Study in Canada requirements for Nigerian students: apply for admission and get a student visa from Nigeria

It is the dream of many Nigerian youths to visit Canada for educational purposes. If you plan to study in Canada, start with learning about the requirements by reading this article.

It contains the admission process and the steps for applying for a Canadian student visa in Nigeria. The article features the common questions prospective students ask and their answers as well.

 

Why apply for a Canada student visa and study in Canada

It is no surprise that Canada is one of the top-most destinations for Nigerians who wish to study abroad. Because more and more students are waking up to the realities that studying abroad through Canada has more advantages

This section highlights some of the benefits of applying for a Canada student visa and studying in Canada:

 

• Better chances of securing a visa

Popular destinations like the U.S and France have tougher visa decisions, unlike Canada.

One of the strongest promoters of legal immigration, Canada admits more immigrants through their famous Express Entry programs. And student applicants enjoy the same positive attitude.

It is common for other countries to refuse student applicants even after meeting visa requirements. But Canada hardly denies a study visa applicant who follows the guidelines and measures up to standard.

Experts noticed that Canadian visa officers are soft on applicants who are younger (below 22) and planning to take undergraduate programs.

But that they prefer older applicants (24 and above) who are applying for visas to study post-graduate courses in Canada.

 

• Cheaper tuition

You will find schools in Canada with cheaper tuition than other first-world countries like the UK and the US. Many of them will charge you only for admission processing fees for the sake of visa application.

Others will ask you to pay part tuition or pay after the Canadian embassy has granted your visa application. You may decide to pay part tuition since your money is safe. And you can demand a refund if you have any reasons not to study in Canada.

 

• Opportunity to settle in Canada and start a new life

Canada grants students a post-study permit. The permit grants you the chance to find a job in Canada and get a work permit.

If you hold a work permit in Canada, you can apply for the Canadian Express Entry under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

Applying under CEC gives you an edge over several hundred thousand other applicants who lack any work experience in Canada.

 

Canadian student visa requirements for Nigerian citizens

You cannot apply for a Canadian student visa in Nigeria except you meet the requirements. This section helps you identify the requirements for your level of study.

 

Requirements for an undergraduate degree in Canada for Nigeria students

• International passport

The international passport must be valid for at least six months at the time of visa application. The passport booklet must contain two black pages at the time of application as well.

• Admission letter

An admission letter from a designated learning institution in Canada is necessary. Click here for the list of institutes in Canada with a designated number to save you from wasting money and time.

• Student visa application form

You have to fill out the Canada student visa application form. The form is available for download here.

• Family information form

The Canadian embassy requires the family information form as well. Get this form here.

• Other application forms

If applying online, the Canadian immigration authorities may ask you to fill out other forms depending on your profile. Some of these forms include the schedule one form and custodian declaration form. However, applicants applying offline may not need to fill out these additional forms.

Note: You can as well fill on these forms online. Click here to fill your forms online

• WAEC Result

You need a copy of your WAEC result certificate for the application. A print out of the result is also fine if your certificate is unavailable. If including a printout, you may add the WAEC scratch card or pin.

• Police certificate

Include the character certificate from the police. You can get this certificate from the Area F police station at Lagos Island, Lagos.

• Passport photograph

Two copies of 35x45mm passport photographs on a plain background. It is better if you have recently taken the photographs

• Personal or sponsor’s statement of account

Canada accepts the bank account statement of a sponsor or an applicant. The account should show transactions for the recent past four to six months. If you want to use a sponsor, such a sponsor should be a close relative (father, mother, spouse, etc.).

A closing balance of about CAD 12,000 (NGN 3,500,000) is perfect for the Canada student visa application. Note that this does not include the cost of tuition.

• Sponsorship letter/affidavit

You need a sponsor’s letter stating their intention to support your study and upkeep in Canada. You can provide a sponsorship affidavit in the place of a letter.

Such affidavit carries the passport photograph of the sponsor and the applicant. And it carries the stamp of a court.

• Explanation/Motivation/Cover letter

Since there is no visa interview for Canada application, this letter helps you provide further information about your application.

With this letter, you may tell the consular officer about your background information. Write about why you plan to study for a certain course in Canada. And tell the officer your plans for the future – after graduating from the Canadian school.

• Medical certificate

This requirement depends on your institution of study. If the school demands a medical certificate, then you can make this from a registered hospital in Nigeria.

• Appointment letter for submission

Whether applying online or offline, you may need to book an appointment before visiting the visa application center in Lagos or Abuja.

If you submit your application online, Canada expects you to provide your biometric at the application center in Lagos or Abuja. And this will require an appointment booking.

Click here to see if you need to book an appointment and the available appointment dates.

• Flight booking for Canada student visa

You need a flight booking showing the date you plan to arrive in Canada. A good booking shows the airline, PNR code, name of the traveler, date of arrival, and time of arrival. Speak to an agent from Ibat Travels and Tours Limited on WhatsApp for a flight booking for a Canada student visa. Click here to contact us.

• A hotel booking for a Canada student visa

Hotel booking is a booking confirmation from a hotel in Canada showing the date of check-in and check-out. Get your hotel booking if your school has no accommodation set for your visit at the moment.

It is a temporary provision for accommodation. Speak to an agent from Ibat Travels and Tours Limited on WhatsApp for a hotel booking for a Canada student visa. Contact us here

 

Requirements for a master’s degree in Canada for Nigeria students

The requirements for master’s students are similar to those of undergraduate applicants listed above, including:

• International passport
• Admission letter
• Passport photographs
• Application forms
• Police certificate
• Personal or sponsors bank statement of account
• Sponsorship letter (if using sponsors bank statement)
• Medical certificate (if school requests for it)
• Appointment letter for submission
• Flight booking
• Hotel booking

However, other additional documents for the master’s program in Canada are:

• Certificate/Transcript from previous schools

This includes bachelor’s degree certificates and similar others that you got after your education in Nigeria.

• Introduction & Employment letter

You have to include an introduction letter from your place of work. An employment letter can also help your application – but it is not compulsory.

• Marriage certificate, child(ren) birth certificate, and other proof of ties to Nigeria

If you are married or you have children, you may include copies of these certificates to your application.

• Investment documents/property documents

Deeds, receipt of payment for land, survey plan, and investment certificates are some of the documents that you may include. But these are optional.

How to apply for admission in Canadian for a student visa

Applying for admission could be tricky sometimes. This session introduces you to how to secure admission into a Canadian school.

• Research designated learning institutions offering you course of choice and their tuition fees
• Learn about their admission requirements
• Apply for admission before the deadline
• Take interview (if applicable)
• Secure admission

 

How to apply for a Canadian student visa in Nigeria

There are two ways to apply for a Canadian student visa in Nigeria. You can either apply online or offline.

 

How to apply for a Canada student visa online

Applying for a Canadian student visa online is more convenient. It is better to apply online if your supporting documents are light. The online application requires document upload, and each section has a file size limit.

If you choose to apply online, take the following steps. Ensure that you already have an admission, your international passport, and all other supporting documents:

• Create an account online

Visit www.cic.gc.ca and click on ‘English’ to create an account online for your visa application.

Then scroll down and click on ‘Sign in or create an account to apply online’

 

Clicking that will redirect you to a new page. Scroll down and click on ‘Register’

 

Then locate and click the ‘Register with GCkey’ button to register.

And click on ‘Sign up’

Move on by accepting the terms and conditions. Then create a username and password following the username and password checklists. You can find the checklists by the right side of the ‘Create your Username’ and ‘Create your password’ pages.

The immigration authorities want you to create your recovery questions, answers, and hints. So, do this for security purposes and click ‘Continue’

Clicking on the ‘Continue’ button will direct you to the next page. Then click continue.

 

 

But do not bother if it returns to the home page. Just click on the ‘English’, ‘Sign in or create an account’, and ‘Sign in with GCKey’ instead to sign in again. Then enter the username and password that you have just created.

It is better that you have a good internet connection. A bad one will cause you the page to timeout.

If you notice that the page still returns to the homepage each time you try to move on, change your internet browser. For example, change from Google Chrome to Mozilla Firefox.

Then go ahead to fill out all the fields, considering your full name as they appear on your international passport.

After doing this, go ahead to create your security questions and answers. Take note of each security question and answer to ensure easy access to the account for future use.

 

Once you sort all these things out, the page will direct you to your account page.

• Take an eligibility test to create a personal checklist that suits your profile

Once in the account, scroll down to locate and click on ‘Apply to come to Canada’

Clicking on the button will direct you to a new page where you can determine your eligibility to apply for a Canada student visa from Nigeria. Click on ‘Visitor visa, study, and/or work permit’ to create your personal checklist.

 

Follow the interactive questionnaire and answer all sections correctly.

You will arrive at a result page that shows that you are eligible to apply for a Canada student visa. Click continue to proceed.

The page where you can review your answers is the final page. Go through each answer carefully to avoid any form of error. And click ‘Continue’ once your answers are satisfactory. Then click continue to go to your document checklist page.

 

3- Fill forms and upload scanned documents on the checklist page

 

Click on ‘Application for study permit made outside of Canada (IMM1294)’. Clicking on this will pop-up the form in a new tab of your internet browser.

Open this tab and save the page to download the application form. You need the latest edition of Adobe PDF Reader to view and fill out this form on your computer system.

Once you fill out this form, click ‘Validate’ on the last page to generate barcodes. Save the form and upload it. Note that the barcodes are essential.

 

 

 

Fill out the family information, schedule 1, and other forms that you need to fill and upload on this page. Note that only the application form generates a barcode after clicking on the validate button.

Scan and upload the bio-data page of your international passport. The bio-data page is the part of your passport where your picture, name, date of birth, city of birth, and other information appear.

Then, go ahead to scan your admission letter. And click on ‘letter of acceptance’ to upload it. Each document you upload should be less than 4MB.

Scan your statement of account (personal or sponsors) and click on ‘proof of means of financial support’ to upload it.

Likewise, you can upload your passport photograph and upload it under the ‘digital photo’ category.

‘Client information’ is for adding other documents. For example, this is where you include your motivation letter, your hotel, and flight booking. And additional documents that you want to include.

Merge these different documents using www.ilovepdf.com. You can use the same platform to compress their file size to comply with the file size limit.

 

4- Submit documents online and pay the visa fee

Now that you have uploaded the relevant documents to all the sections, you can pay your visa fee online. Input your card information to pay your visa fee.

You will receive a payment confirmation as proof of payment success. Then you will get your confirmation for biometric within 24 to 48 hours of application submission.

The confirmation for biometric is what you take along to any of the visa application centers in Lagos or Abuja.

Should you need to book an appointment before visiting the visa application center in Lagos or Abuja for your biometric, click here to book a date.

 

5- Monitor application online

Every time the Canadian authorities send an update on your application, you will receive a notification in your email inbox.

But you can always log in to your application page online to monitor the status of your visa application.

Once the embassy concludes you will get a new message. If the visa is approved, you need to visit the submission center with your international passport for the visa.

 

 

How to apply for a Canada student visa offline

The Canada student visa offline application is best if you have bulky documents. The online application requires scanning and uploading documents with file size limits. But you do not have to bother about file sizes when applying offline.

Take the following process to apply offline

• Compile your supporting documents

Go through the list of requirements for a Canada student visa. Make two photocopies of each of the documents. And prepare to visit the submission center.

 

• Fill application forms

Download, fill, and print out your application forms. Remember to validate the student visa application form to generate barcodes.

The following are the forms you need to fill:

• Student visa application form
• Family information form
• Schedule 1 form

 

• Book appointment

Click here to see if you need to book an appointment to submit your visa application at this time. If you need to book an appointment, choose a location and pick a date.

 

• Submit application

Visit the visa application center on the appointment date to submit all your documents.

Lagos address:
The Manor, Plot 110, Admiral Ayinla Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, Nigeria

Abuja address:
Sterling Bank Plaza, 3rd Floor, Plot No 1083, Mohammadu Buhari Way, Central Business District, Abuja -Nigeria

 

• Track application and receive feedback

You will get notifications in your email when your passport is ready for pickup. But email notifications fail sometimes. Click here to track your application online. You need to provide your application ID number and date of birth to track your visa application online.

 

FAQs for study in Canada requirements for Nigerian students

• How are Nigerian Students in Canada coping?

Nigerian students often experience culture shock when they arrive in Canada. But many of them learn to cope fast through some techniques.

One of them is visiting their university’s welcome center/student mentor. The student-mentor is an employee of the university who helps international students open bank accounts, subscribe to telecoms plans, transport passes, and so on.

Also, many Nigerian students apply for their Social Insurance Number (SIN) to allow them to work part-time during the academic session. And full-time during study breaks.

The ease of securing a job in Canada helps Nigerian students cope with the cost of living in Canada which varies across several provinces.

 

• Is it possible to work and study in Canada from Nigeria?

It is possible to work while studying in Canada. Students may need to obtain their SIN to take part-time and full-time jobs while studying.

 

• How long does it take to get a Canadian student visa in Nigeria?

The processing period for the Canadian student visa in Nigeria varies. It takes anywhere from 72 days and beyond.

You can click here to confirm the current processing period of Canadian visas for Nigerian citizens.

 

Conclusion

Follow the steps in this article to help you gain admission to study in Canada and apply for a Canada student visa in Nigeria. Pay attention to the requirements as well since meeting them will boost your chances of securing the student visa.

If you need any guidance on a study in Canada requirements or visa application process, contact us at Ibat Travels and Tours. We have a visa team on standby to help make your application easy.