Applicant from PhD program after 5 Nov, 2011 connect here to get status

[TyrusX]

Is there any one who investigate if we are eligible for open work permit after we receiver PER before PHD graduation?

PhDs have a open work permit that allow them to work up to 20 hours a week. Just go online to apply.

[Brit_Immigrant]

I am an English applicant applying through Buffalo with two years full time RA/TA (1950 hours/year) I mailed my application on May 2nd and my credit card was charged on Monday 14th. No PER as of yet.

I cannot log in to my application status yet using my client ID. I guess this is because I am not 'In Progress' yet. Is this common?

[TyrusX]

I am an English applicant applying through Buffalo with two years full time RA/TA (1950 hours/year) I mailed my application on May 2nd and my credit card was charged on Monday 14th. No PER as of yet.

I cannot log in to my application status yet using my client ID. I guess this is because I am not 'In Progress' yet. Is this common?

Yep! Pretty common. You should get news next week.

[hsn893]

Hi every one, you are doing great. This forum is very informative. Actually I sent my application to Sydney office January 4th and it was returned to me as a result of incorrect CIC visa center. I received the package on February 22nd and resent it on February 24th. Unfortunately my application was rejected ,as they didn't accept 2 years of my job experience because I submitted the job contract translation which was including my minimum of hours per month working requirement (160 hrs/month), my salary and my duties. It seems the officer did not try to go through the contract to find the required information. They didn't ask me to update my work experience or provide a single letter which is actually summary of my working contract. It was a harsh decision to just not consider 2 years of experience and reject the application after two big delays on their assessment.  In addition, I didn't granted 5 points for adaptability based on more than 2 years studying in Canada. It seems unfair the way they process some of applications, because some of my friends with similar condition and even less work experience and language proficiency score passed the minimum score requirement, as they already got 5 points for adaptability. As I went through the information other applicants have provide in this forum, it seems the CIO officers have started to award 5 point to PHD student from certain date while these points were not granted before. I called CIO office today and they confirmed that there is a mistake and I am eligible to get 5 points, so I wrote a mail attached to the page 44 of OP-6 and requested an appeal based on provided evidence. Hope to hear good news from their side.
The following the score table they provided me which can be useful for future applicants:
 
    Points assessed   Maximum
Age   10   10
Education    25   25
Official language proficiency   12   24
Arranged employment   0   10
Experience   17   21
Adaptability   0   10
TOTAL    64   100

[TyrusX]

Hi every one, you are doing great. This forum is very informative. Actually I sent my application to Sydney office January 4th and it was returned to me as a result of incorrect CIC visa center. I received the package on February 22nd and resent it on February 24th. Unfortunately my application was rejected ,as they didn't accept 2 years of my job experience because I submitted the job contract translation which was including my minimum of hours per month working requirement (160 hrs/month), my salary and my duties. It seems the officer did not try to go through the contract to find the required information. They didn't ask me to update my work experience or provide a single letter which is actually summary of my working contract. It was a harsh decision to just not consider 2 years of experience and reject the application after two big delays on their assessment.  In addition, I didn't granted 5 points for adaptability based on more than 2 years studying in Canada. It seems unfair the way they process some of applications, because some of my friends with similar condition and even less work experience and language proficiency score passed the minimum score requirement, as they already got 5 points for adaptability. As I went through the information other applicants have provide in this forum, it seems the CIO officers have started to award 5 point to PHD student from certain date while these points were not granted before. I called CIO office today and they confirmed that there is a mistake and I am eligible to get 5 points, so I wrote a mail attached to the page 44 of OP-6 and requested an appeal based on provided evidence. Hope to hear good news from their side.
The following the score table they provided me which can be useful for future applicants:
 
    Points assessed   Maximum
Age   10   10
Education    25   25
Official language proficiency   12   24
Arranged employment   0   10
Experience   17   21
Adaptability   0   10
TOTAL    64   100

Good to hear that you appealed. You can post your information here so we can updated the spreadsheet. It really seems that there is a large amount of randomness in the evaluations. I was pretty clear about my point in the adaptability area, even stating the session on the OP-6. I read that manual many times, but that sentence is really ambiguous. They were suppose to release an updated op-6, but never happened.

[mumbaikar]

Hi everyone,

I have a total of 66 points. Age(10), Education(25), Experience (21),Official language proficiency (10). I gave CELPIP(that exam sucks.., I had got 98 in TOEFL) and got 4H (4pts),4L(2pts),4L(2pts) and 3H(2pts) for reading, writing, Listening and speaking sections respectively. My application reached CIC two days back. What are the chances of getting a PER/rejection? Am I eligible to get additional points for adaptability ? I have provided a letter from my supervisor stating that my English language skill is very good.

Many thanks

[websphereguy]

Hi guys,

For those season folks here got PER first before their eCas status was updated with information, I am just wondering how long did you have to wait for something to appear? Its been 2 weeks since I got my PER and I still can't see anything in ecas. Is that normal?

[Brit_Immigrant]

Am I correct in saying the furthest anyone has got through this stream is having their application sent to a respective Visa office? I went to an info session at my University and the immigration official running it said that when the application reached the VO it goes in line with all of the other skilled worker applications the same as any other NOC and the PhD stream is in no way fast tracked. From a friends experience who recently got his PR skilled worker through the Buffalo office. It will be at least 6-8 months before any medical etc. is required going purely off his experience (not official) and he had a job offer, with the company he works for dealing with everything.

The immigration rep was adamant about the fact that the PhD stream is not fast tracked. I don't know whether 6-8 months is long for a lot of people here but that time scale was far quicker than I expected when I started gathering the documents for my application. I was expecting maybe 24 months if my application was successful.

[mumbaikar]

Hi anjuku,

Did you finally submit the notarized  copy of your original birth certificate? I don't have a birth certificate either. So I submitted a notarized  copy of "certificate of birth" issued by the Indian consulate. In that they have just stated "date of birth of  xxxx according to the passport  issued at xxx place on xxxx is xxxxx ". I have no idea whether CIC will accept that? My documents reached CIC two days back.

Thanks

did you guys provide copies of your birth certificate?...i'll have to go to India to get mine.....i have a copy of my baptism certificate though..
also, should all the documents which we submit as "copies" be notarised??

[TyrusX]

Am I correct in saying the furthest anyone has got through this stream is having their application sent to a respective Visa office? I went to an info session at my University and the immigration official running it said that when the application reached the VO it goes in line with all of the other skilled worker applications the same as any other NOC and the PhD stream is in no way fast tracked. From a friends experience who recently got his PR skilled worker through the Buffalo office. It will be at least 6-8 months before any medical etc. is required going purely off his experience (not official) and he had a job offer, with the company he works for dealing with everything.

The immigration rep was adamant about the fact that the PhD stream is not fast tracked. I don't know whether 6-8 months is long for a lot of people here but that time scale was far quicker than I expected when I started gathering the documents for my application. I was expecting maybe 24 months if my application was successful.

well. if it get there and we are done in 8 months, it would be ok. So far, the earliest PER we got was about 3 months ago, and no one has received AOR yet, what means that no one is sure they have even sent our documents there. Most probably they are there in a pile of papers waiting someone to read them. I would say our stream will take about 14-16 months in total.

[GeoCanadian]

Hi guys,

For those season folks here got PER first before their eCas status was updated with information, I am just wondering how long did you have to wait for something to appear? Its been 2 weeks since I got my PER and I still can't see anything in ecas. Is that normal?

Hello websphereguy... It should happen any day now. It took 12 days in my case. Got my PER on the 5th of April and eCAS was updated on the 17th of April.

Does anyone have an idea what kind of change, if any, should we see in our eCAS status when AOR is issued?

[GeoCanadian]

PhDs have a open work permit that allow them to work up to 20 hours a week. Just go online to apply.

You probably mean that PhD students, just like any other students, may work ON CAMPUS up to 20 hours per week without any special work permit. They can also apply for an OFF CAMPUS employment authorization based on their student permit, also up to 20 hours per week (no limit during recess).

However, receiving PER does not give us ***t! We are still locked in within student permit regulations until we get our PR cards (even AOR does not help us in any way). My minimum program of study (3 years) ends August 31st. Let's be realistic - even based on the most optimistic case scenario, it will take at least 12 months for the PR process to conclude. So, question for me is what do I do between August, 2012, and May of 2013? I have tried to learn if there is any way to stay in status while waiting for the PR decision. Here are the options I have found:

1) Apply for the extention of my "Study Permit" and then reapply for "Off-campus employment authorization" based on the new study permit. However, before applying for the extension of "Study Permit" with CIC, I need to ask my university to grant me "Full Time Thesis Continuation" status. Otherwise, plain Thesis Continuation does not provide enough grounds to request the extention of study permit;

2) Get a limited term position contract (1 to 3 year teaching position) at some university and request "Work Permit". This requires job offer, labour-market opinion and quick exit and re-entry into Canada while TRV is still valid.

3) Have my spouse enroll in some eligible post secondary program. Then, based on my spouse's study permit I can get "Open Work Permit."

That's all the options I found... Does anyone else know of any other options?

[megha_Ontario]

So what happens if one wants to move to the US (or any other country) for a postdoc while PR is in progress?

[TyrusX]

You probably mean that PhD students, just like any other students, may work ON CAMPUS up to 20 hours per week without any special work permit. They can also apply for an OFF CAMPUS employment authorization based on their student permit, also up to 20 hours per week (no limit during recess).

However, receiving PER does not give us ***t! We are still locked in within student permit regulations until we get our PR cards (even AOR does not help us in any way). My minimum program of study (3 years) ends August 31st. Let's be realistic - even based on the most optimistic case scenario, it will take at least 12 months for the PR process to conclude. So, question for me is what do I do between August, 2012, and May of 2013? I have tried to learn if there is any way to stay in status while waiting for the PR decision. Here are the options I have found:

1) Apply for the extention of my "Study Permit" and then reapply for "Off-campus employment authorization" based on the new study permit. However, before applying for the extension of "Study Permit" with CIC, I need to ask my university to grant me "Full Time Thesis Continuation" status. Otherwise, plain Thesis Continuation does not provide enough grounds to request the extention of study permit;

2) Get a limited term position contract (1 to 3 year teaching position) at some university and request "Work Permit". This requires job offer, labour-market opinion and quick exit and re-entry into Canada while TRV is still valid.

3) Have my spouse enroll in some eligible post secondary program. Then, based on my spouse's study permit I can get "Open Work Permit."

That's all the options I found... Does anyone else know of any other options?

I don't know the details, as I did this last year. But I do have a off campus open work permit.Maybe the regulations have changed. PER doesn't give us *censored word* because it really doesn't mean anything. 

[JBR]

Hey all

I got my PER email today. Please update my status..