The International Student Blog

According to Canadian immigration lawyer David Cohen of Campbell Cohen, the province of Quebec is beginning an “accelerated and simplified immigration program” that will apply to both international students and specialized foreign workers to help facilitate their immigration to Canada.

The new, simpler regulations are intended to stimulate the economy of Quebec by attracting highly qualified international students to Quebec and also by encouraging those already in Quebec to stay.

Indeed, the new rules apply to immigration candidates already in Quebec as international students or foreign workers; if granted a “Certificate of Selection of Québec” (CSQ), their applications will receive priority.

How does one qualify for a CSQ? According to Cohen,

International students must have obtained a secondary school vocational diploma, a diploma of college studies in a technical program, or a university diploma attesting to a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, or a doctorate from an educational institution recognized by the Quebec Ministry of Education. To be recognized for Quebec immigration, these studies must have been completed in French or the applicants must have completed at least one year of full-time studies in French at the secondary or post-secondary level or have successfully completed a level B1 French course at a Quebec educational institution.

CSQ candidates not currently in Canada may apply from anywhere provided they have received a diploma in Quebec within two years prior to the regulations’ effective date.

Quebec’s Immigration Minister Yolande James stresses that she believes the new streamlined program will encourage even more international students to go to Quebec to study and stay on to work there.

Would this easier road to immigration make you more likely to consider Quebec a possible international study destination?

Guest post by Michelle Fabio, About.com Guide to Law School, who also writes about doctoral degrees online at DoctoralDegreesOnline.org.

The latest edition of the International Student News has just been released – and should be winding its way through the information super highway to your email account if you are current subscriber. This month we have the following packed edition for you:

1. International Student Loans – Now Available
2. Student Insurance Plans
3. Student News
4. From the Mailbag
5. Fun Site of the Month
6. USA Sim Card
7. Get Social!

If you are not a subscriber, you can join our e-list for free by visiting our student newsletter section of our website. You can also view the full version of the newsletter online at:

http://www.internationalstudent.com/newsletter/issue126.html

With the development over the past few years of new media and social networking sites, there is a lot to keep on top of and it is not easy to know what is the latest and greatest trend that you should be doing – such as twittering or facebooking. For International Students, it can be even more overwhelming and the most important thing to remember is what you are trying to accomplish.

You can sign up to Bebo, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, My Space…..and any number of sites that offer social features for you to upload and interact with others – but at the end of the day, you need to work out what is best for you. At International Student, we of course focus on helping students study around the world and provide a wealth of information, advice, products and services to help you – so our take on social networking is what can help you achieve your final goal = Studying Abroad!

We concentrate our efforts on Facebook, Twitter and our Forums – so will focus on these main three here, but if you have other sites you use that work well leave a comment below.

Facebook
It is now the largest social networking site online, and its a great way to catch up with old friends, keep up-to-date with everyone and generally interact with people who you may not otherwise see on a daily basis. For International Students, Facebook also represents a great way for you to interact and talk with fellow students and learn from each other. Fan Pages and Groups are the best way to do this – you can join any number of study abroad, financial aid, international student group and fan pages and post messages asking questions, join in discussions about topics and generally interact. Its a feature that is popular, but often not used that much by students.

Our group and fan pages offer this – so join and try out:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2254670655
http://www.facebook.com/internationalstudent

Twitter
Many people seem to think that Twitter is a “fad” and will not stand the test of time – that is still to be seen. But, what you cannot deny is that Twitter offers a great way to find information and ask questions. Many of the people who are on Twitter are active and so if you post something or ask a question they will more than likely respond. For example, do you have an immigration question? Type it into Twitter and you will see a whole host of immigration attorneys and sites who are twittering and may be able to help you. Likewise check out our previous post on using Twitter to find scholarships.

For more information about Twitter, please check out our “How To Guide” and if you join, please follow us @intstudent

Forums
Forums are nothing new, and have been around longer than many of these newer social sites – but we have included them here because they equally offer a great way to get advice, help and opinions on a whole range of topics. The International Student Forum, for example, has moderators such as immigration attorneys, international student advisers and recruitment agents who monitor and post response. There a many forums available, and a simple google search will bring up the main ones that you can try.

With all of these main “Social Sites”, the idea is to get active – post messages, answer other student inquiries with experiences you have had and share your knowledge and advice. You can start here – if you have a facebook group, fan page, twitter follower or forum that you use regularly or want to share with everyone else – post a comment on this post!

The more social you get, the more you can all help each other out!