Study permit for Yoga training i.e. self-improvement course

[PeterP]

Hello,

I am a little bit confused about what really applies to me right now. So I want to do a course to improve my Yoga skills. I found one in my area and it is a 7 months course. In the end I get a certificate as a Yoga teacher. But I do not want to work with this in Canada, this is just for myself and I wouldn't even have the time to do so, because I will leave Canada pretty soon after the end of this course. Right now I have a visitor status because I am here with my partner and he has a work permit. We'll only live in Canada until next August.
On the IRCC and CIC homepage it says that every course that is longer than 6 months needs a study permit, but I don't need a study permit if I just do this for self-improvement, which is my intention. And this institution is not on the DLI list.
So my question is just: do I need a study permit for this? There is no definition on the IRCC homepage on what a course of self-improvement exactly is, how long it can be etc. But courses of self-improvement are headed on the homepage with: The following activities are not considered studies for the purposes of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and do not require a study permit:

• pre-school (pre-kindergarten)
• courses of general interest or self-improvement
• distance learning
• audited courses (typically by sitting in on an academic course, but without obtaining credit for it, or having the ability to obtain credit for it retroactively)

Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hello,

I am a little bit confused about what really applies to me right now. So I want to do a course to improve my Yoga skills. I found one in my area and it is a 7 months course. In the end I get a certificate as a Yoga teacher. But I do not want to work with this in Canada, this is just for myself and I wouldn't even have the time to do so, because I will leave Canada pretty soon after the end of this course. Right now I have a visitor status because I am here with my partner and he has a work permit. We'll only live in Canada until next August.
On the IRCC and CIC homepage it says that every course that is longer than 6 months needs a study permit, but I don't need a study permit if I just do this for self-improvement, which is my intention. And this institution is not on the DLI list.
So my question is just: do I need a study permit for this? There is no definition on the IRCC homepage on what a course of self-improvement exactly is, how long it can be etc. But courses of self-improvement are headed on the homepage with: The following activities are not considered studies for the purposes of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and do not require a study permit:

• pre-school (pre-kindergarten)
• courses of general interest or self-improvement
• distance learning
• audited courses (typically by sitting in on an academic course, but without obtaining credit for it, or having the ability to obtain credit for it retroactively)

Any suggestions? Thanks

1. You don't require a study permit for it. It is general interest/self improvement.

 

[MaryDy]

Indeed, it is a difficult situation when you can't work legally because of some restrictions due to a lack of citizenship. I was in the same situation. It took some years to get all the documents and start a normal life with, my partner in the new country. I also finished courses in yoga and practiced it for some years. Now I stopped on the Hatha yoga sequence because it is the best direction in yoga that I liked. I even thought to film videos of my training and make my own YouTube channel and share my experience with others. It is a very popular topic nowadays.