Backgrounder

Citizenship and Immigration Canada – Saskatchewan agreement on postgraduate employment for foreign students

Agreement Highlights

Objective

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

Purpose

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

Agreement Timelines

• The agreement will be in effect for three years, beginning June 1, 2004.

Renewal of Postgraduate Work Permits

• CIC will renew, for an additional year, the work permits of recently graduated foreign 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 Saskatchewan for:
  • temporary foreign workers who studied at least two years in that province;
  • who graduated from a publicly funded post-secondary institution in Saskatchewan; and
  • whose first year of postgraduate employment was in Saskatchewan.
• The renewal is not valid for foreign 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 Saskatchewan will establish outcome measures to monitor and evaluate the success of the agreement in the province.