Foreign Work Experience Calculation

[dazednconfused]

Hello friend,

Wife and I are interested in applying for CEC. IELTS completed and college transcripts sent to WES last Thursday (status is waiting for documents)...
Wife has better educational qualifications and will be primary applicant. However, her work experience is as follows:

1. Dec 2011 to July 2012: full time work as research assistant (40hrs/wk).
2. August 2013 to May 2014: full time as graduate teaching assistant (30 hrs/wk) - but it looks like this cannot be counted??
3. June 2014 to July 2016: full time as research assistant (40 hrs/wk).

Can someone please advice if she will be counted as 2 years work experience or 3 year work experience? If only 2 years, then we are at 451 points - which gives me no hope. :'(

Thank you all.

 

[DelPiero07]

3 years assuming those positions are NOC 0/A/B and that she has at least one year of continuous work experience.

 

[dazednconfused]

3 years assuming those positions are NOC 0/A/B and that she has at least one year of continuous work experience.

Thank you very much for responding! All her work experiences falls under NOC# 4012/skill type A. Just for more clarification:

The first work (as research assistant) experiences was from Dec. 2011 to July 2012 continuously - 7 months but does not qualify for the 1 year continuous work called out by CIC.

The second work experience from August 2013 to May 2014 is not being counted since she was full time graduate student while also being teaching assistant.

The third work (as research assistant again) was continuously from June 2014 to July 2016. So this would mean 2 years of continuous work (satisfied CIC requirement of minimum 1 year experience).

So - in total she has 2 years and 7 months experience, with at least 1 year of continuous experience and all under same NOC of 4012 - will these therefore, count as 3 years then?

 

[DelPiero07]

If the second work experience is foreign work experience then it should be counted.

If it was in Canada then it wouldn't count.

 

[dazednconfused]

If the second work experience is foreign work experience then it should be counted.

If it was in Canada then it wouldn't count.

Both are foreign work experience (in US). So 3 years? 3 years means we have some luck given the latest 3 draws in 2017

 

[dazednconfused]

I am still confused in this one

Both are foreign work experience.
First one was from 20 Dec 2011 to 23 July 2012: full time work as research assistant (40hrs/wk). This translates to about 31 weeks which at 40 hours per week is 1240 hours.

The second work experience is clear - there is atleast 1560 hours (actually 1920 hours per week at 40 hours) per year for 2 years.

So question is: how will CIC account for the 1240 hours from the first experience?

Total in terms of hours (assuming max hours year is capped): 1240+1560+1560 = 4360 hours
Total in terms of hours (assuming I can account up to 40 hours): 1240+1920+1920 = 5080 hours
Total in terms of months/years: 2 years and 7 months

So, is this still counted as 3 years? The wording on the CIC website is so confusing :'(

 

[DelPiero07]

You not only need to work the required hours for a 3 year period you ALSO have to work for 3 years (considering full-time)

If you have 2 years and 7 months of foreign work experience then you cannot claim 3 years of work experience.

 

[dazednconfused]

Well, thats really really disappointing for us.

Is there anything else we can do increase our points? She has masters and working on PhD and I have bachelors.
She has additional work experience of 3 months as research assistant at the University medical center, meets the NOC description but it was unpaid. Can this be counted?

Both are CLB9+ for IELTS and I dont know at this point what else we can do to improve our chances....

 

[kryt0n]

At 451 points you'll have an ita in the next month or so.

 

[dazednconfused]

Thank you for the encouragement.
We are waiting on WES to acknowledge receipt of college transcripts and complete evaluation. Hoping its done quickly since all of our degrees are from the US and should translate 1:1 to Canada....

 

[kryt0n]

Thank you for the encouragement.
We are waiting on WES to acknowledge receipt of college transcripts and complete evaluation. Hoping its done quickly since all of our degrees are from the US and should translate 1:1 to Canada....

Does your profile contain this qualification without an ECA? If so remove it now as getting the results after an ita may lead to misrepresentation.

 

[dazednconfused]

I havent submitted our profile yet. Waiting for WES to send me the ECAs and then I will submit profile. The 451 points calculation is based on the CIC website's CRS tool after including the appropriate education levels.

According to the CRS calculator, if we were to submit our profile without the ECAs, then its at 273 - at which point it is pointless to try IMHO.

But adding the 3 months work experience that she has at the univ. medical center after graduation but without pay is not going to count as work experience, is it? Reason I ask is: if we can add those 3 months - then she qualifies for 3 years which boosts our points by a rather large %.

 

[DelPiero07]

Skilled work experience has to be paid.

 

[jes_ON]

She has additional work experience of 3 months as research assistant at the University medical center, meets the NOC description but it was unpaid. Can this be counted?

No, volunteer work experience does not count, it has to be paid.

 

[dazednconfused]

Thanks everyone for the feedback - final question in this thread.
Looks like we are ineligible for experience class since both of us have no Canadian work experience - which means by default we are in FSW pool.
If this is the case and my wife has paid teaching assistance experience while doing her masters, could we not count this as experience? Based on the wording, looks like we can count TA experience as well and this would push us over the 3 year threshold.

Please see below snippet from CIC website:
You may be able to count experience as a teaching, research or lab assistant at a post-secondary educational institution, (see National Occupation Classification 4012) toward the work experience requirement, depending on the eligibility criteria of the programs.

If after submitting your Express Entry profile you are invited to apply, you must show that you did the job as described in the occupational description of the NOC, meaning that you did all the essential duties and most of the main duties listed. If you do not show that your experience meets the description in NOC, your application will be refused.

To be considered under the Canadian Experience Class:

You cannot count work experience you gained while enrolled as a full-time student. Your work experience must have been gained while on a valid work permit, such as the Post-Graduation Work Permit.

You must have gained the equivalent amount of experience as someone who worked full-time for at least one year (1,560 hours) in the three years before you submit your Express Entry profile.

To be considered under the Federal Skilled Worker Program:

Your work experience must have been full-time (or the equivalent in part-time hours), worked continuously and paid, for at least one year in the same occupation.