# Permanent Residency (PR) and High School Education



## simonwbrighton (Sep 13, 2017)

Hi all,

I've recently been talking to an immigration consultant regarding permanent residency. She took all my info and we came up with a plan for application. 

Skip to the bottom to check my questions. This is a little background of what I'm planning so far.


I am from England on an IEC working visa.
I do NOT have a degree. I left secondary school at 16 with GCSEs and never went on to do A Level or University.
I have 10 years experience in my field (Software Engineer)
I have 4 months experience full time here in Canada.
My visa expires in January 2020

Due to the lack of degree, CEC (Canadian Experience Class) is the category I am expected to enter in Express Entry. I may do this after 1 year of full time work.

However, my points do NOT add up to the minimum required to be selected out of the pool.

I can THEN (after CEC profile is created and I'm in the pools) enter the PNP Tech Pilot, and have my company provide a reference letter / recommendation, and an offer of continued employment, which is very likely to get me nominated in the Tech Pilot program. I am then awarded 600 points in to my Express Entry (CEC) profile, and i'll be somewhere at 950 points. That is way beyond the minimum amount and I should (I hope) get an invite to apply sometime after this.

I have a few questions:

Firstly, *does anyone think there is something I am overlooking, and there's still a high chance I won't get through?*

Secondly, I will need to show a certificate of education for a High School Diploma. *What is the English equivalent of a High School Diploma? is it GCSE?*

Finally. (and most importantly) *Will they be looking at grades?* Honestly I flunked as I'm not very academically minded. I barely scraped Cs, most of my grades are D-E (which are still passes, but pretty bad!). 

Thanks for your time in reading.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

GCSE is roughly equivalent to Grade 10 in Canada... with GCSEs/Grade 10, one could go to a vocational college/technical college but you’d have to do some upgrading if you wanted to go on to university. 

High School would be more akin to A Levels... you can go on to uni (if your grades are good enough... competition is _very_ tight) or vocational college/technical college. 

Yes, it’s confusing... I’m the opposite of you - I’ve come to the UK from Canada and have had to quiz my husband at length to try to figure out what my Canadian high school diploma is worth over here (we’ve decided to just write ‘equivalent to A Level’)

Most jobs don’t normally ask for grades in the job description - if they expect a specific level of education, they’ll specify what they’re looking for under essential requirements but I’ve never been asked to provide a transcript of grades (I dropped out of university without a degree and went to a community college to learn to be a pharmacy technician... none of my employers ever asked to see my grades when I applied for jobs... sadly, my Canadian pharmacy training isn’t worth anything in the UK without having to start from scratch).


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

WestCoastCanadianGirl said:


> GCSE is roughly equivalent to Grade 10 in Canada... with GCSEs/Grade 10, one could go to a vocational college/technical college



Not in Ontario, where they would expect a high school diploma. If GCSE is considered equivalent to that then no problem, but if it is considered equivalent to grade ten then one wouldn't be accepted into an Ontario college.

The only way around that would be to go into an apprenticeship, part of which must be done in a college. Admission would be granted based on being an apprentice, but not on GCSE.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

I was thinking more of someone dropping out at 16 and then going to community college as a mature student.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

WestCoastCanadianGirl said:


> I was thinking more of someone dropping out at 16 and then going to community college as a mature student.



Fair enough, but as a mature student previous education doesn't really come into play as the admissions criteria are different for mature students.


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## simonwbrighton (Sep 13, 2017)

Lol thanks so far. I mean when they're asking for all my docs to send when applying for PR one of the things they want is my highest level of education, whereby a High School Diploma is the absolute minimum that I can send in. If I have that, it is acceptable. I think High School Diploma is equivalent to GCSE from my research.

A levels are somewhat important regarding employment for sure, but they are primarily used as entrance examinations for university. As this is optional education, I believe it is not equivalent to a High School Diploma.

I am hoping my GCSEs are enough to not be automatically rejected on my application. I emailed AQA (the GCSE exam board) and they will supply a certificate for use with immigration. I just want to make sure thats going to be sufficient education I guess.

I'm super nervous about the process, and absolutely don't want to get it wrong.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

I think they just want to ensure that the qualification(s) you claim on the application are actually the qualifications that you possess. 

Telling them that you've just got a H.S. diploma isn't an issue... people in Canada don't all go on to post secondary, so I don't think that iRCC would expect every PR applicant to have some fancy schmancy Oxbridge degree under their belt in order to be considered. If you say that you have a degree from Oxford/Cambridge but, in actual fact, you don't even have a H.S. diploma, then that would be a major problem.

Also consider this... what if you were fresh out of high school and in Canada on a Gap Year and had the opportunity to apply for PR. You wouldn't have anything more than GCSEs/A Levels to submit.

If the application form actually says that the minimum accepted education qualification that they'll accept is GCSE/high school diploma and that's what you've got, then I wouldn't think that you should worry about sending that in... after all, that's the bare minimum they are asking for.


Good luck to you!


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