Ministerial Instruction 4’s changes to the Parent and Grandparent Sponsorship Program overshadowed the introduction of a new stream to the Federal Skilled Worker Program.
Effective immediately, 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.
This cap will be calculated over and above any other Federal Skilled Worker caps on application intake.
Applicants must meet one of the two following criteria:
- Be an international student currently enrolled in a PhD program, delivered by a provincially or territorially recognized private or public post-secondary educational institution located in Canada, and have completed at least two years towards the completion of their PhD and is in good academic standing, and not a recipient of a Government of Canada award.
or - Be a foreign nationals who has completed a PhD program from a provincially or territorially recognized private or public post-secondary educational institution located in Canada no more than 12 months prior to the date that their application is received. If the Applicant was a recipient of a Government of Canada award then the applicant must have satisfied the terms of the award.
This is certainly a welcome development for PHD students, and I wonder what impact that this will have on the Provincial Nomination Programs currently designed to attract PHD students. Will these programs be closed and quota spots be allocated elsewhere?