COUNTRY FACTS Capital: Ottawa Population: 32,207,113 Area: 9,970,610 sq km Language: English, French Religion: Roman Catholic, Anglican Continent: North America

Canada's education system is excellent and ranks among the best in the world. Moreover Canadian tuition fees are among the lowest in English-speaking countries.

 
STUDENT VISA PROCESS

The student visa in Canada is most commonly known as Study permit. Either a student need to obtain or don't need to obtain Canadian study permit depends upon the country of residence of the student. Students from most of the countries need to obtain Canadian student visa to study in Canada, but students from some countries don't have to obtain any Student visa to study in Canada.

Documents Required for Study Permits in Canada
There are several documents that students will have to present to obtain Student visa for Canada. Those documents are listed below:

1. Completed Application for Study permits
2. A valid passport
3. Two photos of the students and each of the family members. The photograph must not be more that six month old. Back of the photo, the name and date of birth of the person appearing in the photo should be written
4. Proof that shows the educational institution has accepted the student for admission in their institution
5. Evidence of sufficient funds to overcome all the living expenses and study costs in Canada
6. Bank transaction statement of last four months
7. Proof of payment of fee in acceptable format. This format varies according to country and region. However, the most general method is presenting it through Bank Draft
8. Evidence that show students have no criminal records
9. Students from some nations may even need to present medical reports
10. Any other documents that may help for obtaining a Student visa for Canada

Visa Application Fee
The visa processing fee is $125 per application for Canadian Student visa. The method of paying this fee varies country to country. For visa fee payment, personal cheque cannot be used.

Visa processing time for Canadian Student Visa
The processing time varies depending upon the individual case for the individual applicants. The processing time for Canadian student visa may be from a week to months long.

Here are some typical costs for living in Canada:
Bus Fare One Way (local)	$2.00
Local Telephone Call	$0.25
Average Restaurant Meal	$10.00 - 25.00 per person
Movie	$8.50
Letter within Canada	$0.46
International Postage (letter)	$0.95

FINANCIAL AIDS

Types of Assistance
Merit based assistance is awarded in many forms, from tuition waivers, various types of assistantships, to fellowships. The most common are listed here :

1. Tuition Waiver : This means that the student does not have to pay the tuition fees at the university. However, general fees (for the use of university facilities like the library, computers, and sports and health services) usually have to be borne by the student. A tuition waiver is frequently awarded in conjunction with a scholarship or teaching/research assistantship.
   
2. Assistantship : Most students who receive assistance do so in the form of an assistantship, i.e. is usually a cash stipend, sufficient for their living expenses, and/or tuition waiver, in return for which they have to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week which normally consists of teaching or other activities. Teaching assistantships are more likely to be in universities, which have large undergraduate classes whereas research assistantships tend to be more common in those fields and universities in which considerable research is going on. Information brochures of most universities give this information.

Who Should Apply?
Students will have a greater chance of getting financial aid if they :

1. Show evidence of a high level of academic achievement
2. Achieve high Standardized Examination scores (GMAT, TOEFL etc.)
3. Specialize in a field or have a research interest which parallels that of the department and faculty or private funding source (which increases opportunities for research assistantships and grants)
4. Have outstanding letter of recommendation and an impressive statement of purpose.

Very few international students get any kind of assistantships and most people get it after reaching there. So you have to arrange for funds for the first few semesters, at least till the time you can arrange something there.