There was a study released in 2022 by Statistics Canada that evaluated the relationship between people who studied in Canada before immigrating and their post-immigration earnings.
One of the main discoveries of the study was that for the first two years after immigrating to Canada, applicants who had experience studying in Canada earned way more than those with no prior Canadian study experience.
The study concluded that the reason for the higher earnings was that the applicants with Canadian study experience had better official language skills and work experience in Canada.
International students in Canada are allowed to work while they study. They are also eligible for a Post-Graduation work permit (PGWP) after finishing their studies, which gives them a better opportunity to gain work experience than those who do not study in Canada.
After studying and gaining work experience, they are eligible for permanent residency via any of Canada’s over a hundred economic class immigration streams.
Moreover, immigrants with experience studying in Canada are usually younger, more educated, and better at speaking the official languages of Canada. They are also more likely to have higher earnings before becoming permanent residents than immigrants who did not study in Canada.
Long-Term Benefits Of Canadian Study Experience
The study by Statistics Canada also found that when they compared candidates with similar language profiles and prior immigration Canadian work experience, the immigrants with Canadian experience studying in Canada earned less in the first year.
They attributed the difference to the tendency of those with Canadian study experience to pursue further studies in the first years after becoming Canadian residents.
On the other hand, when they examined the immigrants in the long term, they found study experience was beneficial.
As immigrants gained more experience in the Canadian labour market, pre-immigration qualities became less crucial than Canadian study experience advantages. Therefore, after ten years, the experience of studying in Canada was more valuable than any factor that counted before the immigration.
The explanation from Statistics Canada was that formal education in Canadian learning institutions gave immigrants highly desired occupational skills specifically geared toward the Canadian labour market.
It also gave them a better ability to integrate into their Canadian communities, society, and economy.
