A visa is a permit issued by the foreign affairs or state department of a country. It allows you to enter the country. Visas are usually stickers placed inside your passport. In most cases, you must apply for it in your own country before you travel. Because of an agreement between many developed countries, some citizens do not require visas when they go to each other’s countries for short stays of less than three months, for business purposes, or as tourists. However, the purpose for which you enter a country must agree with the visa you receive. You cannot apply for most types of visas, or change visa types, once you are in the country. To enter as a student for a stay of longer than 90 days, you must apply for a visa before you travel. In other words, you cannot enter the country as a tourist and then register as a student. Similarly, you cannot get a short-term work visa and then enroll as a student.
In some countries, student visas might be valid only for a short period of time, perhaps for a period of three months. This gives you enough time to enter the country during the period before the academic year usually begins. Upon arriving, you are expected to register at a university and obtain a residency card confirming where you will live while you are a student there. After you obtain the card, it becomes the proof of your right to remain in the country. If you go to a country as an intern for the summer and then begin a study program in the fall, you will probably require another visa and might have to return home between the two experiences.
When to Apply
It might take as long as four months to obtain a visa for certain countries. Therefore, you should apply for the visa as soon as you receive the necessary documents confirming admission to the host university overseas.
If your program is under the sponsorship of an American university or organization, it should provide you with instructions about this procedure, help you get the admission document, and arrange for your visa. Some program can arrange for your visa through a company that specializes in offering this service.
Where to Apply
Each country that has diplomatic relations with the other country has an embassy usually in capital city with a consular section, plus one or more consulates in different regions of the country. There are authorized to issue visas to people who want to enter their country.
Documents You Usually Need
The most important document you must submit when you apply for a visa is your passport. This is your proof of citizenship. Your visa is placed inside it. Be sure you have a passport in hand at least six months before you intend to study abroad. Make sure that your passport is also valid for at least six months after you are scheduled to leave the country. You need two to six identification photos, usually 2” x 2” passport-size photos. You have to provide any payment required by cashier’s check or money order.
Make sure to include all the copies of the application form, completed and signed. You’ll be asked for a document confirming your eligibility for a student visa. This usually comes from the host university and confirms that the university has admitted you for a period of study as a visiting student.
In addition, you often need a financial guarantee. This is a statement from your bank or a notarized statement from your family or from the program sponsor confirming their intention of providing you with funds sufficient to cover all your expenses in the country.
Australia
Australia requires a certificate of eligibility from the host university and a health report prepared by a physician on the official Australian government form. Procedures are being simplified for American students.
Canada
Students going to Quebec must obtain a visa from the provincial government in addition to documents from the Canadian embassy and present them with their passport at the border, together with financial certification and a letter of admission from the host university. It might take one to two months to obtain the documents from Quebec. There are required to enter Canada if you plan to study in Quebec. For other provinces, apply for the visa to enter Canada at the border.
www.embassy.org/emassies/ca.html
www.cdnemb-washdc.org/
www.cdnemb-washdc.org/ (Canadian Embassy)
Germany
Students obtain a residence permit upon arrival. A medical examination might be required. Clearance from the police station in the city where you have your permanent address or your college police station, proof of sufficient funds, and health insurance are all required. Visa For Germany
(www.germany-info.org/newcontent/index_students_scholars.html)
U.K.
No advance visa application is required for U.S. students studying in the U.K. But citizens of other countries requir a visa before entering into UK for study.
Financial Certification
Most countries require students and their parents to provide some certification that they have the financial resources to take care of all the student’s needs while in their country. This helps to ensure that a student will not require financial assistance from the host country, either for medical treatment or living expenses. Sometimes, a sponsoring university provides a document showing that all of the program fees have been paid and the sponsor is providing everything the student needs. Sometimes, a statement or document needs to be notarized.
Health Insurance Documents
Some embassies require proof from your insurance company that your health insurance is valid in their country. The French, for example, require a letter from your insurance company on official letterhead confirming that your health insurance is valid in France. This statement needs to be in very clear English, understandable to persons who do not speak English well. Some insurance companies write letters in legal terms that are difficult for a nonnative speaker of English to read and understand. This visa section might reject these letters and ask for clearer ones.
Required Immunizations or Medical Examinations
Other countries (including Australia) might require you to submit the results of a medical examination administered in accordance with their instructions (examples follow). This examination certifies that you are in good health that you won’t require any special treatment while in their country and that you do not carry certain infectious diseases.
Preparing and Submitting Your Visa Application
Read and follow the instructions very carefully. Assemble all the parts of your application exactly as instructed to do. Ask our study abroad office for assistance if you have nay questions. Your address in the country, unless you have the exact address of the place you will be staying, will be the host university. Your contact person in the country will be the resident director of your program, if you have one. If you are not going with a group from a U.S. university and you do not have a resident director for your program, you should put the host university’s international affairs office with which you have been dealing while making your arrangements. Your occupation is “student”. Submit all the documents, with your passport, by registered mail.
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Canada is a popular destination for students looking to study abroad. According to the Canadian Immigration Office, more than 130,000 international students study in Canada each year. If you are already studying in Canada and decide you wish to extend your stay, you will need to apply for an extension to your student visa before your current visa expires. The application process is relatively simple, but you will need to show proof that you will be enrolled in a Canadian college or university during the period of your student visa extension.