Advice on my situation

[SRahman_94]

Hi all,

I am in a bit of a tricky situation and would like to know if there are others who have been in similar situations, or if anyone of the more experienced members can help me with some guidance and peace of mind.

I completed my undergrad here and applied for my PGWP in 2017. I was struggling to find a job in my field, so I decided to do a Masters which was only 8 months long and spread over two consecutive summer semesters (4 months each from May-August in 2018 and 2019). I got an internship position after I completed my first summer of my masters, and i worked 7 months on my PGWP at that internship. Now I have finished my last semester of my masters and got offered a permanent full time position with the same firm I did my internship at.

Now I am concerned about a few things:
1. By the time my PGWP expires (and I cannot extend it any further since I was issued the max 3 years), I will only have 11 months of full-time permanent experience in my NOC A job, which is 1 month under the 12 month minimum requirement for CEC class.
2. Can I count my 7 month internship as part of my work experience for CEC application, since I earned that experience on my PGWP and it was earned when I was off from school and not a full time student, between the summers of 2018 and 2019. I should note that my masters does require 4 months of internship experience in order to graduate, therefore I can understand if 4 out of those 7 months is not eligible for being included in work experience for CEC, but I am wondering if I can argue that the remaining 3 months should be included?

Are there other options which I can look into? So far, my work place is being cooperative with me and helping me by setting up appointments with their lawyers to talk about options, but I'm fearing that if their lawyer says that I cannot include any portion of the internship period as proof of work experience, then I will be 1 month short for my CEC application, and from there I don't really have a clue on how to proceed.

Any and all thoughts, comments, suggestions and advice will be highly highly appreciated, as this is causing me significant stress, especially considering how much time, effort and money went in to establishing a better life for myself here in Canada.

Thank you and kind regards,

 

[scylla]

Hi all,

I am in a bit of a tricky situation and would like to know if there are others who have been in similar situations, or if anyone of the more experienced members can help me with some guidance and peace of mind.

I completed my undergrad here and applied for my PGWP in 2017. I was struggling to find a job in my field, so I decided to do a Masters which was only 8 months long and spread over two consecutive summer semesters (4 months each from May-August in 2018 and 2019). I got an internship position after I completed my first summer of my masters, and i worked 7 months on my PGWP at that internship. Now I have finished my last semester of my masters and got offered a permanent full time position with the same firm I did my internship at.

Now I am concerned about a few things:
1. By the time my PGWP expires (and I cannot extend it any further since I was issued the max 3 years), I will only have 11 months of full-time permanent experience in my NOC A job, which is 1 month under the 12 month minimum requirement for CEC class.
2. Can I count my 7 month internship as part of my work experience for CEC application, since I earned that experience on my PGWP and it was earned when I was off from school and not a full time student, between the summers of 2018 and 2019. I should note that my masters does require 4 months of internship experience in order to graduate, therefore I can understand if 4 out of those 7 months is not eligible for being included in work experience for CEC, but I am wondering if I can argue that the remaining 3 months should be included?

Are there other options which I can look into? So far, my work place is being cooperative with me and helping me by setting up appointments with their lawyers to talk about options, but I'm fearing that if their lawyer says that I cannot include any portion of the internship period as proof of work experience, then I will be 1 month short for my CEC application, and from there I don't really have a clue on how to proceed.

Any and all thoughts, comments, suggestions and advice will be highly highly appreciated, as this is causing me significant stress, especially considering how much time, effort and money went in to establishing a better life for myself here in Canada.

Thank you and kind regards,

I don't believe you can include any of the internship work experience since this work experience was gained during your studies.

Is your employer willing to go through the LMIA process by any chance so that you can get a closed work permit?

 

[SRahman_94]

I don't believe you can include any of the internship work experience since this work experience was gained during your studies.

Is your employer willing to go through the LMIA process by any chance so that you can get a closed work permit?

Hi, I haven't brought up the LMIA option with my employer yet, but that is definitely something to consider. In terms of the internship, does it count as as being gained during my studies if I wasn't registered in any courses at any institution and was working using my PGWP and not a co-op work permit or anything like that?

Also, do you know if the LMIA is a lengthy or difficult process to obtain? I feel that my employer will be more open to the LMIA idea if its a relatively straight forward process.

Thank you

 

[scylla]

Hi, I haven't brought up the LMIA option with my employer yet, but that is definitely something to consider. In terms of the internship, does it count as as being gained during my studies if I wasn't registered in any courses at any institution and was working using my PGWP and not a co-op work permit or anything like that?

Also, do you know if the LMIA is a lengthy or difficult process to obtain? I feel that my employer will be more open to the LMIA idea if its a relatively straight forward process.

Thank you

Sorry - I thought your internship was required for your masters and was done between the two semesters of your masters.

LMIA process is fairly involed. I wouldn't say it's straight forward unfortunately:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/foreign-workers/median-wage/high/requirements.html

 

[OldBoy31]

Hi all,

I am in a bit of a tricky situation and would like to know if there are others who have been in similar situations, or if anyone of the more experienced members can help me with some guidance and peace of mind.

I completed my undergrad here and applied for my PGWP in 2017. I was struggling to find a job in my field, so I decided to do a Masters which was only 8 months long and spread over two consecutive summer semesters (4 months each from May-August in 2018 and 2019). I got an internship position after I completed my first summer of my masters, and i worked 7 months on my PGWP at that internship. Now I have finished my last semester of my masters and got offered a permanent full time position with the same firm I did my internship at.

Now I am concerned about a few things:
1. By the time my PGWP expires (and I cannot extend it any further since I was issued the max 3 years), I will only have 11 months of full-time permanent experience in my NOC A job, which is 1 month under the 12 month minimum requirement for CEC class.
2. Can I count my 7 month internship as part of my work experience for CEC application, since I earned that experience on my PGWP and it was earned when I was off from school and not a full time student, between the summers of 2018 and 2019. I should note that my masters does require 4 months of internship experience in order to graduate, therefore I can understand if 4 out of those 7 months is not eligible for being included in work experience for CEC, but I am wondering if I can argue that the remaining 3 months should be included?

Are there other options which I can look into? So far, my work place is being cooperative with me and helping me by setting up appointments with their lawyers to talk about options, but I'm fearing that if their lawyer says that I cannot include any portion of the internship period as proof of work experience, then I will be 1 month short for my CEC application, and from there I don't really have a clue on how to proceed.

Any and all thoughts, comments, suggestions and advice will be highly highly appreciated, as this is causing me significant stress, especially considering how much time, effort and money went in to establishing a better life for myself here in Canada.

Thank you and kind regards,

PGWP does not give you the authority to study full-time or part-time, unless you have a study permit active along with it.
Internships are not considered under work experience. You can ask your employer to make changes and make it look like it was not an internship.

 

[jes_ON]

PGWP does not give you the authority to study full-time or part-time, unless you have a study permit active along with it.
While it is true that a PGWP does not authorize study, part-time study or short-term study does not require a study permit.

Internships are not considered under work experience.
This is incorrect. Internships that are paid and performed under a work permit are *usually* work experience. Internships done under a study permit will not count because, study permit. Co-op, on the other hand, never counts because it is exclusively for students as part of their study program. Co-ops and internships are not the same thing.

The only question is, what was the student status of the OP - given the unusual format of the course, the OP would be best advised to consult the institution about that. It´s quite possible that if it was considered part of the program, it will not count.

You can ask your employer to make changes and make it look like it was not an internship.
Asking your employer to falsify information to IRCC... never a good idea ...

 

[jes_ON]

1. By the time my PGWP expires (and I cannot extend it any further since I was issued the max 3 years), I will only have 11 months of full-time permanent experience in my NOC A job, which is 1 month under the 12-month minimum requirement for CEC class.

In case you have to obtain another work permit, another option besides the LMIA is the IEC program. The options available to you depend on your country of citizenship, so you will have to look here -

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/eligibility.asp