The Canadian Immigration Definition of a Full-Time Student

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Home to many distinguished and elite college institutions, Canada attracts students from around the world. To study in Canada, a foreign national must obtain a study permit by meeting minimum qualifications. However, a study permit alone does not allow a foreign national to work in Canada. Students interested in working must also obtain a work permit, which requires full-time student status.

Definition of Full-Time Student

Canadian immigration laws uniformly defer to the institution which a student attends in terms of defining full-time student status. For example, two students enrolled in the same number of hours at different institutions could be classified differently based on their respective institutional definitions. Assuming both students enrolled in 15 semester hours, but university A requires 16 semester hours to be considered full-time and university B requires 12 semester hours to be considered full-time, Canada's immigration law would consider the student at university A in part-time status, while the student at university B in full-time status.

Significance

The primary reason for defining full-time versus part-time status with regard to Canadian immigration relates to the ability to obtain a work permit. Work permit regulations require that foreign students enrolled in Canadian colleges or universities possess full-time status for at least 6 months of the immediate year preceding the work permit application process. The student must also possess full-time student status at the time of application.

Full-time Exceptions

Canadian immigration recognizes that students in their final semester of college may not need to enroll in a full-time schedule to complete their degree. To accommodate this scenario, Canadian immigration waives the full-time student requirement to obtain a work permit when all other conditions are met, but a student does not meet the institutional full-time requirement in a final semester of study.

Full-time Student Eligible Work Hours

Canadian immigration limits full-time foreign students to 20 work hours per week while in school, but permits full-time employment during holiday and summer breaks with the proper work permit. Although legal, Canadian immigration highly discourages students from working 20 hours on-campus and an additional 20 hours off-campus through work-permit authorization. Schools advise students that a full-time course load requires full-time attention and should not become secondary to employment. Students enrolled part-time in their final semester, but eligible for a work permit, cannot perform more than 20 work hours per week, regardless of course load. Part-time students cannot work on-campus or off-campus.

Maintain Academic Standing

Canadian immigration requires students to maintain satisfactory academic standing as defined by their respective institutions. A student who fails to maintain this level of academic performance does not qualify for a student work-permit program, regardless of the number of hours successfully passed.

References

• Canadian Immigration: Definition of Full-Time Status
• Canadian Immigration: Work Study
• Canadian Immigration: Study Eligibility