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

[thourb]

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

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?

You won't be able to claim for any time working on your own thesis - that would come under being a student rather than work experience. I can only comment on my partner's experience - he worked as a TA/RA during his 3 year PhD and has a letter from his head of department stating that he did a PhD and worked as a TA/RA during this period as well and that the TA/RA element worked out at 18 hours per week over the three years. This is sufficient for us to be able to claim one year worth of work experience under FSW. There is no way that IRCC are going to allow you to suggest that the work was "full time" alongside your PhD, so you will only be able to claim part time. I would suggest that 16-20hrs would be a realistic amount, but be prepared for questions from your visa officer if you can't prove to them in writing exactly what you were doing with your time - like I said, you'll need a letter from whomever was in charge of you saying exactly what your duties were and how many hours per week you did them.

 

[sunny_guyed]

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.

There you go! I am talking about Canadian education while being as a student you worked ad a ta or ra so you are considered as a student because that is why how you get to paid such as your tuition, stipend and whatnot. I have never heard someone especially an international student coming to study and work as a ta or ra and claim as a work experience.

You could claim as an work experience if you worked during summer...

 

[picklee]

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

1. The requirement is 52 weeks of full time work (30 hours or more) OR 1560 hours of work over a period greater than one year. Summer break is irrelevant, you have 1 year of work experience (earned over 2 years).

2. Does not matter as long as you are not claiming points for the 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.

For those who claimed the RA/TA experience, is it necessary to mention on the employment letter that they were enrolled in program so and so... or is it implied and understood and can be left out?

 

[thourb]

For those who claimed the RA/TA experience, is it necessary to mention on the employment letter that they were enrolled in program so and so... or is it implied and understood and can be left out?

You might as well give full disclosure... They will know anyway as you have to give them your full history when you submit your e-APR.

 

[pawansh]

You won't be able to claim for any time working on your own thesis - that would come under being a student rather than work experience. I can only comment on my partner's experience - he worked as a TA/RA during his 3 year PhD and has a letter from his head of department stating that he did a PhD and worked as a TA/RA during this period as well and that the TA/RA element worked out at 18 hours per week over the three years. This is sufficient for us to be able to claim one year worth of work experience under FSW. There is no way that IRCC are going to allow you to suggest that the work was "full time" alongside your PhD, so you will only be able to claim part time. I would suggest that 16-20hrs would be a realistic amount, but be prepared for questions from your visa officer if you can't prove to them in writing exactly what you were doing with your time - like I said, you'll need a letter from whomever was in charge of you saying exactly what your duties were and how many hours per week you did them.

so can we claim experience gained during PHD for EE?

 

[leena12]

You might as well give full disclosure... They will know anyway as you have to give them your full history when you submit your e-APR.

Hey,
Can anyone tell me how much of the maximum work hours can we show for a RA when you are simultaneously enrolled in a PhD degree?

 

[harjinder784]

1. The requirement is 52 weeks of full time work (30 hours or more) OR 1560 hours of work over a period greater than one year. Summer break is irrelevant, you have 1 year of work experience (earned over 2 years).

2. Does not matter as long as you are not claiming points for the PhD.

Hello lellis did you apply for EE? did you face any issue due to summer break in between your contracts? Can anyone else confirm this?

 

[pawansh]

IN this ca

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.

In this case can we assume if someone was enrolled as PHD student and getting scholarship instead of salary and involved in 90% research work and 10% teaching so based on reference letter from university can his experience be claimed under NOC 4012 even though he was enrolled as student and doing research to complete his PHD.

 

[thourb]

IN this ca

In this case can we assume if someone was enrolled as PHD student and getting scholarship instead of salary and involved in 90% research work and 10% teaching so based on reference letter from university can his experience be claimed under NOC 4012 even though he was enrolled as student and doing research to complete his PHD.

This is exactly what we did, though in our case the PhD was much more evenly balanced between teaching and research.

 

[them3ntor]

Hello lellis did you apply for EE? did you face any issue due to summer break in between your contracts? Can anyone else confirm this?

Dear @pawansh, did you obtain any answer for your question? I am in a similar situation. However, I am a MS student outside Canada. And I work 20 hrs/week as TA in exchange of tuition and a monthly stipend. However, during summer/winter vacations I am not employed as a TA. But CIC states that the work has to be continuous. It also states that I need to be enrolled in a university/college.

Can you please share with us any information? Thank you.

 

[vipinjoseph]

You won't be able to claim for any time working on your own thesis - that would come under being a student rather than work experience. I can only comment on my partner's experience - he worked as a TA/RA during his 3 year PhD and has a letter from his head of department stating that he did a PhD and worked as a TA/RA during this period as well and that the TA/RA element worked out at 18 hours per week over the three years. This is sufficient for us to be able to claim one year worth of work experience under FSW. There is no way that IRCC are going to allow you to suggest that the work was "full time" alongside your PhD, so you will only be able to claim part time. I would suggest that 16-20hrs would be a realistic amount, but be prepared for questions from your visa officer if you can't prove to them in writing exactly what you were doing with your time - like I said, you'll need a letter from whomever was in charge of you saying exactly what your duties were and how many hours per week you did them.

@thourb
I am also in the process of claiming my spouse's PhD period as work experience. If there's a sample draft of the letter of experience it would be really helpful.

 

[Shaghayegh1943]

Hi every one,
I am new in this forum, can anyone tell me what kind of documents are necessary to prove RA while doing a PhD? I finished my PhD in Germany in 2016 and now I am a post-doc in Calgary. I have a letter from my PhD professor saying I have worked 19 hours per week for 4 years (continuous) with listed duties as RA. I have enrolment certificate for all semesters from my PhD university. Should I provide pay checks or contract? The research assistantship has not been mentioned in my contract, my contract says it is a scholarship that I got from the department!

 

[Shaghayegh1943]

@thourb
I am also in the process of claiming my spouse's PhD period as work experience. If there's a sample draft of the letter of experience it would be really helpful.

hey, could you please let me know if you could find a good sample draft of the letter? thanks a lot

 

[Sahi90]

Hello everyone

I was doing PhD from last 3 years and regularly given fellowship for the same but due to some issues I am planning to drop it now. Can anyone suggest me if I can use this research experience as my work experience and what post should be mentioned in the experience letter. Also, I will highly appreciate if someone can share a sample draft of experience letter.