Q & A: Post-Graduate/Co-op Work Experience

Q. I am doing my first year for my Ph.D program, and work in a research lab. I am wondering if this would satisfy the one year minimum full time requirement for the PR immigration application, or is a research assistant job counted only a part time job? I work at most 20hrs a week.

Answer: Work experience gained during positions of research during post-graduate research has been repeatedly been presented to immigration officers with success by our office. The work experience gained during such research most often fits the CCDO designations in question very well (more so than in most cases when the person has been employed elsewhere). The critical factor regarding whether or not our office would feel that post-graduate research experience is valid would be whether or not the level of education during which the research was conducted was in excess of that required to qualify for that position according to the the NOC (National Occupational Classification) manual.