International grads now have immigration route to N.S.

Applicants will need to have job offer from a Nova Scotian employer to be eligible

It will now be a little easier for international graduates to settle in Nova Scotia after their studies in Canada are finished.

The province announced today that any international graduate from a Canadian college or university can apply for permanent residency if they have a job offer from a Nova Scotia employer.

This is good news for Durgesh Singh, a student in NSCC’s construction management technology program.

“Now, because of these changes to the Nova Scotia Nominee Program, international graduates will have an avenue to immigrate to Nova Scotia that wasn’t open to them before,” he said in a news release issued by the province.

Nova Scotia universities welcome more than 7,000 international students a year, but fewer than 50 have applied to stay since the paperwork moved to Ottawa.

Farhana Chowdhury, a St. Mary’s University graduate with a master of finance degree, said without the program, banks won’t hire her.

“From this I will definitely have an answer that ‘okay if you give me a job offer, I will pretty soon get a permanent residency,'” she said.

Nova Scotia’s population is expected to decline over the next 20 years as young people continue to leave the province to search for work.

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