It’s not easy to get a student Visa issued for any developed country around the world. We need to be familiar with every rule and regulation. Every international student knows that getting a study Visa issued or stamped in your passport does not instantly mean we can take a breath of relief.
I must tell you that it is just the beginning of our journey, which only ends once we are able to move to our dorms or rented apartments in our countries of destination. And, due to COVID-19, student immigration has become stricter.
I, for example, applied for my student Visa in late December 2020 and received an approval in the last week of March 2021. Normally, it would have taken Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) about 20 days to process a student visa under the category—SDS—through which I applied. Due to these unfortunate times, they are not able to process applications like they did before COVID.
For curbing the spread of COVID-19, the Canadian government has, rightly, passed some travel restrictions, and those who are travelling have to follow protocols. IRCC has released various rules and regulations for travellers, especially in the last four months.
First, all international students need to carry a travel support letter issued by their colleges or universities; we also need to write an elaborate plan about how we will quarantine post-landing, with details about our living arrangement and food for the days we are quarantining. It’s only after we prepare these documents that we can book our flight.
Then we must have a molecular COVID test done within 72 hours of boarding our flight. The test needs to be negative to travel. After landing in Canada, we need to get our study permits issued at the airport.
Then, according to the new hotel quarantine rule, we need to quarantine at a hotel for three days (there have been complaints about this because you need to pay for it yourself) and take another COVID test. If the result is negative, then we can leave for our 14 days isolation. If it’s positive, then we are isolated in a designated quarantine facility or other suitable place until we get a negative result.
While we quarantine in an isolated room for 14 days, we are not supposed to step out and we need to take a COVID home test on the tenth day. Government officials will be keeping track of our activities.
After the quarantine, it’s only then we can finally step out to get our SIN number, college ID card, and credit or debit card from our banks.
I feel we need to take these precautions and follow the rules sincerely because we need to curb the spread of this virus.