Applicant from PhD program after 5 Nov, 2011 connect here to get status

[hamed_hamed_hamed]

Hi, all. I am new to this forum. I need some advice for claiming the RA/TA working experience. I am really getting headache about it. Please help me out by your smart brain and enriched knowledge of FSW phd stream. Thank you.
I recently got my phd degree and would like to file the application under phd stream soon. I will have more than 67 points for sure as long as they acknowledge my working experience.
I started my program in 2009 Jan and I worked as hourly RA since 2012 may until this June which gave me about 900 hours working experience (about 63 hours/month). Also I did five semesters since 2009 Fall TA which gave me about 700 hours working experience. All these 1600 hours can be reflected in the letter from human resource clearly, and the income associated with this is all taxable which was all on my T4s. My first concern is that I am not sure whether I can use this combined RA/TA experience to meet the eligibility as at least one year full time working experience (30 hours per week come to 1560 hours as one year?) under NOC 4012.
Actually I have been doing RA since I was first enrolled. However, all my income from university was as either PhD award or faculty scholarship before 2012 May. Those incomes were all on T4A other than T4 that the letter from the university human resource cannot provide the working hours under all the non-taxable income. Moreover, I got my scholarship from school through my second and third year. My prof mostly funded me in the first year in terms of nontaxable phd award and in the last several semesters as taxable RA. Can I ask my supervisor to write me a letter stating I was also doing RA during my first year as well (The monthly income for first year is different from the one of the last year)? Can I also claim the RA hours for my second and third year when I did not get money from my supervisor (the amount for scholarship is also different from my prof,s fund)? In that case i will have 2000 more working hours. I am worried that even I claim in this way, CIC will not take it into account since the letter from my prof would not be matched with my income record.

Last question. Does the required one year working experience have to be in Canada or not? I did have more than 2000 hours RA working experience in my home country. Does this help at all?

You can claim your RAship from outside of Canada as long as you have a good reference letter.
Different salaries from HR and your supervisor is dangerous. A better option would be providing just one letter (maybe from your supervisor or graduate program assistant) that explains your duties and your salaries since 2009.
Howcome you've done RA and did not get paid by your supervisor? You should be able to find which salary in your T4 / T4A forms is from your supervisor. You should be able to claim it. Doesn't matter if it is taxable or not. It's not a requirement as far as I know.



By the way, If you already got your degree, you get some additional scores for your Canadian PhD degree and also your adaptability points since you finished a program in Canada. I think you may get 10 scores from these two.

 

[lindaluhan2013]

You can claim your RAship from outside of Canada as long as you have a good reference letter.
Different salaries from HR and your supervisor is dangerous. A better option would be providing just one letter (maybe from your supervisor or graduate program assistant) that explains your duties and your salaries since 2009.
Howcome you've done RA and did not get paid by your supervisor? You should be able to find which salary in your T4 / T4A forms is from your supervisor. You should be able to claim it. Doesn't matter if it is taxable or not. It's not a requirement as far as I know.



By the way, If you already got your degree, you get some additional scores for your Canadian PhD degree and also your adaptability points since you finished a program in Canada. I think you may get 10 scores from these two.

Yes. I agree with you to not provide the HR letter but only rely on my supervisor's letter. The salary amount in the HR letter is not a problem, while they just list the working hours under taxable income. They put n/a for hours under non-taxable income. That,s why I only have about 1600 working hours in the hr letter. Also I noticed I should have 1 year continuous working experience, which makes this 1600 hours more dangerous because my TA is only about two semesters in one year. So I will definitely ask my prof to write me a letter stating my RA experience since 2009.
I got scholarship from the university for my second and third year. So my prof did not pay me in that time since the money from university is more than he gave to me. Those money paid to me for research and in t4a they are all under scholarships, same as the phd award from my prof in my first year. Therefore I think this would be fine for me to claim RA hours.
One thing bothered me was the monthly income from my prof was not the same from the university scholarship. Lets say, I may get 1200 per month from my prof when he pays me, while I get 1500 per month when I got the scholarship from the university. Actually my rate as RA is 20 dollars per hour, which was stated clearly in the employment letter issued to me after 2012 May. Can I just claim the same hours for each month regardless of the rate, or I need to calculate the hours based on the rate?
You are right about my adaptability. The only thing i need to worry is my eligibility which is about the working experience. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Loom]

Hi guys, I'm new to this. Firstly, thanks for the valuable discussions.

I want to ask, which visa office I should choose when preparing for phd stream?

 

[vasyok]

Hi guys, I'm new to this. Firstly, thanks for the valuable discussions.

I want to ask, which visa office I should choose when preparing for phd stream?

According to the guide:
"Indicate the name of the Immigration Office which serves:
- your country of nationality, OR
- the country in which you are residing, provided that you have been lawfully admitted to that country for at least one (1) year."

No one knows which one is better; both of your choices have their own pros and cons.

 

[aidina]

Yeah, there is no end to it. I entered my month 20 today. They are really working hard . Just 5 month delay in processing my application. That is nothing!

 

[beh467]

Yeah, there is no end to it. I entered my month 20 today. They are really working hard . Just 5 month delay in processing my application. That is nothing!

My application for study permit renewal got approved in 8 days. Wish the PR processing was as fast as this

 

[aidina]

My application for study permit renewal got approved in 8 days. Wish the PR processing was as fast as this

Shows that they have put all their efforts on TRVs after the strike, and there is still a hold on PR applications.

 

[Ami2002]

Hi guys,
I'm currently a PhD student and planning to apply under PhD stream. My wife currently works in Canada (a full time permanent job, but NOC skill level C). I was wondering still I have to show funding of $13,837 in a bank account or not. If I have to, does those money has to be in a single account, or can be in two accounts in the same bank (e.g., in two checking accounts: one account under my name, and another account under my and my wife's name).

Thanks in advance

 

[Loom]

According to the guide:
"Indicate the name of the Immigration Office which serves:
- your country of nationality, OR
- the country in which you are residing, provided that you have been lawfully admitted to that country for at least one (1) year."

No one knows which one is better; both of your choices have their own pros and cons.

So it will be ok to choose Ottawa?

 

[Loom]

Yeah, there is no end to it. I entered my month 20 today. They are really working hard . Just 5 month delay in processing my application. That is nothing!

So where did you send your application to?

 

[mehroonir]

My application for study permit renewal got approved in 8 days. Wish the PR processing was as fast as this

Mine took 4 weeks. They are never consistent

 

[vasyok]

So it will be ok to choose Ottawa?

Yes, you can choose Ottawa.
--
Edit: Well, it's true only if you are in Canada now and your study permit won't expire in the next 12 months.

 

[vasyok]

Hi guys,
I'm currently a PhD student and planning to apply under PhD stream. My wife currently works in Canada (a full time permanent job, but NOC skill level C). I was wondering still I have to show funding of $13,837 in a bank account or not. If I have to, does those money has to be in a single account, or can be in two accounts in the same bank (e.g., in two checking accounts: one account under my name, and another account under my and my wife's name).

Thanks in advance

The primary applicant has to show proof of funds (except he/she has a job offer for full-time permanent position). So, if you'll be the PI - yes, you have to show proof of funds; if your wife - I think no, but I'm not sure. As I understand, money needs to be "yours", CIC does not care whether you keep it in one place or not. I do not think that you can claim money on your wife's account as yours (if it's not a joint account with your name on it).

 

[beh467]

Shows that they have put all their efforts on TRVs after the strike, and there is still a hold on PR applications.

It seems like that. Still no medical request for June 2012 applicants

Mine took 4 weeks. They are never consistent

 

[Ami2002]

The primary applicant has to show proof of funds (except he/she has a job offer for full-time permanent position). So, if you'll be the PI - yes, you have to show proof of funds; if your wife - I think no, but I'm not sure. As I understand, money needs to be "yours", CIC does not care whether you keep it in one place or not. I do not think that you can claim money on your wife's account as yours (if it's not a joint account with your name on it).

Thanks vasyok for the info.
The 2nd account is a joint account in the same bank. So, then I guess it shouldn't be a problem.

Btw, is it necessary to keep that amount for more than 6 months in the account before we apply?