TA/RA Experience

[KHI]

Hi,

I have a couple of questions regarding TA/RA experience that I have gained from USA.

I worked part-time (20hours per week) from August 2013 till May 2017 (excluding summers). It becomes roughly equal to two years full-time experience. When I write this time period in my express entry application, it counts it more than two-years, and calculates points based on three years. I was wondering how it can be fixed?
Second, how to exclude summers time period from the experience? Will it be still valid because it is not continuous?

 

[DelPiero07]

1 - You would have to create several entries excluding the summer months.
2 - If you need this work experience to be eligible under the FSW program then you won't meet the year of full-time (or the equivalent in part-time) continuous work experience.

 

[omicrondelta]

I have a related question:

My issue is that my job title is NOC 4012 (Teaching/Research Assistant) and my duties are that of NOC 4011(Professor and Lecturer), i.e. I teach undergraduate and graduate classes, construct their syllabi and grade them, at a university in US. I am currently enrolled in PhD. Which NOC should I use on my express entry profile? I can get letters explaining my duties as NOC 4011, but the title on award letters remain that of NOC 4012.

Suggestions welcome

 

[MMM05]

Hi,

I have a similar issue because I worked from 2012 to 2016 as a teaching assistant. I had a valid contract without any breaks during this entire period, even though I did not work during January and February - summer break in Australia for most of these years.

I have been told by an immigration agent that the teaching breaks are acceptable for the continuous work experience (FSW) because this is part of the nature of a teaching assistant. Can someone confirm If this is correct?

 

[MMM05]

help please!

 

[DelPiero07]

Up to you, whether you trust him or not.

 

[jes_ON]

I have a related question:

My issue is that my job title is NOC 4012 (Teaching/Research Assistant) and my duties are that of NOC 4011(Professor and Lecturer), i.e. I teach undergraduate and graduate classes, construct their syllabi and grade them, at a university in US. I am currently enrolled in PhD. Which NOC should I use on my express entry profile? I can get letters explaining my duties as NOC 4011, but the title on award letters remain that of NOC 4012.

If the assignments are as a graduate teaching assistant, you use 4012. If they are independent contracts between you and the university (outside of your degree program), then you can use 4011.

Your "duties" will be recognized under 4012.

 

[jes_ON]

Hi,
I worked part-time (20hours per week) from August 2013 till May 2017 (excluding summers). It becomes roughly equal to two years full-time experience.

You should work this out more precisely. If I use 16 weeks per semester, I come up with the full-time equivalent of 85 weeks, that's far short of 2 years.

(20 hours per week *16 weeks * 8 semesters)/30

 

[jes_ON]

I have been told by an immigration agent that the teaching breaks are acceptable for the continuous work experience (FSW) because this is part of the nature of a teaching assistant. Can someone confirm If this is correct?

Others have succeeded with this argument. There's no guarantees, but they generally recognize "industry standards" if they differ from the typical 9-5 M-F job.

But the challenge of course is that the EOI profile format is not so friendly to such variations.

One possibility is to average your hours out over a 52 week year for the purpose of the profile, and then write a letter of explanation. For the OP, that would be about 12 hours per week over 4 years (208 weeks) by my estimate.

 

[MMM05]

Others have succeeded with this argument. There's no guarantees, but they generally recognize "industry standards" if they differ from the typical 9-5 M-F job.

But the challenge of course is that the EOI profile format is not so friendly to such variations.

One possibility is to average your hours out over a 52 week year for the purpose of the profile, and then write a letter of explanation. For the OP, that would be about 12 hours per week over 4 years (208 weeks) by my estimate.

Thank you, Jes_ON

 

[mhkash]

Hi,

I know RAship is classified as NOC 4012; however, I was wondering if CIC considers RAship as work experience for federal express entry since the primary status/goal during being RA is study? I have seen on CIC website that the work experience during post-graduation work permit are counted, rather than the ones during study permit. By the way, the EE application of a friend of mine has been rejected recently due to this issue.

Thanks for your reply and advice.

 

[picklee]

Hi,

I know RAship is classified as NOC 4012; however, I was wondering if CIC considers RAship as work experience for federal express entry since the primary status/goal during being RA is study? I have seen on CIC website that the work experience during post-graduation work permit are counted, rather than the ones during study permit. By the way, the EE application of a friend of mine has been rejected recently due to this issue.

Thanks for your reply and advice.

Requirements for CEC are different from FSW. Under FSW, work experience as a TA/RA can be counted only if it was outside of Canada.

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

 

[mhkash]

Requirements for CEC are different from FSW. Under FSW, work experience as a TA/RA can be counted regardless of work permit. For the same experience to count under CEC, you must have a work permit. However, most universities reserve TA-ships for current students, so most people would not qualify to use this experience for a CEC application.

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

Thanks for your response. Please look at the following link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/ministerial-instructions/express-entry-application-management-system.html

According to this link, no matter CEC or FSW, the work experience requirement is consistent. It does not distinguish between CEC and FSW. Do you have any idea?

Work experience — requirements
(7) For the purposes of this section,

• (a) a period of employment during which the foreign national was engaged in full-time study is not to be included in calculating a period of work experience;

 

[picklee]

Thanks for your response. Please look at the following link:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/ministerial-instructions/express-entry-application-management-system.html

According to this link, no matter CEC or FSW, the work experience requirement is consistent. It does not distinguish between CEC and FSW. Do you have any idea?

Work experience — requirements
(7) For the purposes of this section,

• (a) a period of employment during which the foreign national was engaged in full-time study is not to be included in calculating a period of work experience;

What you have quoted applies only to CEC. The “section” is #15 Canadian Work Experience (i.e., CEC), and you have quoted sub paragraph 7(a) of section 15.

If you scroll way down to section #25, you will find the requirements for Foreign Work Experience (i.e., FSW).

 

[mhkash]

What you have quoted applies only to CEC. The “section” is #15 Canadian Work Experience (i.e., CEC), and you have quoted sub paragraph 7(a) of section 15.

If you scroll way down to section #25, you will find the requirements for Foreign Work Experience (i.e., FSW).

Thanks for clarification. I have one more question since a friend of mine has been rejected, my friend has applied for EE BC PNP through Federal Skilled Worker program, and the officer referred to the sentence that I mentioned.
I understand that Federal Skilled Worker(FSW) requires one year work experience which could be inside Canada or outside Canada, while for Canadian Work Class(CEC), only Canadian Work Experience is acceptable. The situation is that my friend has only RAship in Canada as his entire work experience. According to the definition of Canadian Work Experience (Section15), he cannot apply for CEC. Regarding FSW, the work can be either Foreign Work Experience or Canadian Work Experience to get the points. Since his RAship has been in Canada, he should select Canadian Work Experience to get the points. However, according to the definition of Canadian Work Experience, his RAship should not be counted.
Any advice or suggestion?