10 Reasons you might be refused Study Permit to Canada

 

Have you been refused study permit to go to Canada and you don’t know why? Or, you are about to apply for your study permit to study on one of the institutions on Canada?

If you have been refused study permit to study in Canada, these ten reasons might be one of the reasons you were not given visa to come and study in Canada. But, if you are just about to apply, it is wonderful reading this post because you might find some valuable information that would help you get your visa to study on Canada just by applying for the first time.

1.     Applying to institutions without a DLI code: All approved institutions have a Designated Learning Institution (DLI) code. It starts with an ‘O’. It is usually written in front of your offer or admission letter if you have one. If this code is not written on your letter, it is an indication that it is not an approved institution in Canada. If you present this letter. Hence, your study permit to Canada will be refused. Apart from this, because many Nigerians like cheaper schools, they usually choose colleges. Some of these schools are substandard and they can’t even give study permit to Canada. So, be careful of the schools you choose on the guise of going to Canada.

2.     Wide Study Gaps: Another reason why you might not issue visa to study in Canada is study gaps. If you have left schools for quite some time and you apply to study in Canada, the immigration might pick hole and asking why you have study gaps. Four to six years study gap is considered to wide for undergraduate program. That is, if you have left school at eighteen and you are now considering to study abroad at 22 or 23, then it is cindered too wide. For postgraduate diploma too, five or six years is also too wide. You need prove to the immigration that you have been doing something within those periods. It could be a vocational program, learning a skill or taking an employment. This gap should be covered with an activity.

3.     Unconvincing Statement of Purpose: The Canadian Immigration would need to know why you are migrating to Canada to study. They need to see your statement of purpose or Motivation Essay. Your essay among others should outline your intention of studying in Canada, proposed course of study, proposed institution, why you chose that school and your career goals and objectives. Your essay should be convincing and should be original. It should not be copy and paste. If it is not convincing enough, the immigration might assume your study intention is not clear and might be one of those who want to elope. So, it is important that you write strong and convincing statement to show that you really know what you want to do and do in Canada and how. It is also important to state that you will be leaving the country after the duration of your study. Not leaving the country when you finish your study is your decision afterwards. Just get your visa first and don’t give the impression that you aren’t coming back or you want to go and pick job in Canada while your intention is to go and study. Some Nigerians just want to do short courses or diploma like: catering, hospitality management, care giving, data analytics just to get their PR after studying for a year or more than six months. The immigration officers know all these especially what many Nigerians do in the guise of applying for study permit just to migrate and live permanently in Canada – they aren’t fools. Because they treat many applications everyday, they know those who have genuine intentions with their statement of purpose and those who don’t. So, tighten all the noose and give no room for suspicion.

4.     Security Questions: When you signed up on the GCK through the Canada Immigration Portal, you will be asked some questions. These are called eligibility and security questions. How you answer these questions is very important because it will determine your eligibility to enter Canada. If you are not sure of any, pleas ask. In the last part, there are called ‘Security Questions’. If you answer yes to any of the questions here, it means that you are a threat to the Canada Immigration.

5.     Poor Visa History: Visa history is very important. If you have travelled out if you travelled out of your home country, you stand high chance of getting visa. So, why do Canada consider Visa history? Why is it important to them when you are applying for study permit? Well, they want to make sure that you have a good track record of following immigration laws and regulations in other countries you have visited. This helps them determine if you are likely to abide by the same rules in their destination as well. If you have overstayed your visa in the country(ies) you have visited before, it is an indication that you will do the same in Canada. But, if you have not visited any country before, they might not be able to know how you respect immigration laws. It is not problem; you might consider you for a visa or they might not. It all depends on the visa officer and your documentation.

6.     Insufficient POF: This is number one reasons why visas are refused especially study permit. That is why proof of funds is very important if you are planning to go and study in Canada. It shows that you have or your sponsor(s) have enough money in the account you are presenting to Canada immigration to study in Canada. They need you to have enough money in your account. Now, only four (4) months statement is required. Either by you, the applicant or your sponsor who hears the same name with you. In this case, your parent. It could be your father or mother. I doubt if they will allow any other person to sponsor you except it is a company providing that sponsorship. While considering your POF, you need to put into consideration your total tuition fee, your accommodation, living expenses, books, insurance and some other expenses. You should also add your flight ticket or your cost of travelling for at least one year. This should show in your statement of account as closing balance. Please don’t fall into the bait of forging your statement of account to apply for study permit. Many quacks will help you to do this and give you fictitious account statement just to get visa. It is possible to get your visa with fake statement or account or you get caught. If you are lucky to get off with this, later your documents might be called up while you are studying in Canada and you will be handed over to the immigration for prosecution or reparations. Banks and financial institutions are also help people to run account. But, be careful of what presented or you. If you are planning to study on Canada, start preparing your account ahead of time before you apply. Don’t rush to do this.

7.     Not paying enough tuition deposit: When you get your offer of admission to study in Canada, you will be asked to pay a tuition deposit. Some schools will ask you to pay $2,500 CAD, while it could be more than $5,000 CAD in some institutions. It is advisable to always pay higher than this fee because it would boost your chances of getting your study permit. If you are looking for schools without tuition deposit, you are only giving yourself the chances of getting visa.

8.     Irrelevance of your credentials to proposed course of study: When you are choosing your course of study to come to Canada, it should be relevant to what you possess. If you studied Psychology, you cannot apply for Computer Science or Marine Biology or Nursing Care. That is why the school always list out the requirements in the brochure for a particular course. You will always see this in the departmental requirements. Read this carefully before applying.

9.     Choosing overpopulated provinces: If you ask the average Nigeria who wants to go to study in Canada, they want to go to major provinces like: Toronto, Ontario, Manitoba and other big cities because they are popular and things are happening there. But, these provinces are becoming overpopulated and the Canada Immigration would like other provinces to be populated too like the big cities. That is why choosing provinces like: Saskatchewan, Quebec, Montreal, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador would give you some sort of visa advantage. Many Nigerians don’t want to go to the French speaking region of Canada because they can’t speak French.

10.  Poor documentation: Some people assume that getting Canada Study permit is easy, faster and stress-free. As such, they hurry things up. Infact, some applicants believed that Canada is generous in issuance of study permit. So, they don’t need any consultation whatsoever as they can apply on their own. All these are just assumptions and not true. If you have been following the trend of events since last year, you will know that the rate of denial last year was very high. You need to do the right thing, check your documents and make sure you have attached the right documents and your application is complete before submission.

I hope all these helps. If you need further consultation, please send us an email: gemslandstudyabroad@gmail.com or chat us on WhatsApp: 09091177137.

How to Celebrate the World English Language Day

 Today, 23rd April 2024 is celebrated as the World English Language Day. It coincides with Williams Shakespeare’s birthday (the Bard and Avon of literature) and the World Book and Copyright Day.

I am sure many people are not aware of this important day. This day is very significant in the UN’s calendar because English Language is one of the two working languages (the other is French) of the UN secretariat and one of the organization’s six official languages. 

Why is this day important?

English Language is spoken in over eighty-eight (88) countries of the world. In Africa, twenty-four (24) countries use the English Language as their official Language. 

English is often referred to as a “World Language” or the lingua franca (bridge language or common language used by speakers of different languages) of the modern era because it is widely spoken. Since Nigeria is an English-speaking country, celebrating this auspicious even is very important. 

The UN first celebrated English Language Day On April 23, 2010. Since then, this event has been commemorated annually without a break. 

What is the aim of the World English Day?

As you know, there is nothing without purpose. The world English Language Day become an important event in the UN’s international calendar to:

To entertain (serve some recipes, a la carte about English –see some drama scenes, movies, entertainment in English. 

Inform people about history (how much do you know about the English culture, how our English came to us, people referred to as the native English speakers, etc.? This is one important feature of this day. 

Know about the culture and achievements associated with the English Language. 

How to create and promote the English Day

Celebrating this day is very important. But the question is: How do we celebrate this day?

- Watch English movies 

- Play word game like Scrabble, SmartAleck, Grammarfunbia, etc. 

- Listen to news on BBC, CNN, FOXTV, VON, Channel, Arise, TVC. 

- Do Wordquest

- Organize English Quiz and ask student to name the English-speaking countries 

- Organize debate, impromptu speech and award students 

- Include this day in your school calendar and no vernacular, Pidgin English or any other languages should be spoken on this day. Fine offenders or violators by asking them to pay a fine (the class captain, prefect, year tutor could be in charge of this and decide what to do with this money afterwards).

- Organize an essay writing competition and award, student(s) with the best written essay(s). You could have first prize, second prize, and third prize. 

- Appoint English Ambassador or Master English, Miss English, (or whatever name you choose to call them). These people should be proficient English speakers and those toping the grade in English Language/ English Studies. 

-  Get your students to research fun facts about English and present them to the class.

- Start a vocabulary book of useful words 

- Write a novel, playlet or memoir.

- Send SMS, WhatsApp chat in correct English and with the right spellings (not in abbreviated form). 

- Do more inquiry about English Language culture, etymology of words, vocabulary. Curiosity doesn’t really kill the call. The cat actually killed Curiosity!

- Speak right, pronounce correctly. In fact, be conscious of your pronunciation.

- Learn new words, write them in your vocabulary book, look up the meaning of these new words in your dictionary and try to use them to construct sentences. 

- Be a custodian of the English Language. Correct any incorrect English (spoken or written) and encourage others (students, teachers, prefects) to do the same. 

- Visit home of the native English people, the United Kingdom, Ireland, stay with families, learn the English culture, visit some historical places, take pictures, selfies and have fun.

- Parents could take their children for shopping, buy them novels, English books and give them a treat to celebrate this day. 

Why the theme on “Multilingualism” and Using Technology? 

The theme for this year’s World English Language Day, “Using Technology for Multilingual Learning: challenges and opportunities” is well – crafted, apt and timely. 

Since the world is a global village, it is sine qua non that we understand the complex diversities of our world. The internet and social media give us the limitless access to connect to many people called, ”Netzines”.  Your online friend might come from China, Trinidad & Tobago, Sierra Leone or Kenya. How do you flow with this person if you don’t have a lingua franca or common language? One Important feature of culture is “language”. That is why the English Language is the tool of commerce, trade and cultural identity. It is the number one official language of the UN. 

As I write this piece, the number of people who are literate in English is also a concern. That is why the UN is promoting the mass literacy programme. 

Technology is another important point in this year’s theme. We cannot overemphasize the importance of technology for classroom instruction and to prepare our learners for the world of work- in fact for the challenges of this digital age. Computer literacy is now becoming an “Old School”. We learnt than over twenty years ago, before the millennium bug. Now, the world is talking about AI (Artificial Intelligence). 

As a teacher, how competent are you with the use of technology? Are you familiar with Google Education? There are also a lot of things for teachers and educator to do with Microsoft. Are you familiar with these tools?

Very soon the old method of writing lesson notes (on notebooks) will soon be phased out. Very soon, you will soon be going to the classroom with your notepad, I-pad, tablet or your smartphones (i-phone) installed with all kinds of educational apps to make learning more interactive and fun-loving. How prepared are you for this imminent challenge? 

In a very short time, the white-board (using marker or chalkboard) would soon be phased out too. Some schools are procuring the multi-media projector to teach their pupils. This is because some diagram, pictorial charts and classroom instructions are better communicated using these instructional materials.

According to Karsh (1995),” The classroom teacher will never be replaced by programme of self-instruction. Rather, he will be freed to guide learning of his students in ways that only a human being can. In using computer for instruction, the teachers’ role is hypothesized as changed basically from that of informer to learning facilitator. His duty of delivering lectures changes to that of guide and problem solver.”

The term “Multilingualism” is defined as the ability of societies, Institutions, groups and individuals to engage on a regular basis with more than one language in their day-to-day lives.”

As we ruminate on the theme of the World English Day today, the question is are you multilingual is your teaching approach? 

These days, English Language teachers have opportunity to do online teaching and get paid in foreign currency. Do you have all it takes to teach online student and make extra-income apart from your salary? While some teachers are complaining of poor salary, others are taking advantage of online teaching and raking money. During the lockdown, many teachers who took advantage of online teaching make a lot of money, while those who aren’t aware of this couldn’t survive during this period. It’s a challenge for us as teachers. You need to embrace the challenge of technology and maximize the opportunity for your advantages.

Lastly, let’s be custodians of the English Language. I wish you a Happy English day!      

    

Olugbenga Adebiyi John is an English Language trainer, teacher-trainer, educational consultant, learning game developer, author, writer, blogger, journalists and entrepreneur. He has authored some books in English Language and taught in both secondary schools in Lagos because starting his company, Gemsland Nigeria Ltd, which has four auspices-Gemsland Learning &Development Centre, Gemsland Study Abroad& Tour, Mobile Teachers Network & School Connect Magazine. He lives in Lagos.