Documents I Submitted to Get My Study Permit

[evolvingfaith]

Hello all,

As promised, I'm going to give the details of my personal experience with applying to Canadian universities for a PhD in Psychology and then getting the Study Permit. Before I give the details, I'm going to list the contents of my Study Permit application in case it might help others. I applied to the CHC in Islamabad.

I recommend that you put the essential documents right at the top of the application, and then create separate sections for the remaining documents. I made a covering page with a list of documents for each section of my application to make it easier for the VO to flip through the documents quickly. Some people have suggested numbering the pages and putting page numbers on such covering pages as well.

Covering Letter -- summarize your application: where you've been accepted, the start of your program, when you plan to complete the program and return to Pakistan, and a summary of the sections of your application with supporting documents.

Essential Documents
(to be put right at the top of your application)

1. Covering Page
2. Form IMM5483E - Document Checklist for a Study Permit
3. Form IMM1294E - Application for Study Permit Made Outside of Canada
4. Form IMM5645E - Family Information (put this near the top because they want to see it immediately)
5. Two copies of Form IMM5257B - Schedule I - Application for a Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada, one with my own employment history, and the other with the employment history of my father
6. Fee payment for Study Permit application - attach the green receipt slip you got when you paid the fee at a Standard Chartered Bank
7. Current passport and all previous passports
8. 2 passport-sized photographs (make sure to follow their instructions on how to get these taken -- no smiling!)
9. 2 photocopies of my National Identity Card
10. Formal offer of admission from the Dean of Graduate Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU) + photocopy
11. Formal offer of admission from the Department of Psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU) + photocopy *
12. Academic reference letter from my prospective senior supervisor at Simon Fraser University (SFU) + photocopy +

* Yes, I got two letters from my university.
+ I specifically requested my supervisor at SFU to give me a customized, personalized reference saying that he wanted me to work with him in his lab -- he was incredibly helpful, and wrote me a terrific reference letter.

 

[evolvingfaith]

I put the remaining supporting documents into sections.

Section 1: Visa History

1. Covering Page
2. Details of previous visa applications to Canada -- here I included details about my travel dates to Canada in 1994, 2007, and 2008, and also provided information regarding a visit visa application I had (stupidly, now that I think about it) made in February, 2011 from Islamabad, but which got refused -- I attached a response letter and a letter from my supervisor that I had faxed to the CHC in Islamabad right after my visit visa got refused
3. Copies of tickets to Toronto that I travelled on in 2007 and 2008
4. Copies of my old visas to Canada
5. Clarifications regarding a previous lost passport and the US J-1 visa it had contained (I had lost a passport while studying in the US, and I provided the relevant police report and a letter from the Pakistan Consulate in New York that I had gotten at the time, as well as photocopies of the passport and the US J-1 visa)

 

[evolvingfaith]

Section 2: Purpose of Visit and Ties to Pakistan

1. Covering Page
2. Statement of purpose and study plan (one and a half pages -- I spent quite some time on this and made it as thorough as possible)
3. A professional resume showing my academic and research commitments in Pakistan and elsewhere since the completion of my MA in Psychology in 2009
4. Copies of my employment contracts with the university where I have been teaching Psychology from January, 2010 to May, 2011 *

* Here, note that I was not currently employed when I submitted my application to the CHC. I addressed this on my covering page for this section, saying that my contract was not renewed for the rest of the year simply because given that I was planning to begin my PhD this year, I could not commit to teaching at the university in the fall. I had my supervisors at my university address this in their letters of recommendation as well.

5. A letter of recommendation from the Head of the Department at the university where I was working
6. A letter of recommendation from an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the university where I was working (saying that they wanted me to finish my PhD and come back and help them develop a Psychology major)
7. A copy of the property deed for my parents' house in Islamabad, which I stated was the place where I had lived for the majority of my life
8. Certification of my mother's full-time, 27-year period of employment in the Government of Pakistan (I used this to emphasize my own ties to Pakistan as well)
9. Certification of my father's full-time employment contract

 

[Ahayat1]

Hey i am an undergrad student applying to canada .. i got my medical done on the 3rd . but i dint submit a form for temporary resident visa

 

[evolvingfaith]

Section 3: Availability of Funds

1. Covering Page
2. Details of costs and available funding -- I put in a separate page with two tables made in Microsoft Word: one table showed calculations of my estimated costs for the proposed period of graduate study in Canada, and the other table listed all my funding sources (father, graduate fellowship, teaching assistantships, research assistantship, and personal funds) and added up all the funds available to show that I had well over the amount needed to complete my program of study -- I went to the trouble of converting USD and PKR to CAD (using an online currency converter) so that the VO would have no trouble assessing my financial status
3. Letter of sponsorship from my father (typed up on official organizational letterhead, stamped, signed in blue ink)
4. A copy of my father's employment contract again, with his salary highlighted
5. My father's bank statement
6. A copy of the offer letter from the Department of Psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), with the funds they had mentioned highlighted
7. The graduate fellowship offer letter from Simon Fraser University (SFU)
8. Proof of having paid the admissions fee (but I had not paid any tuition fee)
9. Personal bank account statements (I showed a personal account in PKR and another account in USD)
10. A copy of the reference letter from my prospective supervisor at SFU on which I highlighted a sentence saying he was going to pay me a lab stipend for being his research assistant

In total I showed about 11 lacs of personal money (PKR + USD combined), but my father's bank statement, monthly salary, and employment history is quite strong, and the funding from my university was also really strong. So I had no trouble showing financial stability, and I'm not quite sure at the moment how to help others for whom this is a more challenging part of the application. I would encourage you to look for scholarships and ask your universities for help.

 

[evolvingfaith]

Section 4: Certification of Good Moral Conduct

1. Covering Page
2. Police certificate from Islamabad, Pakistan
3. Police certificate from Lahore, Pakistan
4. Certificate of good moral conduct from my MA Director from the United States (where I did my MA)
5. Police certificate from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States

 

[evolvingfaith]

Section 5: Educational Background

1. Covering Page
2. Original O'Level certificate, laminated
3. Original A'Level certificate, laminated
4. Original B.Sc. Hons. degree certificate, laminated
5. Original MA degree certificate, laminated
6. One MA transcript just to show that my MA was in Psychology (it doesn't say what my MA is in on my MA degree certificate)
7. Photocopies of all degrees

 

[evolvingfaith]

What I Didn't Submit But Could Have

1. My father is stationed outside of Pakistan at the moment: in retrospect, I'm a little surprised that I didn't think to submit a copy of his passport showing his resident status outside of Pakistan, but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference
2. A birth certificate
3. A family composition certificate from NADRA (some people have suggested including this to establish family ties to Pakistan)

 

[ramzero]

itna data hamara pas kaha sa ayega . .

 

[evolvingfaith]

Parting thoughts:

I think my case was really well-thought out and it made a lot of logical sense -- I already have a B.Sc., an MA, and it just makes sense to go for a PhD after that. On my statement of purpose I spent a lot of time explaining:

- Why this degree was crucial for my academic growth and career
- Why nothing similar to this program was available in Pakistan
- How this degree would improve my employment opportunities in Pakistan

I also listed a number of potential employers and colleagues that I would be able to work with on appropriate projects in Pakistan and provided two reference letters to supplement my SOP.

However, as you can see, my case wasn't 100% pitch-perfect either. If they had wanted, they could have refused me on the following bases:

1. That I was not currently employed/my contract had not been extended
2. That they were not convinced I would return to Pakistan given my earlier sloppy visit visa application which they refused in April, 2011

And my case was complicated by one lost passport, which had my US visa on it while I had been a student in the United States! (Fortunately I had kept a photocopy of the lost passport and the US J-1 visa on which I had done my MA in the US, so I attached both of those photocopies.)

However, I addressed my employment situation as well as my visit visa refusal very strongly in my application, and had letters of support from my supervisors in Pakistan saying that they were keen to re-employ me upon the completion of my PhD. So that weakened their case for refusal and I guess they had no choice but to approve the Study Permit.

 

[evolvingfaith]

@ ramzero:

It wasn't that much data! I think this is a pretty standard application format ... I may even have submitted fewer documents than what some other people submit.

The hardest part was:

- Getting SFU to send me all their letters on time
- Getting the FBI police certificate

The rest of the documents I managed to put together in a month.

My goal throughout -- keeping in mind that I had also had a visit visa refused in April this year -- was to compile a very, very aggressive application. My whole approach was: saale, tera baap bhi mera visa lagaaye ga! ;-) So approach them with that mindset, and anticipate and address every single concern that might enter the VO's mind.

 

[Ahayat1]

Hey i am an undergrad student applying to canada .. i got my medical done on the 3rd . but i dint submit a form for temporary resident visa

 

[evolvingfaith]

@Ahayat:

It says in the Study Permit application guide that you have to fill out the Schedule 1 – Application for a Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside Canada [IMM 5257 - Schedule 1] form. See the application guide here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/5269E.PDF

This form is available for download here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5257B_1.PDF

If you didn't submit this form, I suggest you fill it out (with your father's/guardian's employment history) and send it to the CHC via FedEx or TCS Visatronix with a covering letter explaining that you overlooked it earlier. As far as I know the form is compulsory to submit.

 

[Ahayat1]

But it says that the file will not be opened if the application package is incomplete , where as they did open a file for me and sent me a medical request . if it was required they'd ask to me send it to me when they asked for a medical

 

[evolvingfaith]

Yes, I'm surprised you got the medical call without it, but if I were you, I wouldn't take any risks and would send the form along, unless you provided some other proof of your father's / guardian's employment history.