Graduated Intl Student aiming for PR

[Outlawz]

Hi,

I graduated from uni and im now working as a bank teller for 10 months with my post grad work permit. As an international student, i had no experience and started working where i could. Now im getting ready to apply for PR under CEC and i realised my occupation is considered low skill.
My post grad work permit expires in Jul/2011.

Besides me looking for another job, what are my options? As i am worried about not being able to get 1 year skilled exp before my permit is expired. My parents have also invested in a place for me here ,as i thought everything was good to go, which complicates matters even further.

Any advice will be appreciated.

P.s. Very stressed out.

 

[jes_ON]

Your options are limited. "Look for a new job" is certainly one of them. You still need at least 1 year of skilled employment to qualify for any of the Skilled Worker categories. To stay beyond your post graduate permit expiration date, any potential employer will need to go through the LMO process to hire a temporary foreign worker.

You don't say what province you are in. You can look at the provincial nominee program for your province, some of them (not Ontario) include (specific) lower-skilled occupations.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGLish/immigrate/provincial/index.asp

Finally, have you considered a post-graduate degree? That alone wouldn't get you PR, but becoming a student again would keep you here for some time. Also, some postgraduate programs employ students as research assistants. Since you have already graduated from one Canadian program, if you worked as a post-grad research assistant, that might qualify as your 1 year of skilled employment under the CEC program (you'll have to read the rules very carefully).

 

[Outlawz]

thanks for the reply.

I wish i found out about this earlier. Im in toronto, and i'm not considering post grad at all due to intl tuition fees.

i still have about 5 months to apply for a new job and work there for a year to qualify. So, could i apply for PR before my work permit runs out? and i know ill have to stop working but what happens next? Just to clarify, i send my PR application out and a week later my WP permit runs out, besides not being able to work, how else am i affected? does my application still go through? can i still live here?

apologies for the amount of questions, im just in disbelief over the whole situation as i thought i was doing well.

Thanks.

 

[jes_ON]

Unfortunately, it's too easy to find oneself in your situation. I'm still in disbelief myself over mine Still working on it, tho.

You cannot apply for PR until you meet the qualifications (e.g. 1 year of skilled employment). Under the CEC program, you do not have to be in Canada to apply, so you can apply even after your work permit runs out.

Unless you are able to get a new work permit or visitors permit, you will have to leave Canada before the end of your current work permit.

For now, concentrate on getting a job in NOC skill level O, A, or B... and good luck!