FSW PhD Stream Application - Need Help with Eligibility Criteria

[Bigwig]

I sent in my FSW application on June 1st 2013. Today I received a response from CIC - they sent my application back and deemed it as ineligible. I think however, that they might be in error, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same experience. Here is my situation.

I am in my 5th year of a PhD program at the University of Toronto. I am in good standing. I submitted in my application letters from my department, the registrar, the deans office, and the school of graduate studies attesting to the fact that I have completed at least two years of the program towards my PhD. I expected that this would let me qualify to be considered under the FSW PhD stream. The elligibility reads like this:

We can only process your application if you:

have one year of continuous full-time (or an equal amount of continuous part-time) paid work experience
in one of the eligible occupations within the last ten years, OR
have a valid offer of arranged employment, OR
are an international student who is enrolled in a PhD program in Canada (or who graduated from a Canadian PhD program within the past 12 months) and meet the factors below.

The factors below are:

You must be either:

an international student enrolled in a PhD program in Canada who:
has finished at least two years of study toward a PhD,
is in good academic standing at the time you apply, and
did not get an award that requires you to return to your home country to apply your knowledge and skills.
OR

a graduate of a PhD program in Canada who:
graduated no more than 12 months before the date we get your application, and
did not get an award which required you to return to your home country to apply your knowledge and skills (or did, but have already met the terms of the award).
Note: PhD applicants are subject to the same selection criteria as any other FSWP applicant, including minimum language thresholds, having either a completed Canadian educational credential or a completed foreign credential with an ECA, and work experience requirements (i.e. one year of continuous full-time paid experience in a single NOC 0, A or B occupation).

I meet these factors. I exceed the minimum language thresholds, I've completed a ECA, and I have at least a year's work experience in a single NOC 0, A, or B occupation (1+ years in NOC 4012).

The letter package I received today from CIC returned my application materials and read:

We have assessed your declared occupations against the list of occupations identified by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and published in the Canada Gazette on May 4 2013. You have indicated that you have experience in NOC 4012, and have indicated this occupation as the primary occupation in your application. This occupation does not correspond to any of the eligible occupations.

Since you did not provide evidence that you have an Arranged Employment Offer, or evidence that you are a candidate under the PhD stream, you do not meet the requirements of the Ministerial Instruction and your application is not eligible for processing

In actuality, I provided a vast amount of evidence that I was applying for the PhD stream (including a cover letter that listed all the PhD related materials).

So the accuracy of the evaluation I've received rests on one question: Do PhD applicants need to have one years work experience in the special occupations identified by CIC?

Looking at the eligibility requirements - requiring PhD students to have a year's experience in the occupations identified by CIC doesn't make sense - because if they had that experience they wouldn't need the PhD stream to be eligible (they already would be because of their work experience!). Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[jahughes]

Hello there,

I am also a PhD student at U of T, and I just submitted my application this week. I, too, was very confused at first as to whether PhD applicants needed to have the continuous work experience under those 12 or so occupations listed. I do not think that you do, but judging from the rejection letter you got it is very unclear.

You are totally right that if our work experience must be from one of the listed occupations, then it really renders the PhD stream superfluous. And from the language in the guide, it does not say that the PhD stream applicants must work experience from the 10-12 listed occupations, it just says the work must be from the NOC 0, A, and B categories or something like that, which definitely comprises the 4012 job category.

But from their letter, it does not seem that that is the issue. They are saying the issue is that they didn't think you were applying under the Ph.D. stream, which is ludicrous because why the hell else would you submit all those letters stating that you are a PhD student, and are in good standing with two years of completed PhD study? It doesn't make any sense.

What job did you use as your qualifying job? If you used PhD work RA experience that could be the problem. I have heard it is very difficult to get that approved because there are rarely enough hours for it. Did you send your application to the NS address and wrote PhD on the mailing label? I can't think of why else your application would have been rejected.

I think they have made a gross mistake. You should try contacting them and explaining the situation. And get back to me because I am very curious how it plays out because I could be in the same circumstance as you.

Good luck.

 

[spacewave4]

I am planning to apply for the PR in the PhD stream. Right now, I am in the masters program for almost one and half year and planning to transfer from master to PhD soon. My question is whether I will be elligible to to apply in the PhD stream after transferring to PhD program. Clearly speaking, after 2 years, I will be in PhD program and whether this two years (starting as a master and then in PhD) will be considered for the PhD stream or not. I would be grateful for your info. Thanks