Selecting the appropriate school is crucial in getting the appropriate and adequate education. Canada is a country with ten different provinces and three territories. Needless to say, it has a wide range of schools available. Amidst all this, choosing one school is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But the key to finding the correct school for you is to first decide the career line you want to get into or the program you want to pursue. Doing so will narrow down your choices quite an extent.

You can use a website like www.schoolfinder.com where you have to enter the program you’re interested in and the application shows you the schools needed. Apart from that, you can also use the link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/schools.asp to find out about the programs and fees offered by different Canadian schools. Another good website that gives you not only the school’s name, program and fees but also provides you with a virtual tour of the school and information about the scholarships and awards offered is www.schoolsincanada.com. Yet another website, www.ourkids.net, provides a very convenient step-by-step approach find what best suits you and your needs.

Unlike most of its counterparts, Canada provides an off-campus work permit to its students. The work permit is sufficient enough to cover the student’s living expense in Canada. Now, students can study and simultaneously gain work experience in their respective fields.

The Canadian system of education has each semester of four months and thus, provides an exhilarating opportunity to the students with work permit, to work full-time and earn extra money during the four months of summer or winter break. However during regular academic sessions, the work permit allows the students to work up to 20 hours per week.

The eligibility criteria for students to be able to work off-campus:

• The student must be a full-time student and must hold a valid work-permit.
• The student must be enrolled at an institution that is designated, for a post-secondary level course or, in Quebec, a vocational program at a secondary level.
• The academic course or training must eventually lead to a degree diploma or certificate and must last for at least six months.

NOTE: As of February 2, 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is no longer issuing confirmation to work off campus documents.

Well, the off-campus work permit is meant for the time when you are studying in Canada. Wondering what you will do once you finish your graduation studies? Things just got a little easier for you then.

Canada also provides a post-graduation work permit that allows you to gain the valuable Canadian work experience. If the work experience you gain is relevant to your field/s of study, it gives you the better prospect of qualifying for a permanent residence in Canada through the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Mentioning the eligibility criteria for you here:

• You must have studied full-time in Canada for program of study that lasted at least eight months.
• You must have studied in an authorized and designated Canadian Institute.
• You must also hold a valid study permit before applying for a post-graduation work permit.