phd stream under express entry

[sketos]

Hello,

Has anyone so far, as an ongoing phd or post-doc, applied under express entry and been invited by cic?
If you or someone you know succeeded in that, please share with us.
It would be great to know that it is at least doable.

Hi,
I am a phD student in my 3rd year and I applied under EE. I received my ITA about a month ago.
I declared TA and RA as work experience (for 2 years) and as current work. I got no points for that though.
So, there is hope for phD students but you must have previous work experience in another occupation. TA and RA are neither full time nor continuous, so they do not count (for points) and I don't think that they will count towards eligibility for FSW.
The problem (after receiving ITA) is to justify the TA and RA...

 

[s-r-z]

HI S-R-Z,
Thanks for your reply. I understand that these experience will not count for points. What I was wondering is that whether RA/TA work experience would qualify me for applying skilled worker, in which program a year work experience is required.

I think based on this:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=855&t=6

it "may", though it has no point.
Why you just don't create your EE profile with your 4012 experience, if you won't be eligible, the EE declared it as it was the case for one of my friends.

However, I am still not 100% sure, post doc/RA (4012) for one year after graduation should count as 1 year of Canadian work experience, right?!

 

[morena34]

Hi,
I am a phD student in my 3rd year and I applied under EE. I received my ITA about a month ago.
I declared TA and RA as work experience (for 2 years) and as current work. I got no points for that though.
So, there is hope for phD students but you must have previous work experience in another occupation. TA and RA are neither full time nor continuous, so they do not count (for points) and I don't think that they will count towards eligibility for FSW.
The problem (after receiving ITA) is to justify the TA and RA...

The only work experience I claimed was RA/TA under EE profile. Although I got no points for that it made me eligible for FSW. I havent got the ITA yet. Im waiting until I get my PNP certificate to gain extra 600. I believe as soon as I get those 600 point I'll receive ITA but now my concern is what if they would make an excuse because of my RA/TA experience. I wish I knew the answer!

 

[meyakanor]

The only work experience I claimed was RA/TA under EE profile. Although I got no points for that it made me eligible for FSW. I havent got the ITA yet. Im waiting until I get my PNP certificate to gain extra 600. I believe as soon as I get those 600 point I'll receive ITA but now my concern is what if they would make an excuse because of my RA/TA experience. I wish I knew the answer!

It does look like that TA/RA does count towards fulfilling work experience requirements for FSW, so one can still be part of Express Entry with TA/RA alone. However, it would be hard to be granted ITA (without other work experience), since TA/RA along won't grant you any work experience points

 

[SamKo]

So from what I understand there is no clear answer yet as to whether or not PhD Stream is still ongoing under FSW, I thought I'd better share my experience so far:

I am a 5th year PhD student in Canada, with a couple of years of part-time work back in my home country and a year of full time (no study) in the middle of my PhD here, both in the NOC code I applied for. I also added my TA/RA under 4012 and got eligible for both FSW and CEC with the score of 501. This all happened at the beginning of this week.

Today I received a message from CIC indicating that I am invited to apply for PR, and a new "PR application" was added to my CIC account. I am currently in the process of collecting and sending the documents and will let you know of the progress.

I have a question for those who are still studying in Canada though: what was your answer to the Study section of the forms when it asks whether or not you have been awarded a Canadian degree/certificate/diploma? My answer was yes based on the fact that I WILL be awarded one (and if you answer no the system assumes that it is a foreign degree and you need to validate it using WES or ...) and also I indicated before that I am still studying and haven't finished yet. What is your thoughts? Cheers.

 

[number411]

I thought I'd better share my experience so far:

I am a 5th year PhD student in Canada, with a year of full time (no study) in the middle of my PhD here, both in the NOC code I applied for.

Today I received a message from CIC indicating that I am invited to apply for PR, and a new "PR application" was added to my CIC account.

Congratulations on your PR ITA. I have some questions, 5 of them to be exact.

(1) Can you please tell me how did you obtain this 1 year of full-time work while you were a PhD student? (2) Did you work with a student visa, or did you get another work permit?

I think this 1 year would have helped you accumulate more points for Canadian work experience. (3) Right? (4) Did you get any reference letter from the employer for this work-experience and (5) what NOC code was it under?

 

[syedahraza]

Hi,

I am currently a second year PhD student in Ontario and I wanted to apply for permanent residence. I have 2 years of foreign work experience with 1 year of RA/TA in Canada. From this blog it seems, that people are getting invitations to apply for PR but if someone can kindly guide that whether should I go for PR or not at this time?

 

[jes_ON]

I am currently a second year PhD student in Ontario and I wanted to apply for permanent residence. I have 2 years of foreign work experience with 1 year of RA/TA in Canada. From this blog it seems, that people are getting invitations to apply for PR but if someone can kindly guide that whether should I go for PR or not at this time?

Currently, there is no PhD stream like the one that used to exist under the FSW program (before EE). You cannot use work experience gained while on a student permit in Canada. So your only possibility would be to qualify as a FSW using your 2 years of foreign work experience (if it is "skilled" work). You would have to meet the EE requirements as well as the FSW requirements (obtain an FSW score of at least 67 points).
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-factors.asp

Note that while you may prefer not to wait, if you complete the PhD you would be eligible under the provincial nomination program for PhD students -
http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNPSTUDENTS_PHD_WHO.html

 

[syedahraza]

Hi,

My current CRS points are coming out to be 412. Is there any chance that the threshold comes below 450 in the coming months?

 

[HomPat]

So,

I'm in my first year of PhD and have an ITA. TO pursue or not?

Confused :-( Someone help

 

[Reginald]

So,

I'm in my first year of PhD and have an ITA. TO pursue or not?

Confused :-( Someone help

Pursue, if you meet the requirement.

 

[spyfy]

I want to clear up with a myth that seems to exist here:
Even under the old system, in the so called "PhD stream", you needed two years of PhD studies AND one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience.

Under the old system, every FSW applicant needed

A. one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience

AND

B. one of the following three:
B.1 qualifying job offer
B.2 experience in one of the 50 "high demand occupations"
B.3 two years in a Canadian PhD program

So you needed A+B. Never was there ever an option for people to apply for FSW without the one year work experience. This myth seems to have been created by some forum members who must have misread the CIC website back then and then it perpetuated.

I know that doesn't make the situation better right now but again, there never was an option to apply without the one year work experience, even before EE.

It's just that part B above was replaced with "you need an ITA".

 

[spyfy]

So from what I understand there is no clear answer yet as to whether or not PhD Stream is still ongoing under FSW, I thought I'd better share my experience so far:

I am a 5th year PhD student in Canada, with a couple of years of part-time work back in my home country and a year of full time (no study) in the middle of my PhD here, both in the NOC code I applied for. I also added my TA/RA under 4012 and got eligible for both FSW and CEC with the score of 501. This all happened at the beginning of this week.

Today I received a message from CIC indicating that I am invited to apply for PR, and a new "PR application" was added to my CIC account. I am currently in the process of collecting and sending the documents and will let you know of the progress.

I have a question for those who are still studying in Canada though: what was your answer to the Study section of the forms when it asks whether or not you have been awarded a Canadian degree/certificate/diploma? My answer was yes based on the fact that I WILL be awarded one (and if you answer no the system assumes that it is a foreign degree and you need to validate it using WES or ...) and also I indicated before that I am still studying and haven't finished yet. What is your thoughts? Cheers.

My situation is very similar to yours and I got my PR back in August.

For my PhD program, I chose that I haven't been awarded a Canadian degree. That is the correct answer. You can only get points for a Canadian degree that has been awarded or an international degree plus WES. You were not awarded any degrees for your PhD yet, so you must choose no for all answers going in that direction or the system might incorrectly award you points for it. You can't claim points for a PhD in progress.

 

[HomPat]

I want to clear up with a myth that seems to exist here:
Even under the old system, in the so called "PhD stream", you needed two years of PhD studies AND one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience.

Under the old system, every FSW applicant needed

A. one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) work experience

AND

B. one of the following three:
B.1 qualifying job offer
B.2 experience in one of the 50 "high demand occupations"
B.3 two years in a Canadian PhD program

So you needed A+B. Never was there ever an option for people to apply for FSW without the one year work experience. This myth seems to have been created by some forum members who must have misread the CIC website back then and then it perpetuated.

I know that doesn't make the situation better right now but again, there never was an option to apply without the one year work experience, even before EE.

It's just that part B above was replaced with "you need an ITA".

Thank you for this clarification. So according to you, even though I have completed only one year of PhD and I have ITA, I am good to go...

 

[Reginald]

Thank you for this clarification. So according to you, even though I have completed only one year of PhD and I have ITA, I am good to go...

I would say you are good to go. With EE, you don't necessarily have to wait to complete 2 years of study towards your PhD. Your qualifying work experience is the key here.