A tricky scoring question for SINP EOI (Saskatchewan's Expression of Interest) is whether work experience earned during a full-time master's program — where you mostly attended only for exams while working full-time — can be counted toward your work experience score.
What group members said (with some disagreement, so proceed carefully):- One view: work experience gained while pursuing a master's degree can generally be counted, based on how IRCC treats concurrent study and work in some contexts.
- Another view added a condition: if the work experience was outside Canada while studying, it can more safely be claimed — this distinction matters because rules around combining full-time study with work experience claims can differ depending on where the work took place.
- A dissenting data point: one member's own immigration consultant advised against including work experience earned during the master's period at all, out of caution that provinces or IRCC might view a 'full-time' academic program as incompatible with simultaneously claiming full-time work experience.
Because the group's advice conflicts and this is exactly the kind of detail that can affect your EOI score and credibility under program integrity review, it's worth getting a second opinion from a licensed immigration consultant before deciding whether to include this period, and to keep employment documentation ready in case SINP asks for clarification.