Cookie1980

christmasoompa

What subject would you study? Remember it has to be academic to count for points purposes as a FSW, not vocational.

What are you currently scoring on the CRS? If you're scoring enough now and wanted to go in a couple of years time, personally I'd apply asap in case the rules change with respect to immigration - which they have a tendency to do quite often!

What's your job? You'll need a year of work experience in a skilled job to qualify anyway, not just the qualification. Are you sure it doesn't qualify?

Cookie1980

christmasoompa

Ah, ok. So that is a skilled job, but you're right that the points will be nowhere near enough. Don't forget your points will go down further with every birthday too.

If you did have enough points to apply now, then once you have PR you have approx 4 years before you have to move permanently, but sounds like you'll need a job offer and to go over there on a TWP before you can apply for PR.

Good luck.

BigfootsMotorbike

In my opinion, you'd be better off learning French in the next two years and taking both the french and english tests to bump up your score.

I'm your age, have a four year honours degree, over five years work experience in my qualified field and my score wasn't very high, about 390. My partner has a masters in French, good IELTS scores, work experience, and she scored lower than me, about 378 or something. She's also three years younger than me. She later took the french test and it boosted her score up to 440. She then had to retake her IELTS exam again after it expired, did better, and boosted her score up to 492!!

christmasoompa

But it sounds like she already had a good understanding of the language, if the OP doesn't know it at all then it will take a while to get to that level unless they have the time to properly immerse themselves in learning it. Note that 'basic' French (which is equivalent to around A Level standard) is only worth 4 points (max that can be scored is 52 from top level French), so not worth it unless they can get fluent or close to it IMO.

BigfootsMotorbike

Youre right. I just thought learning some french might give more points than paying for a degree.

I had a quick look at the points breakdown and the difference between having an high school level education and a bachelors degree is 84 points. Bigger than I thought.

I also didn't notice that to get the bonus "transferable skills" bonus points you need good language skills AND a degree. oof. This is where my partner will have got most of her points bump from.

It might be an option looking into studying in Canada. I think university tuition is slightly cheaper than here and your partner can work on this visa too, I think.

Siouxie

International fees are not cheap and you have to show proof of having the necessary funds to not only pay the tuition but also living expenses for not just the student but all that will be accompanying - a hefty sum if it's more than just the student. Accommodation will be a large expense to consider. In addition the course would usually need to be related to the profession in some way and the college or Uni be on the approved list in order to get a study permit in the first place. You are correct that the accompanying spouse / common law partner would be able to get an open work permit for the duration of the study permit.. and the student can work around 20 hours a week during term time as well (most have to, to survive financially, Canada isn't cheap!)

Once the degree (or whatever qualification is obtained) is finished you may need to get a PGWP in order to gain some work experience in Canada to really boost the points - and by the time that's all done you will have lost points for age and that route may not even be available any longer. Immigration rules and routes change all the time. It's not a 'back door' way in for most.. may be worth looking into for some, though not a quick nor easy nor cheap way to achieve the goal.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...dy-canada.html

Vulcanoid

International undergraduate tuition fees at my university are just over $21k/year. At a nearby (public) university, international fees are around $36k, but go as high as $49k. I checked a third school across the country, where fees for most subjects are around the $40-50k range (ignoring dentistry as a specialized subject, but just to include it for fun would push the international fee bounds to over $90k/year).

I'm unaware of any UK university that's that expensive for domestic students. So there may be schools in Canada that are cheaper, but by and large, international study is very, very expensive (and, to apply for a study permit, you need to prove you can pay the first year upfront).

BigfootsMotorbike

My mistake. Looking into it, It's actually really expensive to study in Canada as an international student. Thanks everyone for correcting me.

To help with your question, Cookie, it looks like an HND is the equivalent of a diploma in Canada, according to edexcel anyway. You'd only know the true equivalent when it came to getting your qualifications checked by WES or someone else. Looking at the CRS criteria breakdown, a diploma could net you either 84 or 91 points.

ahughes

I have a HND which took 2 years and WES have classified it as a 2 year diploma if this helps.