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Student in Canada. Preparing for Express Entry and evaluating my profile.

AstronomyNut

Hero Member
Jan 24, 2018
500
108
Hello all,

I am 33 year old individual who is present in Canada on a study permit. Before I arrived in Canada, I had more than three years of (foreign) work experience. My English is OK, and I am confident I can score well in the IELTS (I did ok in the Academic test).

I am finishing up a master's degree and will be continuing on as a PhD student. With my age, qualifications and IELTS, my score ends up being 484. I am not fully aware of what the minimum scores have been recently or if COVID19 has affected EE at all, so I am wondering is this a good score?

An alternate plan is to continue on for my PhD and apply for Ontario's PhD PNP stream. However, I will be only eligible for that after two years as a PhD student and I would rather become a PR quicker to reduce my tuition fees and to become eligible for several grants available to domestic students.

I would welcome any thoughts on this. What seems to be the best plan forward?
 

bellaluna

VIP Member
May 23, 2014
7,373
1,764
Is there a chance it's completely discontinued? Should I look into Ontario's Human Capital stream?
The current FSW setup has been around for about 20 something years if I’m not mistaken (Express Entry was later added as a selection process). There’s likely going to be an announcement and grace period before they discontinue it completely.
 

primaprime

VIP Member
Apr 6, 2019
3,390
883
Hello all,

I am 33 year old individual who is present in Canada on a study permit. Before I arrived in Canada, I had more than three years of (foreign) work experience. My English is OK, and I am confident I can score well in the IELTS (I did ok in the Academic test).

I am finishing up a master's degree and will be continuing on as a PhD student. With my age, qualifications and IELTS, my score ends up being 484. I am not fully aware of what the minimum scores have been recently or if COVID19 has affected EE at all, so I am wondering is this a good score?

An alternate plan is to continue on for my PhD and apply for Ontario's PhD PNP stream. However, I will be only eligible for that after two years as a PhD student and I would rather become a PR quicker to reduce my tuition fees and to become eligible for several grants available to domestic students.

I would welcome any thoughts on this. What seems to be the best plan forward?
I doubt FSW will be entirely discontinued without some serious political changes, and certainly not without advance notice. There may be some tweaks to account for the current situation, but frankly, your bigger problem is losing points with every birthday. It might behoove you to enter the pool now and hope that an FSW draw is conducted sooner rather than later. Your score should still be high enough to get invited to apply for PR.

Or, go the Ontario PNP route if you're more confident in that. Your choice.
 

AstronomyNut

Hero Member
Jan 24, 2018
500
108
I doubt FSW will be entirely discontinued without some serious political changes, and certainly not without advance notice. There may be some tweaks to account for the current situation, but frankly, your bigger problem is losing points with every birthday. It might behoove you to enter the pool now and hope that an FSW draw is conducted sooner rather than later. Your score should still be high enough to get invited to apply for PR.

Or, go the Ontario PNP route if you're more confident in that. Your choice.
Yes - I will be booking my IELTS tonight and hope to apply before my next birthday (which is next year).

I always calculate my CRS assuming I'm a year older than I am so the score I posted is conservative - though I made the mistake of putting CLB10 for English scores. With CLB9, age 34, I have a score of 472. But I will apply before my next birthday in any case, so a realistic score is 477.
 

primaprime

VIP Member
Apr 6, 2019
3,390
883
Yes - I will be booking my IELTS tonight and hope to apply before my next birthday (which is next year).

I always calculate my CRS assuming I'm a year older than I am so the score I posted is conservative - though I made the mistake of putting CLB10 for English scores. With CLB9, age 34, I have a score of 472. But I will apply before my next birthday in any case, so a realistic score is 477.
Just as a heads-up, your points for age are only locked in after you accept an ITA, not when you enter the pool.