Work Opportunities for Foreign Students

You must come to Canada with enough money to live and pay your bills while you are studying, without needing to work. In certain situations, you may be able to work while you are studying. Working will help you earn extra money and gain Canadian work experience.

Do not work without being authorized to do so. If you do, you may be asked to leave Canada. Learn more about work permits.

You will need a Social Insurance Number to work in Canada. Learn more about how to apply for a Social Insurance Number.

You can obtain information on the conditions and eligibility criteria for students who want to work in Canada and who are in the following situations or programs:

Application, guide and forms
You can download the application form and guide for work permits, as well as the other forms that must be submitted with your application, and print them from your computer.

Working on Campus

You may work on campus at the institution where you study without a work permit if:

you are engaged in full-time studies at a Canadian university, a community college, a CEGEP, a publicly funded trade or technical school or a private institution authorized by provincial statute to confer degrees; and
you have a valid study permit.

Working Off Campus

The funding for this program has yet to be approved by Parliament. CIC nevertheless continues to negotiate with the provinces and work on the details and the logistics of this program in view of an efficient implementation as soon as funding is confirmed. Meanwhile, work off campus is only available in those provinces with off campus pilot projects.

The off campus work program will allow foreign students at publicly funded post-secondary educational institutions to work off campus while completing their studies.

Publicly funded post-secondary educational institutions are:

public post-secondary institutions that have signed an off campus work agreement with their provincial government;
or
private post-secondary institutions that operate under the same rules and regulations as public institutions, receive at least 50% of their financing for their overall operations from government grants, and have signed an off campus work agreement with their provincial government (currently, only private CEGEPs in Quebec qualify).

off campus work will be an option for students studying at such institutions in provinces that have signed agreements with CIC. These provinces are as follows:

Manitoba (memorandum of understanding signed on November 23, 2005). Off-campus work is currently available in Manitoba under the provisions of a pilot project since October 31, 2003, which is valid until July 1, 2006 or until implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed on November 23, whichever comes first.
New Brunswick (off-campus has been available under the provisions of a pilot project since March 18, 2004; valid until April 30, 2006)
Nova Scotia (memorandum of understanding signed on October 31, 2005)
Ontario (memorandum of understanding signed on November 28, 2005)
Prince Edward Island (memorandum of understanding signed on November 28, 2005)
Quebec (memorandum of understanding signed on November 21, 2005). Off-campus work has been available in Quebec outside the census metropolitan areas of Montréal and Québec under the provisions of a pilot project since May 21, 2004; valid until May 20, 2006, or until implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed on November 21, whichever comes first.

CIC is negotiating memorandums of agreement with interested pr

ovinces and territories to make the option of off campus work more widely available. These provinces and territories will be added to the list as soon as they have signed a memorandum of understanding with CIC. They will then have to sign agreements with the institutions in the province or territory that are interested in participating.

Check back regularly for updates posted on the CIC Web site.

How will I be able to participate?

To work off campus, you will have to apply for a work permit. Do not begin to work off campus until you have received your work permit. The work permit will allow you to work up to 20 hours a week during regular academic sessions (15 hours a week in Quebec), and up to 40 hours a week during regular breaks (e.g., winter or summer holidays and spring break).

To be eligible for an off campus work permit, you will have to:

have a valid study permit;
be studying in a province or territory that has signed a memorandum of understanding with CIC;
be a full-time student at an eligible post-secondary institution that has signed an agreement with one of those provinces or territories;
have been a full-time student at one of those institutions for at least six of the 12 months preceding your application for a permit;
be in good academic standing;
sign a form authorizing the institution, the province and CIC to share your personal information (in order to confirm that you are continuing to study full-time and that you are in good academic standing);
complete a work permit application provided by your institution; and
include with your work permit application an official receipt to show you have paid the application processing fee of $150.

You will not be able to apply for an off campus work permit if you are:

participating in a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program funded by Foreign Affairs Canada;
participating in a Government of Canada Awards Program funded by Foreign Affairs Canada;
receiving funding from the Canadian International Development Agency; or
attending an eligible post-secondary institution in order to complete an English-as-a-second-language or French-as-a-second-language program.

For more information about the program and the application process, contact your institution’s international student advisor.

Remember, a work permit authorizing you to work off campus does not guarantee that you will find a job. It is your responsibility to find a job.

Even if you work off campus, your studies must remain your primary purpose for being in Canada.

Co-op and Internship Programs

For some academic programs, work experience is part of the curriculum. Foreign students who wish to participate in a co-op or internship program must apply for a work permit (there is no fee for this application).

To be eligible for a work permit, the following conditions must be met:

you must have a valid study permit (unless you are a minor high-school student who does not require a study permit);
your intended employment must be an essential part of your course of study in Canada;
your employment must be certified as part of the academic program by a responsible academic official of the institution; and
your co-op or internship employment cannot form more than 50 percent of the total program of study.

Post-Graduation Work Permits

The post-graduation work program is designed to provide graduating students with Canadian work experience in their field of study. Since May 16, 2005, this program has allowed certain students to work for up to two years after their graduation. Previously, students were only allowed to work for one year.

Length of study matters. The work permit cannot be valid longer than the length of time the student studied. For example, students graduating from a four-year degree program might be eligible for a one-year work permit or, if they meet the criteria, a two-year work permit. Students graduating from an eight-month certificate program would only be eligible for a work permit of eight months.

How do I participate?

To obtain a work permit that is valid for one year or less after graduation, you must meet the following requirements:

you must have graduated from a program at a Canadian university, a community college, a CEGEP, a publicly funded trade or technical school or a Canadian private institution authorized by provincial statute to confer degrees;
you must have studied full-time for at least eight months;
you must have completed and passed the course of study or program and received a degree, diploma or certificate;
you must have applied for a work permit within 90 days of receiving written confirmation (transcript, official letter from the institution, etc.) from your institution indicating that you have met the requirements of your program;
you must have a job offer from an employer for a job that is related to your field of studies; and
you must have a valid study permit when you apply for the work permit.

You cannot have previously been issued a work permit for post-graduation work following any other course of study.

In order to apply for a work permit of up to two years after your graduation, you must meet all of the criteria above. You must also have

successfully completed a program of at least two years of full-time studies;
received written confirmation (transcript, letter, etc.) from the educational institution indicating that you have met the requirements of the program of study;
studied at and graduated from an institution located outside of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD);
found employment outside of the CMM, GTA or GVRD.

Note: If you complete your studies at a campus located inside the CMM, the GTA or the GVRD, but at an institution whose headquarters for that campus are located outside those areas, you cannot obtain a two-year work permit under this program.

Note: If you graduate from an institution located inside one of those areas, you are not eligible for a second year of work, even if the employment is located outside of those areas.

If you currently hold a one-year post-graduation work permit and you meet the eligibility criteria for a two-year permit, you can apply for a one-year extension of your work permit.

To obtain a work permit after graduation that is valid for two years, you cannot be

participating in a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program funded by Foreign Affairs Canada;
participating in a Government of Canada Awards Program funded by Foreign Affairs Canada; or
receiving funding from the Canadian International Development Agency.

Send your work permit application to the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, Alberta. Be sure to include a written confirmation (transcript, letter, etc.) from your institution indicating that you have met the requirements of your program, a job offer from an employer for a job that is related to your field of studies, and an official receipt which shows you have paid the appropriate processing fee.

Note: If you have a valid off campus work permit (these are usually issued for a period slightly longer than the period of study), you will be able to start the job for which you have received an offer while awaiting the work permit you applied for under the Post-Graduation Employment Program.

When you apply for a work permit under the post-graduation work program, you do not have to get a labour market opinion from Service Canada. If you want to extend your work permit beyond the one- or two-year limit, then you will have to obtain a Service Canada opinion.

Work Permits for Students at Private Institutions

Students and graduates of private institutions* may apply for a work permit to work in Canada. The following conditions apply:

You must have a job offer that has been confirmed by Service Canada; and
You must have a valid study permit in order to apply for a work permit from within Canada.

* Private institutions that do not operate under the same regulations and evaluations as public institutions or that receive at least 50 percent of their financing for their overall operations from government grants.

Work Permit for Your Spouse or Common-Law Partner

Your spouse or common-law partner may apply for a work permit if:

you are a full-time student at a university, a community college, a CEGEP, a publicly funded trade or technical school or a private institution authorized by provincial statute to confer degrees; and
you have a valid study permit.

Posted by
Francisco Ucan-Marin, Presidente FEMEX

Federacion de Estudiantes Mexicanos en Canada
Asociacion Cultural Mexicano-Canadiense Ottawa-Gatineau
P.O. Box 207, Station B
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6C4
femexcanada@hotmail.com

CEIMEXCAN - FEMEX

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Puedo Trabajar mientras Estudio en Canada?