This is my experience as an International Student in Canada. People always have many questions such as: What does travelling to Canada involve? What are the challenges? The sacrifices? The benefits? When I decided to travel to Canada, I imagined life taking a 360° turn, with new cultures, rules, languages, and a different world.
Travelling to Canada is always idealized as the perfect country, but at what cost? Leave your family, friends, cultures and special places where you come from. But one always asks the same question, what if it’s not what I expect? And if I am not capable of such a big change? And the language?
There are always fears and challenges that we must face day by day. My name is Laura, and I’m from beautiful Colombia in South America and this is my story. When I decided to come to Canada I was only 19 years old, I didn’t know where to start, where to study, what visa did I need, or the amount of money required.
Coming to study in Canada is not cheap, you are paying for very good quality education. The first thing I did was contact an immigration agency, they were able to guide me and help me a lot with my immigration process; I applied for a study visa, to study for a CO-OP diploma in Vancouver, Canada.
They will wonder how I solved the economic issue, because of my age and little experience I did not have so many financial resources to pay for my entire process. Fortunately, there is the possibility that a family member or friend can sponsor your studies (meaning that person will take care of you financially).
I enrolled in my school, and they gave me a letter of acceptance (LOA), an immigration agency carried out my entire process, I only had to provide them with all the legal documents that were necessary.
At the beginning of March 2020, my visa was approved for one year and six months, which was how long my studies lasted! So I started planning my flights. Unfortunately, the pandemic started, so I had to wait 8 months in my country to be able to travel, you might be wondering what happened to my visa during that time.
Well, it kept running, keep in mind that for some reason Demonstrably they can extend their visa, so I was able to do the extension for another 8 months once I was already in Canada.
In November 2020 I was able to travel and start my studies. I volunteered, worked part-time legally while I was studying, at this moment I am finishing my paid internship at MDS Consulting and I will have the possibility to change my status to a work visa once I graduate since I was able to find a job offer and I will be able to extend my time in this country more.
There’s something I just have to tell you, lose your fears, find out about the requirements and programs and fulfill your adventure of coming to Canada! I am now working at MDS Consulting as a part-timer, and hopefully, it will turn into a full-time position.
Got any more questions ? Call us at 778.806.1092 ext.1003 or shoot us an email at info@mdsconsulting.ca
Author:Laura Betancur Article title: My experience in Canada as an International student Website title: MDS Consulting URL: https://mdsconsulting.ca/my-experience-as-an-international-student-in-canadacosts/