Student Visa - early arrival for travel tour

[pilgrim11]

Hello everyone!

I just got my student visa for Septembre intake and I am so excited about my new journey. My application would have been challenging without the information freely available on Canadavisa forum. Thank you all!

By the way, I have a question regarding early arrival in Canada.

My course will start in 1st Septembre and from my reading the CBSA officer would normally expect students to arrive near the course start date, pressumably 1 or 2 months or less in advance only. I agree that 2 months is more than enough to find accommodation and settle in. No question on this part.

However, I intend to take advantage of this pre-course time to travel around and explore Canada's nature and scenaries. Maybe April is a good start as it's warmer that time. Not the grand tours thou, just back-packing around and sightseeing. I would consider myself a visitor for now So, the question is, given that I can provide proof of funds (to back my travel) and state my purpose of early arrival to CBSA officer (which is, Vacation and Tours), do you think it's convincing enough?

Thank you for reading my lengthy question

All the best,
Pilgrim11

 

[scylla]

You can certainly arrive a couple of months early. Make sure you have proof you have the additional funds required to support yourself during this time. One of the things the CBSA officer may look to verify is that you won't be engaging in illegal work (you can't start working until your classes start in September). So you'll want to make sure you can satisfy any concerns the officer has and be able to demonstrate that you have additional funds to cover your travels.

 

[pilgrim11]

Thank you for the promptly reply, Scylla!