How can a RA/TA experience at university help me qualify for CEC or FSW?

[hyunjinc]

Hello,
I graduated with BSc from Universiy of Alberta, and now I am taking my MSc at University of Alberta.
I was offered a TA/RA positions for my graduate funding, and according to the contract, I am supposed to work as TA for 12 hrs/week.
Following the definition of full time work according to CIC (37.5 hr/week), I will have to work at least 5 years as TA in order to fulfill one year of skilled work requirement.

However, I realized that lot of people have applied to become a permenant resident after only spending 2,3 years as university TA/RA
How can this be possible?

If I, say, actually spend about 30 hrs/week doing my TA duties (unlike what contract specifies), can I claim that I've been working for 30 hrs/week when I apply for PR?

thanks

 

[jes_ON]

You have to submit a copy of your contract, proof of hours etc. so ... lying isn't a great idea

Sorry to hear that. I don't understand it, but some graduate students claim that they work full time hours in a lab (or combine part time jobs) sufficient to reach full-time hours.

I think your best bet is to get your graduate degree, get a post-graduate work permit, and work full-time for one year (in a skilled occupation), and then apply thru the CEC program.

 

[CanadaVisa4me]

The ones who claim to fulfill FSW after 2 years of TAing are probably TAs in the US where one can work for 20hours per week as a TA.

Rupeshhari, can you help here.

 

[jes_ON]

The ones who claim to fulfill FSW after 2 years of TAing are probably TAs in the US where one can work for 20hours per week as a TA.

No no, we're talking about CEC, and using the RA (more so than TA) experience (In CANADA) to count for the 1 year of employment after graduation.

 

[kisunja]

Hey hyunjinc,
I was in the same boat (and even in the same university, but I am in an arts discipline!)I was able to find a full-time job quickly after graduation, but I was faced with the same dilemma.
people here are right: in some Canadian or US universities the TA/RAs do work for 21h/week! In our lovely uni 12h/week is as much as you can officially get. When I spoke to an immigration consultant after 4 years of TAing this way, he told me that I am short of 2 full-time months to this qualifying year. As the letter form my dep't clearly stated the number of hours, I had no choice.
I checked with my fellow grad students, and many of them had actually have a could of year full-time experience prior to starting grad school in Canada. And I have seen a couple of people being rejected because they did not collected their full-time equivalent of one year... This happened in Buffalo.
Its not five years, just 4.5 ;D 2 years of masters+ 2.5 of the PhD... how many years have you worked already? and don't forget the spring/summer break! if you can get a fulltime ontract for the summer months, it will be quicker!