rules regarding childs schooling in canada?

[mittens]

hi, have searched on cic and here for this topic but can't find anything out so thought i'd ask you helpful rabble 

i have applied outland for PR
my 13 yr old daughter and i are planning on going to canada this summer
(so probably before PR visa is issued)
then we are hoping to wait it out till it arrives and  *land* at the border

howEVER what do i do about her schooling?
can she be enrolled before PR?
how/when what do i do?
thanks

[awor]

It's my understanding that you/she will need a study permit. You need to contact the school district she'd go to and get written permission or an invitation, which you use to apply for the study permit. I have little idea how to do this though :/ Hopefully someone else has some insight, I'm still trying to figure it out myself.

[mittens]

cheers awor!
let's hope someone who knows what/where/when we have to do comes along shortly

i just think it's quite important that she starts high school with her peers if at all possible

anyone else know?

[PMM]

Hi

cheers awor!
let's hope someone who knows what/where/when we have to do comes along shortly

i just think it's quite important that she starts high school with her peers if at all possible

anyone else know?

1.  As the parent will be a visitor, then the student will need a study permit.  You will find that you will be paying international fees, about $12K per year.  You will need an acceptance letter from a school board before you can apply for a study permit.  See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study.asp

[awor]

PMM, is that for public K-12 schools even?

[lovely20]

Hi

1.  As the parent will be a visitor, then the student will need a study permit.  You will find that you will be paying international fees, about $12K per year.  You will need an acceptance letter from a school board before you can apply for a study permit.  See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/study.asp

Agree with PMM, the kid needs to apply for a study permit.   The fees are different for each school division, here in our town  it is about $15K and yes Awor that's the fee for public school.  Here's another link that discusses studying while on temporary resident status:

http://www.lawforforeignbrides.ca/FB-LIC/study.aspx#temp

[angelbrat]

I can only give you information concerning Vancouver school board but this was my situation. Arrived in Canada in 2007 as a visitor. No way was I able to get my son into school unless I was willing to pay 17K for a full years tuition. This was for the local public high school.

I had to have a temporary work visa, my own student visa or PR. I was lucky, I got a job, LMO and work visa and was then able to get my son into school 2 days after the work visa was issued. Just a note, the IO who issued my work visa, also issued a visa to my son and specified he could study at any institution. It appears, that sometimes IO's will issue the visa and specify only a certain school, one that is covered by your home address district. In fact, the IO made it very clear, that he was being lenient with us about the schooling, he apparently liked me 

I have no idea about other school areas but I believe most will not allow a tourist to attend any public school without paying and a student visa.

[mittens]

i don't believe it!!
*falls over*
i've gone giddy with shock

oh my i never thought i'd have to pay for her to go toschool
now maybe we'll just have to hope PR isn't too far away instead
that's crazy money


thanks everyone for the info even if it's made me giddy

[awor]

I'm going to call the school district my kids will be going to to triple check, but if it ends up costing a lot (they'd only be visitors from Nov until the PR is approved, hopefully before April when our medicals expire), we'll just homeschool. I had homeschooled them for years as it is so for me, it's not a big deal. I can't see paying $60k for 4 kids to go to school for 5-6 months. No way!

[mittens]

ooooh awor what a good idea...
we've been teasing her saying we will home school her
but maybe i will until we have pr
ok so this is legal in canada correct?

[awor]

I'm waiting for both schools to call me back. Neither had ever dealt with this before (very tiny schools in a tiny town) but they couldn't imagine having to charge us for the few months before we got PR. Both principals seemed indignant that the government would make us jump through any hoops and pay lol, but I think that's the way it is for most Canadians who've never dealt with immigration... they don't realize it's just one hoop after another, some on fire!

I do know homeschooling is legal in Alberta, and it should be very easy to google "province name homeschool laws". For *residents* in Alberta you have to register your intent to homeschool and possibly do testing through the school district, but as visitors, it's not needed.

[canadianwoman]

Homeschooling is legal.
Try contacting the principals of the schools in your area - you may get lucky and find out you don't have to pay. The gov't can't very well require you to send kids to school and charge a fortune for it. What if you honestly didn't have the money for your 4 kids?