Studying Abroad: International Students In Canada Speak Out On Working More Than Their Permits Allow So They Can Afford To Study Abroad
It was recently reported in the news that an international student in Canada is currently facing deportation because of working more than the allowed 20 hours a week for working students. Jobandeep Singh Sandhu, a 22-year old international student from Punjab, India taking up mechanical engineering technician in Canadore College, is also working as a long-haul truck driver and was pulled over in December 2017 by Ontario Provincial Police for a routine-traffic stop. After a review of his driver’s logbook has been done, he was arrested for averaging 35-40 hours in a week which is beyond the allowed 20 hours.
Studying Abroad: International Students In Canada Speak Out On Working More Than Their Permits Allow So They Can Afford To Study Abroad
It was recently reported in the news that an international student in Canada is currently facing deportation because of working more than the allowed 20 hours a week for working students. Jobandeep Singh Sandhu, a 22-year old international student from Punjab, India taking up mechanical engineering technician in Canadore College, is also working as a long-haul truck driver and was pulled over in December 2017 by Ontario Provincial Police for a routine-traffic stop. After a review of his driver’s logbook has been done, he was arrested for averaging 35-40 hours in a week which is beyond the allowed 20 hours.
Many international students have now come out after this incident, saying that they can relate to Sandhu’s working beyond the allowed hours in order to pay for tuition fees and daily living expenses in Canada. Studying abroad while working can be tough since it may mean you need to take overnight jobs while attending classes in the morning and sharing one-bedroom apartments with 3 other students in order to save on rent. Most of these international students have confessed that they don’t have much choice but to work beyond the allowed hours and endure staying on crammed rooms due to high cost of tuition and cost of living. They said that they were required to prove to the Canadian government that they had enough funds to pay for their first year of schooling but were not obligated to continue proving their families’ finances after that first year.
Under current rules on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, international students can work up to 20 hours a week “off campus” without the need for a separate work visa. Foreign students are only allowed to work full time outside of the academic year or during scheduled winter, spring or summer breaks. This regulation provides guarantee that study permit holders are “genuine students” and that restricting off-campus work to 20 hours per week while class is in session shows that the student is honestly pursuing their studies.
As of 2018, there are more than 600,000 international study permit holders across Canada. Though we feel the sentiments of most of these foreign students, in the end it is still the responsibility of the student to ensure that he is aware of these regulations and abide to these guidelines while under the study permit program to avoid such unfortunate circumstance that Sandhu is currently facing right now.
Are you currently an international student interested to become a permanent resident? JCA Law Office can help and discuss several options that you may consider. You may visit our office at 168B Eglinton Ave. East, give us a call at 1-855-522-5290, or email us at: info@filipinolawyer.ca.
WATCH ABOVE: Jobandeep Sandhu, an international student from Punjab, India, was arrested on the side of Ontario’s Highway 401 for working too much. Now he could be deported.