Work visa options open up

Posted by admin on Sep 23, 2008 in News | 0 comments

Since joining Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) “Off-Campus Work Permit Program” this summer employment opportunities have opened up for American and international students at Trinity Western University.

Until this past June, students who had received a Canadian student visa to study at TWU were unable to obtain a Canadian work visa as well. This limited any work opportunities to on-campus employment only.

Jane Zhang, one of the three frontline staff members in the Registrar’s office, is excited that the TWU administration has pushed to become a part of the work permit program, which has been available to Canadian public universities since Apr. 27, 2006.

“It’s relatively new,” Zhang said. “[The program] came into effect when a lot of students weren’t on campus.”

She hopes that news of the program will spread quickly among TWU students because it offers a lot of new work opportunities.

Kasey McHenry, a former Sodexho employee who graduated from TWU last year, thinks the change will benefit a lot of students.

“This is a step in the right direction for the university,” she said. “It was frustrating to not only have a limited amount of employment opportunities at school, but have a limited amount of hours.”

Because of the large number of non-Canadian students looking for on-campus employment during her time as a TWU student, McHenry commented that she would have considered off-campus employment if the opportunity had been available.

There are a number of restrictions, however, regarding which students qualify for an off-campus work permit. Students must have a valid study permit and be enrolled in full-time studies at the university. They must also have had full-time student status for at least six of the previous 12 months at a Canadian post-secondary institution, and have achieved satisfactory academic standing during that time. For TWU students this means applying for the work permit with at least a 2.0 GPA.

English as a Second Language and ACTS Seminary students are not eligible for a work permit through the program.

Students who receive an off-campus work permit will be able to work up to 20 hours per week while classes are in session, and full-time during the summer, winter and reading breaks.

The work permit, which CIC will process within two weeks, will not expire until the student’s study visa expires.

The application forms for the work permit are available online at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/work-students.asp. Zhang said the forms are very clear and straightforward, but that if students have any questions they can talk to any of the three Enrolment Services staff members in Mattson Centre.