Comprehensive reference for international students at UBC.
Permanent residency in Canada
Canada has many categories of permanent residence.
Provincial Nominee Program
The BC Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is an immigration program that allows BC employers to recommend highly skilled workers to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for permanent residence. As a provincial nominee, an applicant will receive faster processing of their application for permanent resident status (within 12 months) and will be able to extend their work permit for an additional two years.
Here’s how the program works:
- A BC employer offers a job to an international student who has almost or already completed their degree program. The job offer must be a full-time, permanent position; in most cases it must be related to the student’s field of study.
- The employer and applicant each complete the required BC PNP forms.
- The employer submits the complete application, with a letter recommending the applicant for nomination, within one year of completion of the program of studies.
Canada Experience Class
Canadian Experience Class is a new category of permanent residency for certain skilled temporary workers and international students with Canadian degrees and Canadian work experience.
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Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) Program for international PhD students
There is a new PhD eligibility stream in the Federal Skilled Worker program which intends to accept up to 1,000 international PhD students per year as permanent residents of Canada.
Applying:
You are eligible to apply if you meet the other requirements of the FSW Program and if you are either:
- An international student who is currently enrolled in a doctoral (PhD) program
- Who has completed at least two years in a PhD program
- Who is in good academic standing
- Who is not a recipient of a Government of Canada award requiring you to return to your home country to apply your knowledge and skills
- An international alumnus who completed a UBC PhD program no more than 12 months prior to the date your application is received by the Canada Immigration Office in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
- Who did not receive a Government of Canada award that required you to return to your home country to apply your knowledge and skills; or if you were a recipient of such an award, you have satisfied the terms of the award.
Letter from the Faculty of Graduate Studies:
In your application package, you will be required to include a letter of attestation from the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. For current students, the letter contains the following attestations:
- that the applicant is currently enrolled in a PhD program and has completed at least two years towards its completion; and
- that the applicant is deemed in good academic standing to the satisfaction of the institution.
Alumni can use a Program Completion or Degree Conferral Letter to satisfy this requirement.
Application cap:
You are advised to submit your application as soon as you are able, as a maximum of 1,000 new Federal Skilled Worker applications from international students pursuing PhD studies at Canadian institutions will be considered for processing each year. Applications will be considered in order of the date they are received. Information about the number of applications received toward the overall cap can be found at the CIC website.
More information is available on the Government of Canada website.
