 Welcome international students to today's international student info session. My name is Vincent Tornita and we are hosting this info session in Vancouver, Canada. I'm in Emily Carr and I'd like to acknowledge that we are on the unseated territories of Squamish, and it's Lewa Tooth Nations where we work, play, study, and, you know, just go about with our regular lives. And today we will be having our international student info session. And I believe some of you already attended the info session they had for the foundation year. Most of the guests here are first year. If there are any master students that are joining us, let us know in the chat. Laura here will be helping me out with the presentation and just let me know if you're a master student or a transfer student. Any other guests just let us know where you're coming from and we will begin our presentation right now. So let me introduce myself. I am, my name is Vincent Tornita, pronouncing him. I'm an international student advisor. You've probably heard from me in the past, you've probably had meetings with me and for those who hasn't met with me. This is me. I'm the one sending you massive emails sometimes as myself sometimes as the international student office, but that is me. And at least for the next 30 days for September, while I have this title, I will be helping you out get oriented and acclimated into Vancouver, as you begin your journey. And the international student office in my department. There are also Kevin, who's my supervisor. He's the director of admissions registrar and international development. And Kimberly, who's the international programs advisor she handles exchange. So, like later on, if you just should you decide if you want to, you know, go to a different school to get their programs Kimberly would be the person to talk to. While I do have advisor in my title. I am not an academic advisor. So just to clarify, I help students with their study permit applications for BC MSP which we will be going over quite a bit and postgraduate work permits once you've graduated. So I'm always available through email and I anti advising at ecuad.ca. And you may always try to book me for appointments I'm available 10 to four during advising time. You can access it in my seat, or you can book a zoom appointment with me. You can either be flexible, or in person like for the next three weeks, starting Monday I will be in campus. So I am available for, you know, last minute consultations drop by say hi, go for it. And my office is on the second floor and the student commons where some of you already picked up your one cards, and that's where you will be picking up your one cards. I'm currently working from home twice a week, but for the next three weeks, I will be available for consultations. And also just to go over the rest of the student comments, academic advisors, Terry and Petra you might have met with them already in the last few weeks, they will be answering your questions about classes registration, and what's best for your program. If you're a transfer student, the event will be handling those for you you probably already had spoken to her about transfer credits. You can email her a transfer credit at ecuad.ca. She's joining us today. Say hi. She's in the career and professional development office. She'll be talking. Yeah, there's just Lane. So if you're looking for work and want to explore credit for work and completing your degree job opportunities and whatnot. They're a great resource to contact. Yeah, she's not joining us today but she's in the financial aid and awards. If you have any questions about scholarships and whatnot, Sarah would be the one to talk to you. Right. We see some master students in the chat. Hi Manuel and hi Jenny. Yeah, thanks for like a showing yourself today. Like say hi. Thanks chat. Thanks for letting us know. And also just going from their financial aid and financial services. We have our cashier window and the student comments as well if you need to access it. It's readily available for you. So, so our key dates for fall 2023. We start the year off with the day off, which is Labor Day, and September 5, which is a Tuesday is our first day of classes. And so September 12, as I've sent in many emails, it's the last day to add and last day to drop classes without financial penalty. So, yeah, if you have any deferral questions, feel free to email me. Since this is the last day to add and drop. And then finally, September 19th, that's a tuition fee payment deadline. There is a, there is a grace period, but that is generally the deadline date. The following month, we have October 2nd International Day of Truth and Reconciliation and Thanksgiving on October 9, both days the universities will be closed, followed by study week, which is the full week, no of no classes being scheduled. It's great like I'm doing a presentation and showing you when you'll be off. So yeah, middle of October, you will have some time off. And November 2023, your midterm grades will be due on November 6. Another holiday remembrance day on November 13, and following that is the last day for official withdrawal without any academic penalty. You can talk to the academic advisor regarding that. But right now, those are the key dates. And then finally on December, December 4th is the last day of regularly scheduled classes. And then you'll have some makeup days following that. And the week after is the assessment period for most first years, semester ends in December 16, and after that the university will be closed. So, yeah, like that is the undergrad calendar, the calendar for the master students will be a little different. So, like, I am the, I'm the international student advisor for undergrad mostly but I also help out master students. So, this is what we have for the key dates mostly. So, what will we be covering today in this info session. The big question that I get a lot is the BC MSP. I'll go through that first and the services that you can avail of while you're in campus including accessibility. And following that would be student union. Ceci is here. Say hi. She, they will be doing the presentation for the for student union so extended medical dental and the youth pass. And then we'll be talking about your study permit and the conditions regarding that. And then I don't know if Heather's here yet, but Heather Fitzgerald from the writing center will be talking about peer, peer mentors. We'll talk about the more with the study permits. And then probably the SIM card and then working the working conditions of your study permit. And just Lane will be talking to you about that after with the career and professional development group. We'll touch briefly on the postgraduate work permit since it's still too early in the game to talk about it but it's good to think about since the next four years will be full of other things and then like usually like at the last like by the graduation. You will be that will be like for the most of you that will be something to think about in the future. And then finally settling in in Vancouver. We'll talk briefly about bank accounts phone cell phones IDs and what what else to expect. So getting started let's start with a BC medical services card or BC MSP. So what is BC MSP. It is a provincial health care plan for all BC residents, and it covers most of the basic medical services provided by insured doctors. It is mandatory for all BC residents as well as temporary residents, international students who plan to stay longer in BC than six months. So it is by law that you need to apply for BC MSP. When should you get BC MSP when should you apply for BC MSP. I would suggest as early as possible, like as soon as as soon as you're here apply for BC MSP. Why, because it takes two to three months to process. So there is a three month waiting period as it said, and so if you arrived in August 20 or 21. And apply and then you can apply for your BC MSP you will get it on November a caveat regarding that is make sure when you apply that if you are changing addresses. If you are staying in a hotel for example and apply right away, you do need to change your address on their site in order for you to get their communications billing and the BC services card you will receive once you are approved. So what kind of benefits do you have under BC MSP. There is a wide range of medical services. And then you don't need to pay for the services that are provided there, once you show your BC MSP card. So how much it is it as of January 2020 international students have to pay $75 a month. So those fees can be subject to change may go up may go down. So make sure you're checking the website and the communications and they're mailing for more information. So let's go over the insurance you have paid for, especially for the first year incoming first year students, which is a way care. So, a way care, you have paid for that during your deposit. And what that covers is those three months two to three months that you are that you are like waiting for your BC MSP. So for you to receive medical services, you do need to be covered by an external insurance. Some of you applied from insurance from your home country, some of you applied for guard me, but most of you are enrolled in a way care. So, we've enrolled you it actually starts in August 21. So, you don't have to worry about signing up for an additional external insurance master students I'll talk to you in a bit after that. So, once you are in the process of applying for your BC MSP away care will serve as that buffer. So for master students and for returning students who are not enrolled in this service as a way care insurance service. We still have our guard me service ready. So, in order for you to pick up your one card. We do need to ensure that you are medically covered while you wait for your BC MSP. So, guard me if you can take a look at the website that we have guard me dot guard dot me backslash ECU. So it directs you and it takes you five minutes to sign up for it. It's quick and easy. And we suggest about two to three months coverage while you wait for your BC MSP. That's it for now about BC MSP. So just letting you know BC BC MSP will send you an invoice by mail. So really be like cognizant about that. And if you do change your address make sure you go to their website. And yeah, change, change your address there just make sure every time you change living locations, just let BC MSP know because they will be sending mail to your old address. Okay. What's next. So, so the question is where do you find the coverage plan like a. So, you are enrolled in a way care. So, so that you can get your policy number. Please look at the brochure that we've sent you. I'll send it again. But we've I've sent it to you during the last mass email. And in order for you to find out your policy number, please contact 1-888-997-0151 in order for you to find out your policy number. They are open 24 seven. So, yeah, so just in case you need medical assistance right away. You can find your policy number here and then you can go to a walk in clinic and get service there. Okay. Other services that we provide in campus is accessibility. So if you require accommodations, if you need help. Yeah, for in that regard, you can email them at accessibility at ecuad.ca. So in the meet and greet next week they will have a table, the wellness center will have a table, and you can ask them the questions in that. We also have our website here. So I will be sending this slides the slides later so you will have access to this later. So if you require counseling student wellness and other accessibility services. I do have the slides like the slides will have these links and if you need more information. Just please click on them after. And same with counseling. They are open like they can respond to your email within 24 hours Mondays to Fridays 930 and then 930 to 3pm. If you are experiencing an emergency, please contact 911. And we also have our extra community services listed right here if you have any more need any more information. So I'll pass on pass this on to Ceci Sanchez, the organizer of communications and community development from Emily Carson senior and alternative over to you. Hi, thanks. I'll just share my screen. Okay, so I'll just stop sharing. There you go. Awesome. Can you see it full screen. Yep. Awesome. Okay, so welcome everyone excited to get to know everyone my name is Ceci Sanchez. I usually they pronounce and I'm staff at the students union. And just a small intro about who we are the students union it's a organization that independent from the university and we really like to make sure students understand that we are not part of the university. We're here for students. And it's run by students. We fight for students rights we foster community and provide services to students. And we are located on the second floor by the cafeteria just come say hi we're open most days from nine to 430. And yeah just come by and we can talk more. And an important note is we have staff, but we also have student representatives so a lot of the work that we do is by students for students. And Vincent talked a little bit about MSP previously and I want to talk to you about the green shield so you're probably seeing on your tuition breakdown. There's the charge of $275 that's called the extended health and dental plan. These plan is not a plan that will take over MSP MSP you're going to have to have it that's going to be your primary plan. The green shields, it's an extended plan so it comes as a secondary plan, and it would cover visits to the dentist, counseling, higher factor and many other things. Everyone that's taking more than six credits is automatically enrolled to the service. You can opt out of the service only if you have a similar plan that's Canadian so if you have an international plan that covers these things. You cannot opt out. This is a one-time charge and it gets charged in September and it lasts for a year. So you're going to be covered from September 1st to August 31st of next year. And just one important thing to note is that we're entering a blackout period for so from September 1st to October like mid-October, October 15. So this plan is not, you're not going to be able to access it. You're not going to be able to submit claims on the online platform. So this is a period of time where the university is kind of like in contact with the provider and just make sure that you pay your tuition. So once this period is over, you're available to use it. But you're still covered. Super important thing to note. You're still covered from October, like September to October. You're just going to need to pay everything upfront. So just please save all your receipts. And then once the website is working, you can just submit your claims there. I know this can be a little bit confusing. So please just drop by the office or send us an email if you have any questions. I love the hell of like services and all of that. I'm a huge nerd of it. So if you have questions, just come by and I'll explain everything. It's hard to understand it. And I'm also, I was an international student too. So I know it can be complicated to manage the system. So please just come by. And I want to talk about something that's like super exciting, which is the new path. The new pass gives you access to the sky train, the bosses and also the sea boss. So there's a little like boat that takes you from downtown to northbound. It's really nice. It covers everything. So once you have it, you don't have to pay anything extra for transit, which is actually saving you like around $538 per semester, which is a lot of money. It is a mandatory fee for all students. You can only opt out if you have these like you pass through like your work or something else, which is not very usual. But unfortunately, if you're someone that drives or likes to buy, you still have to pay for it. There's no exception. And then it's going to start running us of September 1. So we want to make sure that you're ready to go for the first week of class and you don't have to pay any extra single dime to translate during that time. So make sure to activate your plan as soon as possible. You can activate it already. It just won't start working until September 1. So first thing you have to do, get a blue compass card. We won't give you the you pass. It's not a tangible thing that you have to go by a compass card. Make sure it's the blue one. We've had issues in the past when you look very young and they want to sell you an orange card. Orange card is for secondary schools and primary schools and from under 18 and it will not work for a you pass. You will not be able to activate it. So please save money and just ask for a blue card. You can buy it at a London drugs or any Sky train station because it's $6. Once you have it, just Google you pass and you're going to be sent into the you pass website. Just select Emily Carr University. It's going to read your review to the Emily Carr email website login with your Emily Carr account. And then, oh, sorry, this is backwards. And then you just have to activate the month. You're going to have to register your part first at the back of the compass card. It's a very long number. Just register it and then activate the month. We really recommend doing these activation. Like at least a week before the month starts just to make sure you're not caught by surprise that it's already September 1st or October 1st. You're just going to have to do these every single month and you're covered. It's already paying your tuition. So just please don't spend more money on transit. And then I just want to talk a little bit about what we do about clubs and initiatives so every student can start a club. Please come by the office if you want to talk more about it. And it's like we want to foster community. So if you want to do something fun like you can literally be like starting a book club, starting a dance club. We have an animation club. So it just like come by. We are also like hosting or traditional club say on September 19. So it's going to be in the cafeteria. You're going to have food provided for students and you're going to be able to sign up for clubs there. But we really encourage you to come by earlier if you want to start one so you can table a club today. And another fun thing we're doing these September it's worth trying something new and we're going to do a speed friending activity. So kind of like spig dating but for making friends. So it's going to happen in the cafeteria September 13 from 33530. You don't have to sign up just say come by we're going to have some snacks there and some like conversations further. So this is a test but we're very excited about it. So yeah come by. And I just want to say again welcome that was like a very quick intro students union come by the office anytime. You need to contact us. This is our email and that info at ECSU. Lori or myself will get those emails if you want to contact me directly you can contact me to safety at ECSU. Or if you want to speak to Lori to Lori at you just make sure it says it's ECSU because a lot of people write the university email and we don't get those phones again we're not part of the university so we don't get university email. Yeah, thanks for everything. Looking forward to meeting everyone. Thank you so much. All right, let me share my screen again. Okay. So thank you again for for coming and speaking sassy. Thank you student union. I'm sure. Yeah. So the next will be study permit conditions. So we'll go over your study permits and the study permit is a temporary document that is issued to a foreign national coming to Canada for the purposes of studying at a Canadian educational institution. A few things to keep in mind is keep your study permit valid. And you have to actively pursue your studies. So a study permit is not. It's not an entry document. It's not an ETA it's not a temporary resident visa. So those documents allow you to enter Canada, the study permits allow you to remain in Canada. So that's that's the difference between those two documents. And we will be verifying them as you pick up your one cards. Yeah, just to make sure that you are, you know, you have your study permits and if there are anything that we can do to if there are some issues with your study permit like for example, I'm going to be talking about work conditions later. And with the work conditions, it shows that in your study permit. So, like, for example, if the work conditions aren't there, you will need to, you'll need to amend that study permit. So, once I can, I confirm it and verify it, I will be asking you a few questions if I find something that needs to be addressed, but otherwise, yeah, the moment you receive your study permit upon entering Canada. Please bring it with you so we can verify and provide you with your one card. So always check the expiry date of your study permit, which we will as well we will include it in your file and give yourself a minimum of two month window to renew your permit before it expires as processing times can be lengthy. So just clarifying that you can, I don't recommend this, but you can renew your study permit as late as two days before it expires. Once you submit your, what's that once you submit your renewal notice, it takes at least 24 to 48 hours for somebody in IRCC to confirm it and give you notification that you're on a maintained status. So, once you renew your study permit, you can actually stay within Canada and continue as is as long as you are on that maintained status. Okay, and usually IRCC provides four years of the duration of your degree program for masters will be two years. But in some cases they issue shorter terms. I don't know how that works it depends on each student. So just letting you know that if you don't renew your study permit, you might be out of status and you would need to follow the instructions provided for you by IRCC. So let's go over actively pursuing studies because that's where a lot of questions from international students come in regarding what is full time what is part time just to make it clear. And actively pursuing studies is providing reasonable amount of time for you to complete your degree, which is four years. So, you need to maintain active studies. So, we say that 12 credits is full time. What that means is, if you have 12 if you are taking 12 credits every semester. Sometimes during the summer you will be making up for those three credits, because technically you need 15 credits to complete 120 credits for the full four years. So, 12 credits is the minimum and that allows you a reasonable amount of time to complete your degree in four years, but we do know that life happens sometimes students need to take time off because of medical issues or personal issues. And IRCC allows that you are allowed two terms where you can take an authorized leave that you can file with academic advising. So anything under 12 credits nine credits and below us part time. And if you are taking nine credits per semester, according to calculations and if you don't take any summer classes for example, it will take at least four and a half to five years to complete, which in IRCC's eyes will not be seen as actively pursuing studies. However, if you are still working towards your degree. In terms of renewing your study permit, you're still allowed to do that. It might affect your postgraduate work permit, and also, it will affect your ability to work while studying. Because we need you need to have 12 credits or more to to work. Just me. We're still seeing the student union slide here. I don't know if that is the same on your screen, but Laura is seeing the same thing as me. Okay. Weird. Let me just. But you can still hear me right because I'm getting an error here from zoom. Anybody else having it. I can hear you, but I just see the student union. That's so light. Maybe if you end the slideshow and go back into it. Sure. Okay, it's showing here to zoom quit. Just unmute Vincent. I forgot how to zoom all of a sudden, like, so just having some technical difficulties. We do have that. I'm back. We're with you. Take your time. Thank you. Okay. Okay, so you see my slides now. Okay. So I've talked about the study permit conditions and probably recorded without the study permit conditions. Okay, let me repeat myself a little bit. So, yes, the study permit is your temporary document that requires you to that allows you to remain in Canada. It's not an entry, or it's not an entry document, like a temporary resident visa or electronic transfer agreement. And keep your study permit valid. Some of you are given four years, I've seen study permits that are given five, which is great. Some get fewer years. For example, if you're a master's student graduate studies is only two years, so you're probably given two years, or if you're a transfer student, you can get three years or two years. Like, just make sure it is valid. And if you need to renew it, please contact me and I can go over certain things and provide certain documents that require you to renew your study permit. And let's go over again to actively pursuing studies. And the full time part time question. It's not really credit wise is it's just how reasonable, like a basically four years is what the expected time of your study would be according to IRCC. So if you're taking four years, that is the expected time of graduation. So to reasonably complete your program in four years, you actually need 15 credits to complete that. If you're taking 12 credits, you might need some time to make up for those extra classes during summer. Also, when I talk about postgraduate work permit, I will, I will go over this more clearly. If you're thinking of taking additional classes during summer. I don't really recommend that because you do if you are wanting to work and wanting to qualify for your postgraduate work permit. You need to maintain that full time status and I'll go over with that. More later, more in detail and if you have any questions you can leave them in the chat or Q&A, and I'll get back to it during the question and answer portion. Okay, that's what it meant. Like you have to make reasonable progress and it's usually four years. So I do have a link on the slides. If you do want like the long and boring part of it without like, and I can explain it to you if you book a meeting with me or come to my office. I'll gladly explain this to you. So the next person that I will next speaker that we have is Heather Fitzgerald, the writing center coordinator and senior advisor. She'll talk to you about peer mentors and if you need help with writing essays and whatnot. Hi Heather. I can't seem to hear you. Can you hear me now? Yeah, perfect. Sorry, it's connecting to another device. Hi everyone. Welcome. And thanks so much for being here. I know this is a ton of information. You all have your screens off or your video off. So I hope you're like standing up and stretching in the middle of this. I can entertain. I have a small furry animal with me who may make an appearance because I know people like animals in there in their zoom calls. So he may, he may step up. I am here representing the writing center, which is called the writing center but is actually support students with a lot more than writing. I'm actually going to share my screen. So I'm going to bump you up instance. Sorry. One moment. I also forget how to use zoom. I'm going to share my screen. This is the writing center website. Let's get the homepage up. Are you seeing the homepage of the writing center? Thumbs up if you are. Okay, great. So the writing center is a service for students. It's completely free. And it's what I call the sort of academic support hub for the university. So in a way that student services is your support for so many things, choosing your classes, financial services, things like that. And the students union is your support for all kinds of both social and study assistance in terms of your health care or your additional health care and things like that. So the writing center is kind of your space for academic support. So we can support students with writing support, reading support, presentation support, and actually new this year we're going to be piloting support for your studio assignment. So even if you're making work in some of your studio classes and you just need someone to brainstorm with, or you want someone to give you like some feedback on your work in progress. So that's what the writing center does. So Vincent mentioned that we are built on a peer tutoring model. So we hire students every year who work and I'll just click into our team section, you'll see some of the students who work here. They have nine to 10 students a year who work in the writing center, and they are trained they go through quite a rigorous training process to learn to give feedback to their peers. And then you just come in and book an appointment at any time to meet with them. So go back to the homepage, or at the top of any page of our website up at the top you'll see this book and appointment window, which will take you to our online and it's a very simple process it's the same system that you'll use to book appointments with advisors, and you can do that anytime you can also come in and visit us at the writing center so I'm just going to drop the link to the writing center in the chat. We are inside the library we have a beautiful space. I don't know if we have a photo of it here but we have a beautiful space right in the middle of campus. So we're easy to find. And it were also a space that I like to say that we, because we work with so many other areas we work with counseling we work with advising we sort of liaise with a lot of areas were also a good just kind of drop in get your questions answered like if you're not sure who to go talk to about something or if you need help, figuring out how to contact an instructor were really good resource for that as well. One of the other things that I wanted to share we have a bunch of groups so you'll actually see some of us at club day as well because some of our student peer tutors start clubs. So, one of our clubs is wordsmiths which is a creative writing group for students who love to write. We have people who write for video games people who write for dungeons and dragons people who write for poetry song lyrics. They just come out it's a weekly group that you just get to come and have some fun writing with other people and sharing your writing. We also have a skip the faculty and staff one we have a letter writing club that is can be a really fun one and we do. It's also a nice way of getting to know other students at the school where students actually sometimes they pull out our, we have a collection of typewriters in the writing center they'll pull out the typewriters and write to each other. We have stamps and envelopes you can make you know lovely things to send back to friends at home. And then we have the design writing group, which is a group for mostly design students but really anyone interested in design writing and they kind of support each other with the different kinds of writing you have to do in design, which is kind of a neat, a neat group. And maybe I'll just stop there and say that at any time I'll put our email address in the chat, you can email the writing center if you have any kinds of questions. I should also mention that the appointments we offer. We have booked appointments but we also have over the lunch hour every day we have drop in appointments. So you don't need to make an appointment for that you can just drop in and you know usually those appointments are pretty short, but you know at least you can get your questions answered maybe you can get your writing looked at a little bit. And then we also have we have both in person and online appointments. So we are happy to meet with you on campus. I'm really happy that after the pandemic we're now able to do that. Because it's just a nice way of getting to come in and chat with a real life human being and but we also do offer online so if you have a class schedule that means you're not on campus some days of the week, or if you live really far from campus. Sometimes the online appointments are better. You will probably not it on my face is it's funny that I'm here because I'm the least. I'm the person that you will see the least in the writing center because my time is split between two areas. But then we always have someone in the center usually our hours are between 930 and five or 530 most days. Hi everybody we look forward to seeing you. And yes, so we have a different email address on the slide the writing center email that I posted in the chat is probably the better one to use but we do check both. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. See the question regarding what's that the full time and part time courses, especially from transfer students who already have some of their credits transferred. Without getting too technical, you do you have to maintain 12 credits and if that semester. You only have to take 12 credits and you may. And we, there are some what's that some electives that you can take ahead of time. So for example, there are some required electives in the second year, or third year that you can take much earlier. And those credits will be as long as you complete those credits and as long as you maintain your, your 12 credit full time program. And just letting you know, that's where my warning about caution really about taking classes ahead of time during summer break. That's a good thing that you can take your full 15 credit load during the summer. Like nobody stopping you from doing that. However, summers are not included as part of the calculation in terms of whether you need to be on a full time status for that actively pursuing studies. So for example, you take 15 credits one summer. And then on the fall, you don't have enough credits you can take you only have nine credits. Then you'll be considered part time for that fall, where that summer that 15 credits, it's, it's not counted. So it's a bit of a waste. If you ask me when you can use that to maintain your full time status during fall and spring semesters. So summer semesters usually counted as a break, take your breaks. And I really recommend just taking classes to make up for classes during summer. So, if you're able to take your classes during the required times, which is fall and spring, you should do that. And with that in mind, I will go ahead and talk about working well on a study permit. The study permit is your working permit, your work permit. And if you take a look at your study permit right now, there are some conditions with working underneath, like near the bottom of the page, which does not allow you to work a certain hour, which does not allow you to work more than 20 hours on during this the fall and spring semesters. During the summer, you can work 40 hours, which is full time hours. And then just letting you know, only full time students 12 hours, 12 credits or more can work on a study permit. If you're on part time status, or if you're taking a leave of absence, you're not allowed to work. You can find more information in that with on the website for IRCC. Okay, so we have a question if it's 10 or 11 credits in one semester, no, anything under the 12. I don't know if there are any classes that will get you to 10 or 12 because most of our credit classes are either three or six. Like right now, all the incoming foundation students, first year first year students would have their six credits of humanities and an additional three credits of studio, six credits of studio and three credits of either creative processes, or Indigenous presence, which is 15, 15 is the optimal amount. So if you take 15 credits per semester, you will be able to complete within four years. Like so Langara, we got that question a lot. So Langara is considered nine credits. But the thing is for us, it's, as I explained earlier, it's the reasonable amount of time you can complete your studies. So it takes, it's 15 credits per semester to get 120 for the full four years. If you take nine credits, it'll take four and a half to five years to complete your program, which we report to IRCC four years is the reasonable amount. And as I said, if you're able to do that, I'll go over more of that during postgraduate work permits later. But we can we define 12 credits as minimum full time. But like, we're not Langara, we're Emily Carr University, and it is 12 credits to 15 credits. Okay, I'll go over the social insurance number I've brought it up. Because if you do want to work, you do need to file for your social insurance number so we recommend applying for it. I'll be setting the links later that you can do it all online, you don't have to go to an office to set it up in order for you to work. You do need your study permit that is your work permit, you have to show that your passport. And you will get the nine digit number that you can use to apply. So if you are working either in campus or off campus, you do need to have your social insurance number ready. And with that, it also allows you to claim the T 22 to a tax forms that we send on February. So in February you will be receiving an email from finance services regarding your tax tax forms. If you don't plan to work, you don't have to sign up for an SIN, and you don't have to, and you won't be able to file those T 22 to a forms. So yeah, so if you do plan to work, you can sign up for a social insurance number, and that would help you out with your taxes in Europe. So if you receive, if you got a piece of paper instead of a card, that is your temporary card, you will be receiving the actual SIN number by mail once it is ready. It is the same for like BC IDs and driver's licenses as well. It takes time for them to process those forms. So make sure you have your mailing address correct. So if you do change the same thing with the BC MSP, make sure you change your address and fill up the forms regarding that because they will be sending it to your previous address, which was a cost for concern. They said they won't be sending a card. That's pretty, that's new. That'll be okay. As long as you have your SIN number, it's the number that is important. And as long as you have that number, you can have it, you can memorize it, or you can keep the form available. That is, that is new. They did send me some new forms that I haven't read yet. So, yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Like, so yeah, so as information keeps changing, so yeah, like they will be sending paper forms now and not the cards. So it's not the card that's important. It's the number on the card. So you will get those. It's a nine digit number, which you will be saying to apply for work. So have that ready. You can memorize it. That's great. And, but have that ready if you're applying for work and other services as required such as filing for taxes. And with that, I will pass it over to just Lane in the career development and integrated learning. So, hi, just late. My point is feeling very information overloaded at this point. So it's a good thing it's recorded and Vincent's going to set up the slides so you can always review them later. My portion of the presentation is not very information heavy. It's just kind of to let you know that we exist. My name is just laying Crawford, I go by the pronoun she her and I'm the coordinator of the career development and work integrated learning office. Can you go to the next slide for me? So, in our office here, we can help students with a number of things. Most things career related. So we offer one on one career advising with during which we can give you some advice about search strategies for jobs and opportunities. We can help you up to apply by going through your resume cover letter, we can do interview prep with you throughout the semester to have a look we will we do some regular programming on some of these topics. So it's good to attend those if you really haven't don't know where to start in putting together a resume. We can also talk about how to use networking to make some good connections, which can help to lead to opportunities later. But the key thing to remember here is that we run a online job board. It's called the leeway. I don't think I put the website in there but I can pop that in the chat. It's just www dot the leeway.ca. I'll pop that in later. I can't multitask I can't type and talk. Maybe Laura can pop it in for me. Oh, is this cursor just the leeway put in the leeway for me if you don't mind Laura that I would really appreciate that it's just the leeway.ca. And so, as students, you can sign up for the leeway. And that's a huge career hub I think I'll talk about it a bit more in the next slide, if I recall. I'll pause on that now. And the other thing that we run out of the office is oh thanks Laura, is the co-op program. So we have an unaccredited co-op program here at Emily Carr, and it functions kind of like an elective where if you are working in a job that is related to your degree or your practice, and you're meeting a minimum number of hours that you can propose to your dean that you receive credit for this work. And it does work kind of like an open studio or open elective credit. And you don't need to worry about it right now if you're just joining us in foundation, because you can't do it until you're in third or fourth year, but just pop that to the back of your mind that remember there is a thing like that. So, when you get closer to third or fourth year you can always pop by the office and find out more. Next slide, please. So here we go. This is the leeway. Oh, I did put the link there. I'm not terrible. So what you can do on the leeway is you can view the job and opportunities board. It's exclusive to the Emily Carr community. So you might find jobs there that you don't find outside. You can also use the platform to connect with alumni for mentorship. So you can search for an alumni in your degree area and your major who's already graduated and already working in their field. And, you know, they can offer advice. So we have some demos of how to do that in the career resources section of the leeway so there's a bunch of PDFs, there's some previously recorded info sessions and how to do that. There's also some career panels run by alumni run by industry that are just really, really helpful. And if you want to, you're welcome to stop by our office. We're located same place as Vincent inside student services, which is just across from reception by the main entrance. And you can always pop by and we can show you the leeway we can walk you through it we can do a little demo we can even help you sign up if you're having any trouble at any time. You basically go in, sign up, and then it sends us a little ping, and we go in there and approve you. And once you're approved, you'll get an email and then you can access the whole site. Next slide. I think that's it. That's all I had. Do I have one more slide, Vincent? Oh, that's it. So yeah, I'm the middle person there just laying Crawford. We also have Jeff Malik who's our program assistant and our director Shannon McKinnon. I'm the career advisor for undergrads and Shannon, my director, she's the advisor for master's students and alumni. To graduate, you can still get career advising from our office. To make an appointment, you just email us at co op at ecuad.ca that co op at ecuad.ca and also give us a follow on Instagram because we put jobs and calls up there all the time. There's also information about our presentations, info sessions and things like that. You can always stop by. We're usually here from the same opening hours of student services, 830 to 430, and you can email us anytime with a question. I think I think I covered anything. We'll have a table at orientation if you want to ask us more questions. You can always pop by pop them in the chat. Welcome. Jason, you have a question or you type you type this is your, this is your thoughts. I'm not a ash and Jason, could you mute for a second or Oh, I didn't realize we were unmuted. Okay, thank you. A quick thing with postgrad work permit. Right now it's something to think about. If you are planning to work after you graduate. Once you graduate, you can you can start applying for it. You have six months after your graduation date to to get your final marks and get your postgraduate work permit. So just letting you know your study permit has to be valid at some point within those 180 days. Don't let your status expire and the one question that you have to ask yourself is do you want to apply for your postgraduate work permit while in Canada or outside of Canada. So the moment you do apply for your postgraduate work permit in Canada. You have to maintain your status. And if you do have a job lined up you are considered maintained and you can work while waiting for your, your work permit. And once you receive it right now the waiting time is within two to five months. And should you decide to leave Canada what's your study permit has expired. You can't re enter Canada until you have your postgraduate work permit approved. So you can apply for a postgraduate work permit if your study permit is still valid, or you have a valid visitor record, and or you have submitted an application to extend your study permit, or you have submitted an application to change your status. And just like working in while studying. They do require you to be considered full time, which we have defined as 12 or more credits. Okay. And then your one card student ID, which I will turn over to Laura, who is the master of these cards. Thanks Laura. I think the master is quite the right term. Yes, sorry. Welcome everyone. So glad that everyone could attend this international orientation. My name is Laura Eve Lee, I am the undergraduate admissions assistant. You'll find me in student commons, also known as student services, located just inside the main entrance as just like mentioned earlier, career services is located. Just directly behind us were housed in the same area of student comments for your one card. During orientation in person, you can pick up your one card then, or you can pick up your one card during business hours from us at student services. So, in terms of the one card in the process for ordering your one card. I will just quickly put a link up. I understand that some students have been having some challenges with some of the steps in terms of uploading their photo. So I'll just put a link here. Now the link that I'm putting up, it's also going to link you it includes students, faculty staff to scroll down to the students section and review those instructions. When you select that link you just want to scroll down to the student section and review the steps there. Those steps might be a little bit clearer than some of the other steps that students have been receiving. So after you upload your photo, you, once your photo is approved. Sorry, I'm just looking at a, sorry, I thought there was a question my apologies. Once your photo is approved, you'll receive a message through the one card system indicating that your photo has been approved. You'll receive an error message because the system we have had a few little glitches with it. So if you receive an error message saying photo pending and then also approved. Just send us an email and their email address we'll just put that in here. One part. It's a one part at ECU AD dot CA and I think it's probably here as well. I'll just put this in here. So Laura if a student wants to re edit their, edit their photo and it's still won't allow them to, to do they have to redo it from, from the start again. Yes. So, um, if you, if you were a previous student, Adam like car, a continuing study student or returning student and it indicates that there is a photo already in the system. Unfortunately, you can't upload a new photo to the system. So what you can do is just send your photo to one card at ECU AD dot CA in that email, you'll need to include your student number. You'll need to include that you're requesting a new photo on your one card. And we'll let you know, actually with incoming students, let me just correct myself there for incoming students. Yes, we will let you know when your card is ready for pickup. If it's a new photo. So just include your student number, your new photo, we can upload it for you. And we can change that for you and then we'll let you know when your card is ready for pickup. Uh, will students, there's a question from a student will, when they upload a photo, they don't receive. What's that a photo approval message already, but then if they have submitted a photo, can they expect the other one? Yeah, so for all the incoming students because because it's such a high volume of students, we won't be emailing students individually to let them know that their card is ready for pickup at student. Comments. So, once you upload your photo to the one card system, when it indicates photo approved, just allow at least three business days and you can just come into student services to pick up your card, and it should be ready. Now sometimes there might be a little glitch and it might not be ready if that's the case. It should take about, I would say, two business days for us to get your card ready, but it should be ready. And if you have any questions regarding that you can always just send us an email one card at ecuad.ca. And we'll be more than happy to answer your inquiry. I did see a question about someone who sent a photo. I haven't received a photo approval yet. I sent the photo back in mid July. That's odd. So if you sent that back in mid July, the photo, send us a follow up email, one card at ecuad.ca. Send us a follow up email regarding that. And if you sent a photo like a PDF, just send the photo as well along with your student number. And we'll look into that. And are you aware of the chosen name part of the one card that Sue has given out? Yeah, yeah. So at this time, students will be requesting their one card using their legal name. However, they will be able to request a replacement card. And I believe that Sue Dory sent an email out regarding that. Not sure to all students. But I believe it's September 15. They can request a replacement card. There should be communication regarding that as well that has been sent out to students. If you have, there we go, Vincent, thank you. If you have any questions regarding that, go to chosen name at ecuad.ca. And your questions will be answered. Okay. And there's also a question by Eliana, which I think would be good for everybody to know. With the proof of health insurance, I think I wrote this slide about a week ago. So everyone who is signed up for a wake care do not need to show their insurance because it is like we do have that list. So if you are enrolled in it, and I have that list very close to my heart, you need to show an additional proof of health insurance. Just your study permit. And we're only looking at expiry dates. And if, you know, if you do need to amend it like that, that's all I will check. Otherwise, yeah, like you don't need to show any proof of insurance unless you have opted out. So there is a wake care, which most of the times, like a lot of the students showed their BC MSP to me, as well as their guard me or their alliance, like their insurance from their hope that their travel insurance that they've applied for. So there are some students who have their BC MSP expired or are expiring within the first semester. I do need to confirm with you regarding that. Okay. So, as Laura said, mentioned just the email one card at ecuad.ca regarding the one card, but at the same time, just just be aware that because of the volume. So we're going to be taking all the, what's that the valid cards right away, and we'll let you know, like if you're picking up and you haven't uploaded your photo will let you know but do give them some time, there are two of them, and there are 164 of you. Yeah, and if you can, if you're making the orientation. You can pick your one card up there, and it should be ready so provided that you uploaded your photo the photo is uploaded successfully. Your one card should be ready for pick up within I would say three days after uploading your photo to the one card system. And as per the instructions indicated here. And you upload your photo and you follow all the instructions for that. Again, as long as your photo has been uploaded successfully. Your one card will be ready for pick up. And just to reiterate, students will not be sent an email individually, new students coming in, indicating that their card is ready for pick up. As long as they've uploaded their photos successfully. They can either come into student commons during business hours, which is 830 am till 430pm Monday to Friday excluding statutory holidays. We are closed for lunch at student commons from 1231 30, but within those business hours you can pick it up at that time or during orientation. But again, we will not be emailing students individually to let them know that the card is ready for pick up. As long as you successfully upload your photo. Then it should be ready within three business days after uploading your photo. Now, when you do come to pick up your one card, just be sure to have identification with you for picking up the one card. Preferably, some kind of government issued ID, something with your photo on it, but we do require some identification. And also a copy of your study permit, as Vincent mentioned, that will be inputting as well. I really look forward to connecting with all of you. Quickly, Laura. Do students get in you one card every school year. A new card every year. Yeah. No, we're, no, we really encourage students to hang on to their one card. I should mention at this time, there isn't a charge for a replacement card, and certainly students who are requesting a name change. Just replace the placement cards, we will replace those. However, in terms of, if for example, you know, you just want to update your photo a bit and you want to do that every year. It is preferable that you keep the one card that's issued to you on your first year of studies, with the exception of if you have a chosen name that you want to use, we can create that replacement card for you after September 15th and as per the process that we've indicated. But yes, we encourage you to hang on to your one card when you receive it. There may be a replacement fee moving forward. So just be mindful of that at this time there isn't. So we just encourage students to, you know, choose your photo find a lot of students will just take a selfie on campus with a white background and, and just choose the photo you want and hang on to that for the duration of your studies. So that is, that would be advised. All right, also don't, hopefully that's as clear as mad. Yeah, they don't puncture your cards, since they are electronic, you need them to access your classrooms and the second and third floor so keep your cards untouched. So I believe the student union, they have some card holders with lanyard holders. So don't puncture them. They have an electronic device. If you get lucky, like it's and it's usually at the part where most students puncture it. So that's, yeah, like you will damage the card which will render it. You won't have access to areas. Yeah. And if you have any questions about the one card. I, most days I am on campus this week I have to run to an appointment shortly so I am not on campus today. But certainly starting next week I'll be on campus every day in student commons I'll be at the front desk. So any questions regarding the one cards or any other questions. I can assist or I can redirect you, but our door is wide open so please come in and I'm very excited to meet all of you. Okay, thank you Laura. Thank you. So as a subject of IDs. We also would recommend you sign up for the BC ID. So you don't have to bring your passports around. They are a valid document and it just prevents, you know, loss and whatnot. So it is not a driver's license, but it is a piece of photo government ID that you can use to show identification. It's very helpful to you when you get to Vancouver. So you don't have to carry your passport around, and it is not a driver's license. It is available to all individuals from the age of 12 onwards. So there is the site there if you need to sign up. So with your BC ID and with your send number. Should you get a send number. Let's talk about cell phone plans. It would require two pieces of ID. The one thing that I know that like some, some cell phone providers are don't like won't sign you up for a cell phone plan if you are not of the age of majority which is 19 or over. But you may be able to sign up for like a prepaid plan, or it really depends on the service providers, Best Buy, Telus, Bell, Rogers, those are the big companies. There are more affordable plans like Freedom and Kudo and Chatter. And a lot of them do have their pay-as-you-go plan, your prepaid plan. If you do plan to sign up for a plan, they are two years long. And we are signed for housing. Besides our housing website, we are signed up with GEC Living, and I think some students are already signed up with them. So the website is here and the phone numbers are here. We have flexible all-inclusive amenities, and on the meet and greet, they will be available to talk. Yeah, we can use your passport as a valid ID. BCID is just another form of ID that you can use so you don't have to bring your passports. And walk-in clinics. So, yeah, once you receive your policy number from AwakeHair, or you have GuardMe or whatnot, or your BC MSP, should you need medical services, you can set up, you can check out the MediMaps, and you can go to your closest walk-in clinic. Banking, if you haven't set up a bank yet. Again, the two pieces of government-issued ID, including send cards, BCIDs, or even your passports, they will require proof of residence. So if you have your address, you can just bring a copy of your tenancy agreement, or like a mailing, like a letter with your mail address on it, that would be available. One thing that we do recommend are banking with the bigger banks, TD, RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC. They do have some affordable and, what's that, like really accessible international student plans as well. There are some credit unions, you can set up a credit card with them, with Vansity and Credit Union are a great place to check it out. Yeah, and with that, that's it for the info session. I will be, I'm ready for questions, you can speak or put them in the chat and I'll address them. Don't be shy. So I'll just take a look at another question sent by Eliana, so if you have access to the classroom because of the one card, can we access that classroom outside our, yep, as long as the campus is open. During class time, they are open as late as 11, so as long as you do have your one card, so you're able to access them within campus hours, or even like if you can access them after hours, you're able to. As long as you just place it next to the scanner, you can enter the classroom. ID from your country count and this official ID. No, your passport does. That's why we did recommend signing up for BC ID. So the offices are located. So once you enter like Emily Carr went like a good, a good visual spot to like a good way point would be the, the red little structure in front which is nemesis coffee, that is the main entrance. You can enter it during business hours and even as late as seven o'clock without your one card. So you enter that, and then you see a reception to the left and student commons is to the right so if you enter to the right you'll see Laura will be the first person you'll see she'll be smiling over her desk and yeah, you can ask to meet with me and I am there for the next three weeks so I can come out and see you. And if you do have appointments with academic advisors, we are all located in the student commons. So, when you receive your MSP invoice monthly. Yeah, usually like it's the deadline will be on the on the invoice when you like they do ask for it to be paid within the month. So the, yeah, and if you do require payment plan, you can contact them at the, yeah, it's all on the BC MSP website. So GSC account for health and dental. So, first, with that one. First, the, you have to contact the phone number on the on the brochure that you've received so you can get your policy number. You can sign up for it but as Cecil mentioned earlier, I think it's still a blackout period. So, yeah, you can contact them at ecsc.ca for more information about the green shield card. But for now, you can get your policy number from the phone number on the brochure for the Awake here. Tax items. So the, so T4 are forms that you receive if you've worked. So it's a it's a form from your employer that they will release in February, the T2202A forms are forms from the finance department from the university that you will receive at the same time. So you don't have to if you're not working. If you don't set up a send number. You don't need to worry about those. However, if you are working, and you do want to claim taxes on your, your student forms as well as your work, you, they will be sent to you during February, which you would need to file your taxes after. You can either go to, what's that, you can either go to a tax center to get them filed. I would suggest having a professional do it on the first time. And then once you, you know, the procedures then I would do it. You can do it by yourself the second time as long as you purchase the tax programs for it and then you can file your taxes during on or before April of every given year. So GSC it is part of your fall cushion. There is a blackout period then after your blackout period if you are on a wake care, you're able to access them. If you don't have a wake care, you can access the green shield during once you've received your BC MSP. And the only they charge at once per year. So that 275 charge will be throughout your entire, you know, the entire school year. Yes, green shield is part of your fall tuition. Yes, a wake care has a policy number for the students as I said just please contact the phone number to receive your policy number. And I believe a wake care will be linked to your green shield. Green shield. As I mentioned earlier, it is there is a blackout period right now, but it is linked to your a wake care if you are signed up for that. And if not, like you can email Emily Carr Student Union once you once either you receive your BC MSP or after the blackout period, which is after September 15th. Master students have green shield as well. The difference is, since you're not on a wake care. So you do need to get your BC MSP approved. And once that is approved, it is linked your the green shield extended medical is linked to your BC MSP. If you are on guard me or a travel insurance, you are, you're only bound by that coverage. So you can't access green shield until you receive your BC MSP. So MSP is mandatory everybody so that you can receive medical service in Canada, you would need your BC MSP, especially like in this BC green shield is linked to your BC MSP, you won't be able to avail of your extended medical without BC MSP. And the only way you can opt out of it is if you are, if you are availing of another Canadian extended medical dental plan, which will also be linked to your BC MSP. Blue Cross manual life any other insurance company that you avail of the extended medical dental plan will be available to BC MSP so you have to sign up for BC MSP. And as soon as you arrive in Canada and make sure you change your address. Once you sign up for them. Very important. I received so many questions of students who did not change their address. And then it is, it becomes a bit of an issue once they've received their BC MSP. So you really sign it up and make sure, like that is your address for the next little while. And if you do move, you do have to inform BC MSP for that address change it'll save you so much trouble in the future. Anyone else. Again, while credits is full time. Yeah, go ahead. I have a question, JP. So if I'm moving from the apartment and I'm leaving that, like, next week. Do I have to inform the government, like for the study permit or something. So for the study permit. No, you don't have to inform anybody. If you have signed up for, for example, banking. If you have signed up for BC MSP, you do have to inform them of your address change. So if you haven't signed up for everything, you don't have to inform anybody yet. But yeah, even like for the social insurance, social security number. No, you don't have to inform like once you receive that number you don't have to. The only thing that you have to be to be watchful for is if you have used your address. You do need to, and then you haven't received anything yet, like, for example, I think that the send number as is informed by me by many of you, it's, it's only a paper form that you receive digitally. You don't have to once you receive that number. It is, it is for life. So you don't have to inform anybody of an address change. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Canvas or bright space will be the same platform. Well, my EC is your home page really like that is where you, we are all linked in my EC staff faculty students were all linked there. And so I believe if you click on the student side of your my EC, you'll find all your applications. If you are looking at it from a PC at this to your right hand side, if you're looking at it through your mobile, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom. My EC, I will look at it as a home page where you will have all your resources available, where you can set up meetings with your advisors, where you can get can even get your T2202 forms there too. And if you work on campus, you will get your T4 forms there as well. So, look at my EC as your home page, as well as your email address. And if you're using a Moodle canvas and all the other apps that the university approved apps by the university, you will find it on the my applications tab. And if you're looking at it from your phone, it's in scroll down to the bottom from the PC or Mac, it'll be to your right hand side. So, professors. So right now, I would suggest you like the professors, especially sessionals, they won't be getting access to their emails until like much closer to the class starting. So around September 5, that's when when class starts, that's when professors will check their emails, or even next week next week, like during the meet and greets, that's when the sessionals will be finalized. So if the instructor is like a long time instructor of the university, they will be able to answer your questions so you can start emailing them next week and they will be responding to your emails by next week. And then sessionals, most likely by the start of the school year. Moodle. Hey, Laura, or just Lane, if you could correct me if I'm wrong, I think I'm wrong in this. That would be through it. I think it has a new help desk. And it's not through it help anymore, you'd have to contact it for that. Anybody else. Your school email is permanent. So after graduation, you will lose access to it, but I still keep in touch with students after graduation. So you can still email me if I'm still the international advisor at the time through your Gmail address and I have, yeah, just make sure you have include your student number as well. So you call a way care to file a claim. Do we have to provide our student ID. It's your policy number. So when you, when you get your policy number, just identify yourself. And I think it's your name and your birthday and like I've also included your student number it when I signed you up for the plan so yeah have your student number ready when you get your policy number. And then when you file a claim you will be using your policy number. So the policy number. If you take that brochure. I also have it on the slides. I don't have the number memorized but the phone number is on the brochure. When you file a claim, you call that number to receive your policy number. Anyone else. All right, I will stop recording.