Can I Go to School While on EI?

It is not a problem to receive EI benefits while studying as long as you have demonstrated the following:

1. You must show that you are unemployed, able and willing to work and actively looking for suitable work.
2. You must show, without a doubt, that taking a course is not an obstacle to your active job search or to your acceptance of appropriate employment.

In other words, if you are going to take a course at night or on the weekend, that is not within the general business hours (9am to 5pm), you can rest assured that you can keep going to school and collect your EI benefits.

You must inform Service Canada that you are going to school by completing a Training Course Form. You can also declare your participation in a course or a training program by completing and submitting the “Course or Training Program” form through Service Canada’s online account.

Note: According to a source from the Service Canada agent, a training course of less than 10 hours per week will not have any impact on your EI benefits. However, you will still need to declare the training activity in your report.

Before enrolling in any training school, make sure you have completed the Training Course Form and submit it to your local Service Canada centre for approval. (EI processing timeframe) Please keep in mind that you must make sure to choose courses that do not affect your availability to look for or accept work. E.g. night course or weekend class. If you have not demonstrated the availability to look for work, you might be denied further EI until you prove otherwise. Once the decision has been made, you will receive a letter or a message under your Service Canada account.

IMPORTANT: Once you have submitted your Training Course form, EI system will pause your claim for a processing agent to review. Thus, your EI benefits payment will pause before getting your answer. Please plan for yourself financially ahead.

Once your training is approved by EI processing, you will have to declare your training hours when completing the reports that cover the weeks of your training period.

Approved provincial training centres… Continue reading the next page…

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Source: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei-list/ei/courses-training.html