As a full time student in BC, is my spouse eligible for a work visa?

Your spouse having a Work Visa would be in no way connected to your Student Visa. She would certainly be able to apply for a Work Visa and would receive one should she qualify. That said, the fact that you have a Student Visa and study full-time is neither an advantage or disadvantage to her, it's simply not even considered.

Her application for a Work Visa in Canada would be dealt with in exactly the same fashion as it would be if she were applying to come to Canada from abroad (alone) to work. The requirements are also the same. Once she obtains a Work Visa she will also need to apply for a Social Insurance Number in order to work.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

In your spouses work visa application - it should be made known that he/she is accompanying you in your full time study. That way CIC should issue him/her with an "open" work permit. If you applying independently and using the help of a company who is willing to assist her with the work permit visa application, chances are, the work permit would be a "close" work permit.

The difference between the two is that with the open, he/she can work with any company but with the close, its tied to the company itself. That means if on the close, one quits the company, will render the working permit no longer valid.

Thanks for the information James and Philipyeo . Philipyeo, so what you would suggest is that we apply for the study visa and the work visa at the same time instead of waiting until landing in Canada before starting an application for the work visa. My study visa needs to be issues by my home country so we will then have to apply for both visas in my home country then.

You should be able to. I was a mature student and lived in a residence where many are like myself - either a PhD or Masters student. Their spouses were able to apply for work visa given the fact that they were accompanying their partners who were studying full time. For my case, my spouse was also a full time PhD student like myself.

I understand. My spouse will do further studies while working but it would not be a Masters or Doctorate. I'm not doing Masters or Doctorate either, but I don't think that matters, as long as I am studying full time at a designated college or university. I am so looking forward to my studies in Canada, I don't think one can get a better 3D Animation qualification than in Canada