Applying for Canadian Experience Class on a 1 year PGWP

[srvchy]

Hi everyone,

I wish to attend a Masters program in Canada next fall. Top Masters programs are usually 1 year long - this would make me eligible for 1 year of Post Graduate Work Permit.
I wish to remain in Canada after completion of my Masters and the best PR pathway seems to be Canadian Experience Class. But I need to show at least 1 year of Canadian Experience for that. By the time my work permit expires, I won't be able to complete the required work experience for CEC.

Is there any way I can attend a 1-year program (most top universities offer 1 year-long Masters programs only) and still manage to apply for CEC?

I understand attending 2-year programs is an option. I am looking for any other suggestions.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[zupermarn]

Hi everyone,

I wish to attend a Masters program in Canada next fall. Top Masters programs are usually 1 year long - this would make me eligible for 1 year of Post Graduate Work Permit.
I wish to remain in Canada after completion of my Masters and the best PR pathway seems to be Canadian Experience Class. But I need to show at least 1 year of Canadian Experience for that. By the time my work permit expires, I won't be able to complete the required work experience for CEC.

Is there any way I can attend a 1-year program (most top universities offer 1 year-long Masters programs only) and still manage to apply for CEC?

I understand attending 2-year programs is an option. I am looking for any other suggestions.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello,

With Express entry, you could be eligible for the Canada Experience Class or a few other.
I would suggest that you use this link https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp. It called CRS calculator and it helps you calculate how many points you have. Right now, the last express entry score was 471 just to give you an idea of how it works.

Yes, I have seen most people complete their masters program and get the 1 year PGWP and still manage to get PR via CEC on express entry.
FYI: I see that you are using the term apply, on Express Entry you create a profile and your get points for age, education, English exam, previous work experience and so on.
I am not sure if you are working right now, if you are, you could get more points for your foreign work experience.

In addition to that, you have the option of ONIP Masters program (which only opens once a year for less than an hour btw). Here's the link to read more about it https://www.ontario.ca/page/oinp-masters-graduate-stream
https://www.ontario.ca/page/2020-ontario-immigrant-nominee-program-updates

 

[srvchy]

Hello,

With Express entry, you could be eligible for the Canada Experience Class or a few other.
I would suggest that you use this link https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp. It called CRS calculator and it helps you calculate how many points you have. Right now, the last express entry score was 471 just to give you an idea of how it works.

Yes, I have seen most people complete their masters program and get the 1 year PGWP and still manage to get PR via CEC on express entry.
FYI: I see that you are using the term apply, on Express Entry you create a profile and your get points for age, education, English exam, previous work experience and so on.
I am not sure if you are working right now, if you are, you could get more points for your foreign work experience.

In addition to that, you have the option of ONIP Masters program (which only opens once a year for less than an hour btw). Here's the link to read more about it https://www.ontario.ca/page/oinp-masters-graduate-stream
https://www.ontario.ca/page/2020-ontario-immigrant-nominee-program-updates

Thank you so much for your response.

I have already used the CRS calculator to get an idea of my points. If I complete a Masters program in Canada, I will end up with 461 points in total without any Canadian or foreign work experience. According to my understanding, the Canadian work experience would get me over the threshold. I am not working right now, I just completed my undergraduate and am looking forward to doing my Masters in Canada.

My concern is if I do attend a 1-year Masters program and end up with a 1-year PGWP and do not get a job straight away in Canada, will I be able to finish the mandatory 1-year Canadian work experience required to even be considered for CEC within the 1-year PGWP timeframe, especially when a PGWP is not extendable?

I am aware of the PNP programs but am not sure which PNP program can help with my specific situation. Could you please give any suggestions on that?

Thank you again for your time.

 

[ntachi]

Hello,

It is risky, unfortunately. That's why many people choose to do a 2 years program. However, it's doable if you are able to optimize your PGWP time as much as possible when getting a job. In my case, I also had a 1-year PGWP and without professional Canadian experience my CRS with CLB 10 was also 461. I did some valuable networking while in school and I was lucky enough to be hired right after college.

So in my opinion, these are the two main things to consider with a 1-year PGWP:
- When to apply. They changed the rule last year, I don't have much info but it looks like you now have 180 days to apply for PGWP after graduating - before was much less. I believe you won't be able to work during this time, but it might give you enough time to search for a job. I suggest looking more into this information.

- Processing time. From the moment you apply for PGWP you are eligible to work full time. Really take that into your advantage and only apply for PGWP when you want to start working the following day or very soon. When I applied, my PGWP took exactly 3 months to process (applied August 2019), which allowed me to have these 3 extra months working legally during implied status. In other words, I had a total timeframe of 15 months to work and gain Canadian experience for CEC while holding a 12 months permit. This processing period might differ for more or less, but it is still something to keep in mind.

 

[zupermarn]

Thank you so much for your response.

I have already used the CRS calculator to get an idea of my points. If I complete a Masters program in Canada, I will end up with 461 points in total without any Canadian or foreign work experience. According to my understanding, the Canadian work experience would get me over the threshold. I am not working right now, I just completed my undergraduate and am looking forward to doing my Masters in Canada.

My concern is if I do attend a 1-year Masters program and end up with a 1-year PGWP and do not get a job straight away in Canada, will I be able to finish the mandatory 1-year Canadian work experience required to even be considered for CEC within the 1-year PGWP timeframe, especially when a PGWP is not extendable?

I am aware of the PNP programs but am not sure which PNP program can help with my specific situation. Could you please give any suggestions on that?

Thank you again for your time.

Hello,

@srvchy see @ntachi 's post.

 

[Princes2020]

Hi everyone,

I wish to attend a Masters program in Canada next fall. Top Masters programs are usually 1 year long - this would make me eligible for 1 year of Post Graduate Work Permit.
I wish to remain in Canada after completion of my Masters and the best PR pathway seems to be Canadian Experience Class. But I need to show at least 1 year of Canadian Experience for that. By the time my work permit expires, I won't be able to complete the required work experience for CEC.

Is there any way I can attend a 1-year program (most top universities offer 1 year-long Masters programs only) and still manage to apply for CEC?

I understand attending 2-year programs is an option. I am looking for any other suggestions.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Most universities offer 2 years masters degree. I don’t know where u found the one year programs in abundance.

 

[srvchy]

Most universities offer 2 years masters degree. I don’t know where u found the one year programs in abundance.

Hi,
The top universities like Queen's, Western, Toronto, British Columbia, McGill all offer one-year Masters programs in business. They may offer 2-year programs in other faculties.

 

[srvchy]

Hello,

It is risky, unfortunately. That's why many people choose to do a 2 years program. However, it's doable if you are able to optimize your PGWP time as much as possible when getting a job. In my case, I also had a 1-year PGWP and without professional Canadian experience my CRS with CLB 10 was also 461. I did some valuable networking while in school and I was lucky enough to be hired right after college.

So in my opinion, these are the two main things to consider with a 1-year PGWP:
- When to apply. They changed the rule last year, I don't have much info but it looks like you now have 180 days to apply for PGWP after graduating - before was much less. I believe you won't be able to work during this time, but it might give you enough time to search for a job. I suggest looking more into this information.

- Processing time. From the moment you apply for PGWP you are eligible to work full time. Really take that into your advantage and only apply for PGWP when you want to start working the following day or very soon. When I applied, my PGWP took exactly 3 months to process (applied August 2019), which allowed me to have these 3 extra months working legally during implied status. In other words, I had a total timeframe of 15 months to work and gain Canadian experience for CEC while holding a 12 months permit. This processing period might differ for more or less, but it is still something to keep in mind.

Thank you for your response. It was really informative and helpful. I had one question. In your case, will the entire 15-month time frame count towards work experience - I mean will the work that was done while the PGWP was processing count towards work experience for CEC or only experience gained after the PGWP is issued, counts?

 

[ntachi]

Thank you for your response. It was really informative and helpful. I had one question. In your case, will the entire 15-month time frame count towards work experience - I mean will the work that was done while the PGWP was processing count towards work experience for CEC or only experience gained after the PGWP is issued, counts?

Yes! These months of processing time I mentioned counts towards CEC. So it's the processing period from the moment you apply for PGWP, plus the PGWP duration when it's approved. All this period can be counted as Canadian experience. In other words, knowing you will only have 1 year of PGWP, the longer it takes for the permit to be approved, the better.

Unless your employer wants you to start working only when you have your PGWP approved - then you won't be able to start working from the moment you apply and gather experience during the processing time. Maybe some big coorporations will request that for legal reasons, it all depends. So that's something to have in mind as well.

 

[Kais767]

Indeed, as pointed out above, don't apply for the PGWP until you've got a job. Once you've got an offer, submit your application as close as possible to the start date (assuming it doesn't go over 180 days since your program completion). You won't get your PGWP in time when you start work, but the work experience gained is legal and counts towards Express Entry. The 1 year validity starts from the time the permit is actually approved, so if it takes 4 months to get approved, you effectively get 1 year + 4 months.

Unless your employer wants you to start working only when you have your PGWP approved - then you won't be able to start working from the moment you apply and gather experience during the processing time. Maybe some big coorporations will request that for legal reasons, it all depends. So that's something to have in mind as well.

I don't think that's allowed. If you can show that you've applied, and are legally entitled to work, then it's very poor form for an employer to discriminate on that basis. If anything larger corporations should be more familiar with these regulations.

 

[ntachi]

Indeed, as pointed out above, don't apply for the PGWP until you've got a job. Once you've got an offer, submit your application as close as possible to the start date (assuming it doesn't go over 180 days since your program completion). You won't get your PGWP in time when you start work, but the work experience gained is legal and counts towards Express Entry. The 1 year validity starts from the time the permit is actually approved, so if it takes 4 months to get approved, you effectively get 1 year + 4 months.

I don't think that's allowed. If you can show that you've applied, and are legally entitled to work, then it's very poor form for an employer to discriminate on that basis. If anything larger corporations should be more familiar with these regulations.

When I was applying for PGWP I heard from colleagues who were not able to secure a job before having their PGWP approved. But I honestly can't say much since I didn't experience this situation. Anyway, I hope you are right!