OPNP or BCPNP

[acat]

Hi guys, I'm tossing up between OPNP and BCPNP and it would be great if anyone could point me to some directions. I'm not in Canada at the moment but it's very likely that I will end up doing a master's in chemistry or biology in Canada. The reason I choose Canada is because some provinces provide PNP which allows me to get permanent residentship right after I graduate.

I've applied UBC, Simon Fraser, UofT, Waterloo, McMaster and Queen's(and McGill and Concordia). I should be able to get in at least one in each province. And I would like to know if anyone has information regarding the following:

1. Do the federal stages for OPNP and BCPNP take the same amount of time to go through? It seems to me that the CIC website does not distinguish the processing time for different PNPs. But I saw(on this forum) that someone applied for BCPNP got PR in like 7 months(3 months before federal and 4 months for federal) which makes me wonder if BCPNP is faster(I'm applying the post-graduate stream, which does not require job offer).

2. For OPNP, the good thing is that there exist one-year master's programs in Ontario which basically allows me to apply right after I graduate(again, for the master's stream without job offer). However I saw that this year's quota is only 1300 people across all streams(PhD, master's, investor's, etc). And the quota was reached in September. I was wondering how many people a year are actually applying OPNP? Also according to the website, they will stop processing new cases once the number of accepted cases reaches the quota. However I wonder what they mean by it? Does that mean once they approved 1300 cases, they will stop all the cases even if some cases have already been processed(say, 2.99 months in, about to finish processing, but the 1300th approved case came out before they could finish processing it...)? Will they stop those cases as well?

It would really be great if someone could tell me the pros and cons for each program. Much appreciated!

acat

 

[acat]

I know it's probably unfair to ask this kind of question. But if anyone has any hint of anything, please feel free to post here. My apologies if anyone thinks this question is trivial. I'm new to this forum and I've read the FAQ session for both PNPs but neither of them has an answer for me...

Please please help me.

Regards,
acat

 

[arif.jabbar]

Hello;

Please note that federal part is same either you have BCPNP/OPNP..

OPNP - master stream - in 2012, quota reached in Oct 2012 but they didn't update on their website till dec 2012.

In 2013, it reached in Sep 2013. What I know they will accept the applicantions even if the quota is fill. Once 13th hundred application is approved, they will say quota is filled, which means there could be a lag of three months. If you graduate in/before april/may, you are good,.. if you graduate in aug/sep, your application will go for next yr.

My suggestion - don't do one year masters, that would only leave you with an option of PNP.. go for 2 yrs masters - so can be eligible under CEC stream.

Hope this helps.

 

[acat]

Hello;

Please note that federal part is same either you have BCPNP/OPNP..

OPNP - master stream - in 2012, quota reached in Oct 2012 but they didn't update on their website till dec 2012.

In 2013, it reached in Sep 2013. What I know they will accept the applicantions even if the quota is fill. Once 13th hundred application is approved, they will say quota is filled, which means there could be a lag of three months. If you graduate in/before april/may, you are good,.. if you graduate in aug/sep, your application will go for next yr.

My suggestion - don't do one year masters, that would only leave you with an option of PNP.. go for 2 yrs masters - so can be eligible under CEC stream.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot Arif! That was really helpful. However I was wondering if leaving with only one option of PNP dangerous? I know that graduating from 1-year master's program only gives me a post-graduate work permit for less than a year. Once it expires I have to leave...

 

[arif.jabbar]

Well, if you do one yr masters you may get work permit from 1 yr to 3 yr.. 90% of times its 1 yr..

even if you have 1 yr work permit, you can apply for extension once you have filed pr application to federal after nominated by province.

Dangerous; well not as such but this international student OPNP is pilot program; not sure whether program stays when you graduate.. I would say it will but no one can be sure.

Lastly; one yr program wont give you Co-op (internsship) option. Co-op gives you an added advantage in securing job otherwise its quite difficult to find a decent job even after your masters in Canada, especially in ontario.

Hope this helps.

 

[anser0131]

Depends on what master degree you get. You will not be able to do the BCPNP master stream if your master degree isn't listed in their category. So you will have to end up getting a job and go with the other streams. However, ONPNP does not have such restrictions but they do have a quota every year.

The federal part is the same for everyone. However, it seemed to me that BC's 2013 applicants get processed faster than ON's. And on a side note, I am probably one of the faster applicants in 2013 and it took me about 6 months for the federal part and 2 months for the provincial part.

Anyways, none of this matters if they change the program. No one knows what will happen in a year or two.

 

[acat]

Thanks a lot guys! Your answers were really helpful! Much appreciated!