Backgrounder

Canada–Nova Scotia pilot project on postgraduate employment for international students

Highlights

Objective

• To allow recently graduated international students from Nova Scotia public post-secondary institutions to acquire extended work experience related to their field of study, through enhanced employment opportunities in Nova Scotia.

Purpose

• Both Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Ministry of Education in Nova Scotia recognize the economic, social and cultural contributions of international students to Nova Scotia.
• CIC has committed to developing projects that will encourage immigration in a number of regions in Canada.
• The Government of Nova Scotia is committed to encouraging immigration, including the admission of international students to the province.
• Providing a means for graduates to gain Canadian work experience in their field of study that will serve them well when they return to their country of origin or if they choose to remain in Canada as immigrants.
• Graduates who remain in Canada can be an attractive source of skills for Canadian employers.

Project Timelines

• The project began on May 3, 2004 and will end in three years.

Renewal of the Postgraduate Work Permit

• CIC will renew, for an additional year, the work permits of recently graduated international students who are currently working as temporary foreign workers and who intend to continue to work in a field related to their studies.
• The renewal will be valid for work in Nova Scotia for temporary foreign workers:
  • who studied at least two years in that province;
  • who have graduated from a publicly funded post-secondary institution in Nova Scotia; and
  • whose first year of postgraduate employment was in Nova Scotia.
• The renewal is not valid for international students on a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program, a Government of Canada Awards Program, or who are funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.

Project Evaluation

• CIC and Nova Scotia will establish outcome measures to monitor and evaluate the success of the pilot project in the province.