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do paid internships count in Express Entry (FSW)?

davanzo

Member
Aug 1, 2018
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as far as I'm aware, you cannot count the time period when you were still a student meaning you were not actually qualified to do the job and were getting trained as a student, but about the rest am not sure and I would defer you to some of the more informed members in this regard @hope2018 @bimale4bipeople @Vitesze
Thank you very much.

Here in Brazil you can't be an intern after you graduate, so the only way I could have this kind of experience would be during by undergrad degree.

And now that I have graduated I can't find a civil engineering job. Brazil is going through an economic crisis since 2014 (and I would say cultural crisis as well).
So I'm really interested in going to Canada and have a decent life, the best year of my life was when I was living in Canada.

I really hope I can use this internship experience to fill the requirement.

Please, let me know your thoughts.
 
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Vitesze

Hero Member
Dec 15, 2017
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I would be inclined to say you can count the 1 year and 10 months (leaving out the 2 months you were earning credits for it). You should definitely include proof of payment, and explain in your LOE you weren't earning any credits for it. Also argue why you think you were qualified for this NOC, as it's likely they will place doubts with that.

Even then, like @viki1805 explained, this is a grey area and it may or may not be approved. I submitted my own internship (Geomatics and Meteorology NOC) as work experience in my application, but as of now they're still doing the Background Check on me so I'm not sure if they will actually approve it or not.
 
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vaishnavi

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Thanks you very much.

Here in Brazil you can't be an intern after you graduate, so the only way I could have this kind of experience would be during by undergrad degree.

And now that I have graduated I can't find a civil engineering job. Brazil is going through an economic coexistence 2014 (and I would say cultural crisis as well).
So I'm really interested in going to Canada and have a decent life, the best year of my life was when I was living in Canada.

I really hope I can use this internship experience to fill the requirement.

Please, let me know your thoughts.
Did you get your credential evaluation done? If you were done with your degree and then worked as an intern in which you were paid you can consider it as your work experience.
Also In my country we graduate after 4 years and usually many people work during the 4th year as intern. If this was your case I don't think you can submit it because it was part of your curriculum. If this was not your situation then Yes go ahead and submit it.
 

bimale4bipeople

VIP Member
Apr 15, 2018
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Yes, this internship would be my primary NOC (I'm a civil engineer). I was qualified to work as an civil engineer intern. Only about 2 months of the 2 years internship were part of my educational credit to graduate.

I worked 20 hours per week for the great majority of it, but towards the end (lets say the 3 last months) I worked full time (40 hours a week) because I didn't have classes anymore.

Do you think I can use this as the work requirement for EE?

One more question, I did one year of my bachelor at the University of British Columbia in Canada as an exchange student. Does this count for anything in the EE system?

Thank you!
I am a Civil Engineer too :D, but never ventured onsite after my internship :D
  • Any internship experience after graduation which is paid counts.
  • Any internship experience during studies counts IF done outside of Canada and was paid
It should be under NOC code is 0/A/B and meets the minimum requirement of hours per week 30 hr/week(FT) and 15 hrs/week (HT over 2 years). Employment documentation(Letter of Reference, pay stubs, etc) will be required to prove this exp.

To qualify for EE you need to have minimum 1 year work experience in NOC 0/A/B Skill Types, (Continuous in case of FSW), and meets the min. number of hours(as mentioned above)

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/internship-work-experience-in-fsw.474054/

I am not sure if you score extra points being an exchange student as the final degree will still be awarded in your home country.
 

coutojuli

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Aug 26, 2018
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I found this topic and I guess I am lost.

I have experience as quality tech (civil eng tech) from June 3rd until May 31st, is this considered one year? I know this question may be silly but when I count it is 52 weeks but it is not from June 3rd until June 3rd. Other than that I have 17 months of full time paid internship (civil eng) that I did on the same company while I was studying. I have all proved in a letter but I don't know how to apply?

*All those experiences are outside Canada. I am from Brazil as well, Civil Engineer here :oops:

What should I do, any advise?
 

vaneetsp

Member
Sep 27, 2018
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Hi,

I have entered my full time work experience of 2.7 years in my express entry application. But I am not sure if my 1 year of internship is valid.
I have 1 year of full time and part time(both for few months) paid internship from USA. I have valid offer letter and pay stubs from the company.

Should I include this experience to gain CRS points? I will appreciate if anyone can guide me with this.
 

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I have experience as quality tech (civil eng tech) from June 3rd until May 31st, is this considered one year? I know this question may be silly but when I count it is 52 weeks but it is not from June 3rd until June 3rd. Other than that I have 17 months of full time paid internship (civil eng) that I did on the same company while I was studying. I have all proved in a letter but I don't know how to apply?

*All those experiences are outside Canada. I am from Brazil as well, Civil Engineer here :oops:
You can count your paid internship. For foreign (non-Canadian) work experience, It does not matter if you were studying. It is only excluded from Canadian work experience if you were studying in Canada on a study permit.
 
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jes_ON

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Hi,

I have entered my full time work experience of 2.7 years in my express entry application. But I am not sure if my 1 year of internship is valid.
I have 1 year of full time and part time(both for few months) paid internship from USA. I have valid offer letter and pay stubs from the company.

Should I include this experience to gain CRS points? I will appreciate if anyone can guide me with this.
Yes you can count it. Note that you have to prorate your part-time experience based on the number of hours you worked per week. So, 6 months of part-time work experience will not count as 6 months of full-time experience, it will count as less, depending on how many hours you worked.
 

yasamin1234

Newbie
Nov 5, 2018
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Hi,
I am phd student at Italy. I had 1 year internship at canada at second year of my phd. During this i paid full time from italy. I had work permit with remark postdoct for my training.
Can i count this experience for FSW or CEC?
 

Vitesze

Hero Member
Dec 15, 2017
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Hi,
I am phd student at Italy. I had 1 year internship at canada at second year of my phd. During this i paid full time from italy. I had work permit with remark postdoct for my training.
Can i count this experience for FSW or CEC?
If the Work Permit allowed you to legally work in Canada, I think it can be counted as CEC experience. It doesn't state anywhere that remuneration needs to come from within Canada.

As long as you can show proof that:
(a) You legally were permitted to work in Canada
(b) You worked full-time, e.g. 30+ hrs/week (i.e. employer's reference)
(c) You were getting paid for this work (i.e. employer's reference, possibly Pay Stubs)

I think in Canada PhD Students are formally acknowledged as students, but in most European countries they're considered employees. I've seen several cases of European PhD Students that had no issues receiving credit for their work experience by CIC.
 

yasamin1234

Newbie
Nov 5, 2018
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If the Work Permit allowed you to legally work in Canada, I think it can be counted as CEC experience. It doesn't state anywhere that remuneration needs to come from within Canada.

As long as you can show proof that:
(a) You legally were permitted to work in Canada
(b) You worked full-time, e.g. 30+ hrs/week (i.e. employer's reference)
(c) You were getting paid for this work (i.e. employer's reference, possibly Pay Stubs)

I think in Canada PhD Students are formally acknowledged as students, but in most European countries they're considered employees. I've seen several cases of European PhD Students that had no issues receiving credit for their work experience by CIC.

Many Thanks,
 

yasamin1234

Newbie
Nov 5, 2018
9
0
I have 3 more questions,
The Letter from my supervisor of Canada and my supervisor of Italy will be Ok?

And I had 2 month vacation during 1 year while i was paide also during 2 months. This should be a problem or not?

And my internship was at Montreal I mean it was at qeabec. Again should these a problem?
 

sam_karwar

Full Member
May 23, 2018
33
1
Hi,
I am phd student at Italy. I had 1 year internship at canada at second year of my phd. During this i paid full time from italy. I had work permit with remark postdoct for my training.
Can i count this experience for FSW or CEC?
Yes it will count make sure you have supporting documents such as offer letter, pay slips or salary deposits slips and reference letters from supervisor.
 

slam91

Newbie
Nov 25, 2018
9
7
Hey, I have a question too.

I did my primary law degree (5 years in total) from Nepal and back there we are allowed to do a part-time internship after our penultimate year of studies and in the final year too, more like articling in Canada. So, I included my internships of 7 months, followed by a 2-month long project freelancing I did, and a 3-month long internship, so in total 12 months of internship in my penultimate and final year of law school. All of them were part-time, 30 hours/week.

I finished all my exams in around June 2015, but, I still had to write a thesis to be able to graduate and I got my diploma in December 2015. So technically on paper, I graduated in December of 2015.

Whilst I started a fellowship from September 2015 until December 2015 (total of 3 months- full-time) and I have 4-5 months of other post-graduate experience from Nepal.

Further, I did my masters in the US and here I have 5 months of part-time internship experience (20 hours/week) and 3 months of a full-time postgraduate internship experience. Further, I am working now too.

So, I put in all the information when I created my profile and now whenever I try to remove one of the internship experiences (3 months) from Nepal, my score goes away. My only concern is that the internship was paid, but, it was more of external funding than my employer directly paying me. Do you think the fact that it was an external source paying me, I would lose points? I would be forever grateful if someone could shed some light on this matter?

I have just received 25 points from my foreign work experience and clearly, in my calculation, my experience is more than 1 year and almost 2 years. But, I am concerned about that particular 3-month long internship than anything else.

Thank you so much.