit, you need to know the product you are going to buy. This means that you need to know, the name of the school you are going to study, the number of hours per week, the schedule (is it in the morning, in the evening, or a mix of these two?), as well as the registration fee, and material fee.
In order to do this, agencies like us would send you a specific quotation with the total cost of the program. Only the program is included in this quotation, meaning that if you want to add special services such as airport pick-up, health insurance, housing and so on, they will have a separate price.
VERY IMPORTANT!: In order to prepare a quotation for you, we will need to know how long you want to study. There are two ways to do this:
1. You can have our full support and guidance about how long you need to study. We will start with a Free English or French test. Based on your result, we will guide you in how long you need to study to accomplish the required or desired level.
2. You can just register for the number of weeks or months you want to study. This option is very common if you just want to come, visit and enjoy the city at the same time you learn the language.
Once we know the time you want to study, we will get your quotation ready.
3. REGISTRATION AT SCHOOL AND INITIAL PAYMENT
Once you select the school and we have confirmed with you all the fees involved in the program, we need to complete the school application form. For this, agencies will need information from you such as full name, email, phone number, passport number, address, previous education background, and more.
If the registration is done properly it should not take more than 2 days to get the official document from the school stating the fees and the methods of payment. Now, in order to get your official letter of acceptance, you need to pay an initial fee that can be from 20% to 30% of the total course cost plus the registration fee (this last fee is non-refundable).
Now that you have paid your initial fee, you can obtain your official Letter of Acceptance.
4. HOUSING AND HEALTH INSURANCE
These services are offered to international students just because Canada will be a new place for you and you will need this support. The only thing that is optional here is the housing option. For you, as an individual, schools offer many options such as student residences, homestays, and apartment options, or you can just enter the Facebook marketplace and find a place for you to stay. In Canada, it is very common to share an apartment or house with more people. This also helps with your networking and social environment.
Health Insurance is something you need to have for sure. As an agent, you hear a lot of stories telling you how they had an accident and the bill was bigger than what they can pay. It s very important to purchase an insurance that covers your emergencies. Language Schools usually offer this insurance from CAD$ to CAD$3.00 per day.
5. APPLYING FOR YOUR VISA
We dedicated a complete post about this so we will not touch much on the information. But you need to know that if your program is no more than 24 weeks (6 months) you can come as a tourist, and if your program is 24 weeks or more (+ 6 months) then you need to apply for the study permit.
6. AT THE AIRPORT
Once your visa is approved and you have the complete date and information to come to Canada, it is important to check with the school what you need to get ready. We Study Canada has a guide on the information you need to provide to the school before you arrive, such as proof of vaccination, and a flight ticket with the arrival information.
As well as this, if you are a fully vaccinated traveller with the officially approved vaccines from Canada, you will not need a PCR test before coming to Canada, however, if you are not vaccinated, you will need:
A negative PCR test result in English or French did within the 72 hours prior to departure.
Download the ArriveCan App and complete the information at least 48 hours before you depart.
You may need to quarantine and complete the Pre-Arrival Package and information from the Language School.
7. ARRIVING IN CANADA
Arriving in Canada will be scary and exciting at the same time. You may think why are you here while at the same time excited to live a new adventure.
Students arriving in Canada have to be ready to show their English skills as the officer's official languages are English and French. They will be asking for the purpose of your trip, as well as the important documentation about your trip.
As you are coming to study English or French, you need to give them your official Letter of Acceptance (LOA) and the payment receipt of the program. If you only paid the 30% you may have some problems t the border. This is why we strongly recommend you complete 100% of the payment before arriving in Canada. Health insurance and the place where you will be staying are the second most important information. Some officers may ask for your proof of financial support, but it is not very common.
Now that you are in Canada, (wherever the city you have chosen) you will be living your new adventure. Take the most of this experience because it will change your life forever.
Now that you know what are the step-by-step to come to Canada, are you ready to make your dreams come true?
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Until the next post my readers!
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