Canada is one of the countries with numerous job opportunities for expats, especially students. With just your student visa, you can get a part-time job that can pay you decent hourly wages.
This article discusses what it’s like to work in Canada as a student and the job opportunities available to you in the Great White North.
Working as a Student in Canada
Working and studying at the same time can be a tedious exercise, especially in a place like Canada where the standard of education is high. As such, it shouldn’t be something you should consider doing at all, as you’d need to dedicate a full dose of your time to your studies.
However, given how expensive it is to study in Canada, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) makes some provisions in your study permit to allow you to do some part-time jobs in the country. This is to enable you to make some money for your upkeep, academic needs, or accommodation. Your study permit determines if you’d work on or off campus and whether you’re eligible to work as a co-op student or an intern.
The good thing is that, whichever permission your student visa has, there are many job opportunities for you in Canada.
Best Job Opportunities for Students With Student Visa in Canada
If you have a valid student visa, you can apply for these jobs in Canada:
1. Teacher’s Assistant
If you’re academically bright and have good management and organizational skills, you can work as a teacher assistant in school. Teachers are tasked with a lot in school, and they’re constantly in need of assistance. There are many of your professors who would gladly pay you to help them with preparing lesson plans, tutoring students, doing some paperwork, and even grading students.
However, as said earlier, you have to be on top of your academics to take on this responsibility. This is because, even though you’d be learning more doing this task, you’d be devoting enough time to it. Therefore, if you’re not strong in your academics, you might struggle. Some schools require that you have completed at least one year of college or university study in order to be considered for such positions.
According to Talent.com, the average hourly wage of a teacher assistant in Canada is $19.05.
2. Tour Guide
If you’re the adventurous type, it’s certain you won’t stay long in Canada before you learn about certain places and their histories. This is knowledge you can turn into money, as Canada receives millions of tourists every year.
You can be employed by a tour company, museum, or art center to guide tourists and teach them certain things they’d love to know.
This can be both interesting and educational for you, as you’d not just learn new things but also meet lots of new people in the process.
You can make an average of $15.13 an hour working as a tour guide in Canada. That’s excluding the extra tips you’d get from satisfied tourists.
3. Dog Walker
If you love dogs, dog walking is a job you’d enjoy doing in Canada as a student. This is one of the more common job opportunities for students in the country.
With Canada’s aging population, most dog owners do not have the strength to give their dogs the proper exercise they need. And most dogs require a good amount of daily exercise to maintain a healthy body weight and build muscles.
Dog walking is one of the most flexible jobs you can get in Canada because you can schedule work at your convenience. If your average dog-walking time is 30 minutes, you can walk as many as 8 dogs in a day.
Dog walkers make an average of $15 per hour in Canada. However, you can offer more services, like grooming and pet sitting, so you can charge more.
4. Delivery Services
You can work with delivery agencies to do deliveries on or off campus. Students, professors, and their families are constantly buying things online. So, if you have a car or even a bicycle, you can make a ton of money offering delivery services as a student.
The good thing is that this is another flexible job you can do as a student. At your convenience, you can make deliveries to people within your vicinity and take home between $18 and $22 per hour.
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5. Sales Assistant
Store owners in Canada would gladly employ you as a sales assistant. The job might be challenging, especially if the store receives many customers a day. But it can also be fun, as it allows you to meet more people, practice your language skills, and make some good money along the way.
Your job would revolve around assisting customers with purchases and managing the cash register. And you can make as much as $19 per hour doing this job.
6. Uber Driver
If you have a car and a driving license, you can make a ton of money moving people around and outside the campus. Since most students do not have cars of their own, they would always be in need of your services. People are always on the move, from shopping and dates to church and school.
Depending on your class schedules, you can wake up early to take students to school and work later in the evening to take them home. You can also work more during the weekends
Uber’s drivers make between $20 and $30 an hour in Canada. Therefore, depending on how frequently you work, you’d make enough to take care of your school needs.
7. Barista
Working in a coffee shop in Canada won’t just give you the exposure you need; it will also make you a lot of money. Coffee shops are among the largest employers of students in Canada. And this is not far from the fact that students have flexible schedules.
Apart from meeting new people, practicing your language skills, and getting paid, getting tips from customers is one of the sweetest parts of working in a coffee shop.
How Many Hours Can You Work with a Student Visa in Canada?
Your student visa has a maximum work permit of 20 hours per week. Therefore, working beyond 20 hours a week would be a violation of the rules of the IRCC and could result in strict penalties. You could lose your student status and even be made to leave Canada for good.
Conclusion
There are many high-paying job opportunities for international students in Canada. You just have to pick one that works for you based on your schedule. You can also acquire relevant digital skills and offer freelance services to clients from anywhere in the world.
However, whatever job you’re doing, you should ensure it doesn’t affect your primary objective in Canada—your studies.
Hopefully, this article has provided you with information on the best job opportunities in Canada that you can pursue with a student visa.
