A student insurance provider, in partnership with an immigrations solutions provider, is launching a free-to-use online tool for prospective international students coming to Canada to use.
Insurer guard.me International Insurance, together with CanadaVisa, unveiled the CanadaVisa Study Hub yesterday. The Study Hub “provides international students with a wide range of customizable tools and resources, including information about visas, study permits and the Canadian immigration process,” a release said. The online portal will be made available not only for international students in Canada, but also for recent graduates with post-graduation work permits.
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"Navigating the Canadian immigration system can be confusing," said guard.me International Insurance president and CEO Keith Segal. "It was important to us to find a way to support students at our partner colleges and universities by simplifying this process."
Users of the platform can access personalized notifications and news updates, a study and work permit status tracker, resources on institutions and study programs in Canada, and some tools to help them secure their immigration status.
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"For many international students that come to Canada, education is a pathway to permanent residence," said senior partner David Cohen of Campbell Cohen Law Firm, which owns CanadaVisa. "International students and graduates are widely recognized as among the most desirable future immigrants."
International students in Canada are required to have health insurance. Coverage available varies from province to province, but the areas of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan cover international students under their provincial healthcare plans. International students who plan to study in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, or Quebec have to purchase private health insurance, however.
According to data from the federal government, a total of 215,224 international students had their student permits effective by the third quarter of 2016.
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