Teaching/Research Assistant experience during PhD - please offer any thoughts :)

[dastanmo]

Posting this on behalf of a friend:

I have completed my 4 year long PhD degree from USA. During the 4 years, I had worked as a Teaching assistant, Research assistant, and a Graduate Part Time Instructor. Do any of you know if I can use this experience towards qualifying work experience for FSW since I was still doing my PhD at that time?

I came across a CIC article which says "You may be able to count experience as a teaching, research or lab assistant at a post-secondary educational institution, (see National Occupation Classification 4012) toward the work experience requirement, depending on the eligibility criteria of the programs."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=855&top=6

For CEC, the article explicitly mentions that being enrolled as a student disqualifies the experience, however there is no such clause for FSW.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge with experience while doing their PhD?

Any advice/insight/thought is highly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

 

[rebelhero]

Posting this on behalf of a friend:

I have completed my 4 year long PhD degree from USA. During the 4 years, I had worked as a Teaching assistant, Research assistant, and a Graduate Part Time Instructor. Do any of you know if I can use this experience towards qualifying work experience for FSW since I was still doing my PhD at that time?

I came across a CIC article which says "You may be able to count experience as a teaching, research or lab assistant at a post-secondary educational institution, (see National Occupation Classification 4012) toward the work experience requirement, depending on the eligibility criteria of the programs."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=855&top=6

For CEC, the article explicitly mentions that being enrolled as a student disqualifies the experience, however there is no such clause for FSW.

Does anyone have experience or knowledge with experience while doing their PhD?

Any advice/insight/thought is highly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

I have done my master's from USA and I have used my TA experience in my express entry profile for FSW program. I had already asked this question here last month in one of the forums and seniors told me that I can count my TA experience. So I am sure you shall be able to count it too.

 

[DamhaSirah]

I am using my ~13 months RA-ship experience too...

 

[Encore]

From what I gather on the forum, if your T.A/R.A experience was outside of Canada, you can count it toward FSW.
But if it was inside Canada, CIC does not accept any work done while studying full time as work experience. On the other other hand, as an international student, you must be registered full time always. So, the implication is that if you are an international student in Canada, your work experience does not count toward your application.

 

[fajans90]

You can use it. I claimed my 4 years Research assistant position during my PhD in Sweden + 6 months Research assistant role during my MSc in Finland, and I have my PR now. All you need is to collect a letter from your supervisors.

 

[dastanmo]

Thanks so much to all of you for helping me out! I finally feel assured that this experience can be used

 

[DamhaSirah]

Just for your information, there is even a proper NOC code for teaching and research assistantships. The code is 4012, and I infact got my ITA on this NOC code Alhamdolillah (under Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker 1 program), CRS 481. This NOC code is classified as skill level type 'A', which is considered as one of the highest skill level professions.

More information on NOC code 4012 (Post-secondary teaching and research assistants) can be found on below 2 links:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/noc.asp
http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2011/ProfileQuickSearch.aspx?val=2&val1=4012&val65=*

I hope this helps, please give me a +1 if you found this post helpful!

 

[lellis2]

Hello group,

I'm new to this forum and would greatly appreciate your help on my path to permanent residency. I have two main questions about this path:

(1) I completed my M.Sc. in the USA and had a valid graduate assistantship (NOC 4012) while I was there. I held 2 contracts as a research assistant (during year 1: August 23, 2013 - May 22, 2014; 39 weeks at 20 hours/wk) (during year 2: August 23, 2014 - May 22, 2015); 39 weeks at 20 hours/wk). Taking those dates and hours into account, I do (barely) reach the working hours requirement (1560 hours over 24 months). However, will CIC even consider these hours when there was a summer school break in-between May 22, 2014 and August 23, 2014?

(2) I am currently on leave from my Ph.D. and will not be returning and am applying for FSW/Express Entry. Will CIC even see me as eligible based on my current status in school?

Thank you for your help!
lellis2

 

[afsar9930]

I am in the same boat, I have 7 weeks off in my contract. You have to have 1560 hours in 52 weeks, and even though I have already completed my hours requirement, I don't know when would I be eligible, right after 52 weeks or after 59 weeks (52 plus 7)

In your case as far as I have have understood the rule, you need to have continuos experience without interruptions irrespective it is full time or part time which o don't see is your case

 

[karthik506]

You can use it. I claimed my 4 years Research assistant position during my PhD in Sweden + 6 months Research assistant role during my MSc in Finland, and I have my PR now. All you need is to collect a letter from your supervisors.

Hey fajans90, I am a Ph. D holder too, can I count my 4 years research work as research assistant?

 

[valorbeat]

Just for your information, there is even a proper NOC code for teaching and research assistantships. The code is 4012, and I infact got my ITA on this NOC code Alhamdolillah (under Express Entry Federal Skilled Worker 1 program), CRS 481. This NOC code is classified as skill level type 'A', which is considered as one of the highest skill level professions.

More information on NOC code 4012 (Post-secondary teaching and research assistants) can be found on below 2 links:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/noc.asp
http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2011/ProfileQuickSearch.aspx?val=2&val1=4012&val65=*

I hope this helps, please give me a +1 if you found this post helpful!

Friend, can you please share exactly how much work experience you were able to claim under NOC 4012?

I have a similar situation, were I'm trying to pinpoint how much experience I will be able to safely claim for my NOC 4012 work, without overestimating. Usually people in this category work 20 hours/week while enrolled in a University, in a post-bachelors program (Masters or PhD).

btw, its non-CEC, outside Canada.

 

[valorbeat]

I have done my master's from USA and I have used my TA experience in my express entry profile for FSW program. I had already asked this question here last month in one of the forums and seniors told me that I can count my TA experience. So I am sure you shall be able to count it too.

Can you please give us some numbers, it may be really helpful. Like how much experience you were able to claim, for what amount of TA/RA work (e.g., 20 hours/week)? Thank you.

 

[sunny_guyed]

It will not count as a work experience despite that you were a ta/ra, and done some other research, possibly during summer. These were all part of your PhD program, which is normal for a graduate student. I was in the same situation

 

[thourb]

It will not count as a work experience despite that you were a ta/ra, and done some other research, possibly during summer. These were all part of your PhD program, which is normal for a graduate student. I was in the same situation

This is not true. As long as you didn't gain this experience whilst in Canada on a study visa and are applying under FSW, you can safely claim paid work experience gained whilst doing your PhD. You will need a reference letter from your university telling IRCC how many hours each week you worked, how much you were paid and what your responsibilities were. You can only claim for the hours you actually worked, so it's not a question of how many hours per week you can claim - it will depend on what the letter from your university says.

There are plenty of people who have gained PR using NOC 4012 as their job using experience gained whilst doing a PhD.

 

[valorbeat]

This is not true. As long as you didn't gain this experience whilst in Canada on a study visa and are applying under FSW, you can safely claim paid work experience gained whilst doing your PhD. You will need a reference letter from your university telling IRCC how many hours each week you worked, how much you were paid and what your responsibilities were. You can only claim for the hours you actually worked, so it's not a question of how many hours per week you can claim - it will depend on what the letter from your university says.

There are plenty of people who have gained PR using NOC 4012 as their job using experience gained whilst doing a PhD.

The key question here is, how much experience will it amount to, if it was

This is not true. As long as you didn't gain this experience whilst in Canada on a study visa and are applying under FSW, you can safely claim paid work experience gained whilst doing your PhD. You will need a reference letter from your university telling IRCC how many hours each week you worked, how much you were paid and what your responsibilities were. You can only claim for the hours you actually worked, so it's not a question of how many hours per week you can claim - it will depend on what the letter from your university says.

There are plenty of people who have gained PR using NOC 4012 as their job using experience gained whilst doing a PhD.

So if you worked the whole time without any unpaid breaks, can you claim for the entire duration of your RA/TA role as work experience?