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International students delighted by work permit changes
By Marilyn Smulders - May 1, 2008
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| Hannes Hochreiner, from Austria, and Eugenia Chock, from Malaysia are delighted by the changes to work permits for international students. (Nick Pearce Photo) |
About to graduate with his PhD from Dalhousie, Hannes Hochreiner says he was “really quite concerned” about what to do next.
With his student permit about to expire and a job offer not yet in hand, the international student from Austria admits with furrowed brow that the words “quite concerned” don’t come close to expressing the mounting anxiety he was feeling as convocation ceremonies approached.
But all his worries dissipated once he heard Ottawa was introducing changes to work permits for international students. Under the old rules, Mr. Hochreiner would have been forced to return his native country unless he found a job in his field of study within 90 days.
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“While having all this education, I want to put it to good use,” says Mr. Hochreiner, 30, a chemist who specializes in the modeling of fibre optics sensors. “Before, it was so complicated to explain to employers how (the system) worked. Now I just have to check a box.”
In addition, the duration of the work permit has been extended to three years across the country. Previously, the program only allowed international students to work for one or two years, depending on the location. As well, students are no longer restricted to finding jobs related to their degree.
Mr. Hochreiner’s reaction was a low-key “phew.” But Margaret Wood, international student advisor at Dalhousie University, wasn’t nearly so restrained: “I’m sure my cheer could have been heard from here to Ottawa.”
She says the changes will alleviate significant stress for international students who want to remain in Canada to work—and perhaps to live permanently—after graduation.
And that’s the whole idea. “The government wants more foreign students to choose Canada and we want to help them succeed,” Ms. Finley said in a news release. “Open and longer work permits provide international students with more opportunities for Canadian work experience and skills development. This will, in turn, help make Canada a destination of choice, and help us keep international students already studying in Canada.”
International Student and Exchange Services will hold an information session on Friday, May 2 at 2 p.m. in the MacMechan Auditorium, Killam Library. Ms. Wood says it’s an opportunity for international students to ask questions “because every case is a special case.”
Eugenia Chock is one of those special cases. A medical student from Malaysia, the 24-year-old student did half her degree in her native country, the other half in Canada. Without permanent residency status, she explained that she couldn’t qualify for post-graduate training in Canada.
At least now, she’ll be able to apply for and secure the necessary work experience to be eligible to apply for permanent-residency. Ms. Chock feels strongly that post graduate medical training is an extremely important next step in her education and she would like to do it in Canada.
All in all, the changes should eliminate a lot of the red tape that trips up students who come to Canada for their degrees. “Now they can focus on their academics and not have to deal with the challenges of bureaucracy,” says Ms. Wood.
In 2006-07, more than 1,100 international students from 100 countries came to study at Dalhousie. Across the country, 63,673 international students were in Canada to study, a 4.6 per cent increase over 2006-05 figures.
Readers Say
May 1, 2008 8:19 PM
May 2, 2008 1:05 PM
May 3, 2008 4:43 AM
May 4, 2008 9:40 AM
Unemployment rate never be zero, it is normal,u should not complain it on international ppl, actually many canadians worked in the State.
As globalization world, Canada has to change the policy, the economy needs activity and previously Canadian government ignore the power of immigration, they enforce immigration ppl who has foreign degree to be a cleaner, taxi driver... kinda of human capital wasting.
International students has advantage to communicate and understand the Canadian market...And we payed the differential fee, according to ur logic it is unfair too.
Competition is the power of development, people can not use policy to barrier some indian and chinese workers who are never lazy and work hard every single day.
May 4, 2008 11:21 AM
First, international students coming all the way to Canada for a decent education must be those who are proactive and intelligent in their own countries. These guys will make greater contribution for the country with the new policy.
Sencondly, we have to admit that ,with this new policy, international students will make job market more fierce. But, its a good thing for a country to move forward:)
I am a college student in China, hope one day i could be in
Dalhouise.
May 5, 2008 11:42 AM
Other than saying "thank you to the minister", I've heard no reason given as to why the government's decision is a good or reasonable one. No one has attempted to answer my question "if legal immigrants and Canadian citizens are experiencing considerable difficulty in finding employment in this country, why are foreign citizens now entitled to seek employment"?
There seems to be a piece of the puzzle that is missing here. To the "international student" above who won't give his or her name, do you believe that a study visa automatically gives you the right to enjoy the benefits of Canadian citizenship, including the right to compete for jobs with Canadian citizens? Do the students who are applauding this move by the Canadian government have the right to vote
in Canadian elections?
May 7, 2008 3:27 PM
1) Canada wants immigrants. It is official government policy. Our low birthrate requires immigrants, in fact, if we want to sustain our standard of living and our social services. People who are accepted to universities, and complete the program, have lived in Canada for a number of years and have made many adjustments to life in Canada. You might argue that the universities are a good selection process. They graduate according to Canadian standards and are a known quantity in terms of their training.
2) This policy could be an incentive to choose Canadian universities over those in other countries. Dalhousie is actively recruiting foreign students, and I can imagine this policy being a significant aid in that effort.
3) Unemployment, or underemployment,among educated immigrants to Canada often relects factors other than availability of jobs or the immigrants' ability to fill the job. For example, Canada very seriously needs more doctors; yet there are many unemployed foreign-trained doctors resident in Canada. The processes for moving such people into practice are mostly not national -- every province handles this for itself, and even Canadian citizens experience significant difficulty changing province in some professions. Professional organizations are not always very interested in the issue, or are even defensive of their turf. The recognition of foreign credentials can be a big problem for people who arrive here having done all their training abroad. Graduates of Canadian universities, though born abroad, may face many fewer difficulties along these lines.
May 8, 2008 2:10 PM
May 12, 2008 9:50 AM
May 15, 2008 10:23 AM
I did not feel that B. Greenfield implied that int'l grads from Canadian unis should get instantaneous citizenship, and had to laugh about your phrase "immigrants who entered this country by regular procedures". What do you think the regular procedures are? You come in after applying for permanent residency ($$ and paperwork), then you spent several yrs living here and possibly working (uhoh, taking jobs away from the Canadians ;), then you apply for citizenship. Now take the international student: come in on a study permit, live here several years while either paying tuition fees ($$ b/c of differential fees) and/or receiving grad. stipends based on your skill level, then you apply for perm't residency and eventually citizenship.
Receiving a 3 yr work permit does not compare to being granted virtual citizenship as you call it and it DOES NOT guarantee a job, it just increases chances for highly trained people to contribute to the Canadian workforce.
Before the new work permit changes, we int'l students had tremendous difficulty securing a job offer within 3 mths and within their field of study (how many Canadians achieve this??? Aha, it is difficult).
I think that if an int'l student is better qualified than a Canadian (even if a qualified Can. is available), the former should get the job. Citizenship does not guarantee employment. As far as I understand, int'l students pay a differential fee at university to offset the tax they haven't paid in Canada throughout their lives, so from my perspective, we start on nearly equal levels competing for a job. However, most employers e.g. government institutions have policies that benefit Canadian citizens and residents, so int'l students will always have an uphill battle to fight if they choose to live and work in Canada.
Lastly: you complain that int'l students take away work from Canadians, but you want them to study here, then go home - where's the logic? What about Can. students? Another disc'n?