Spouse work experience

[Thalia]

Hello to everyone

and congratz on the great support you give here. Been reading this forum for so long and you gave me lots of useful information. But since I'm planning on applying myself with no consultant help (would it help to hire one if you are to follow the checklist word-by-word?), I do have some questions.
Me and my husband are under Rome's visa office and I am the principal applicant.

1. Spouse work experience
My husband worked only for 2 companies in the past and both were from another country (meaning hard to obtain and translate any documents since we are currently living in Greece). Last job was 2 years ago. From the first one he left after a fight, so no way to ask them now for a reference letter. The other company no longer exists. Here I need some advise from a senior. Should I just mention his experience without providing any supporting documents for it? Maybe it would be preferable to just say he was unemployed from the time he finished his studies? He has a master's degree, so education is no problem.  What would create less mess in the application?

2. Cover letter
In general do you provide cover letters with the application? Checklists seem to me very clear, but does a letter written by us help further? And if yes, what should it include?
Meaning, is there ANY other document/letter that is not mentioned in neither's CIO or VO checklist that applicants should include to make the case stronger?

3. Time frame
In order to save time we decided not to give the police certificates now, but wait (hoping that everything will work fine) the VO to ask for them later on. Could anyone estimate how long it takes for the application to be sent to the VO and when they will ask us to provide the police certificates? And how much time does the VO give you to submit them once they ask for them?

4. NOC numbers
My occupation is close to reach the cap and therefore I'm in quite a hurry to submit the application. If I understood correctly my application counts from the moment they open my envelop at the CIO? Or is there any chance that I send the application, they open it and process it later when the cap is already reached?

Any help please greatly appreciated

[nano24482]

Dear Thalia,

1. Spouse work experience
Are you the primary applicant or your husband??? From your post it felt as if you are the primary applicant. If that is the case than you do not need to worry. its less likely that they would check his employment records(Please check with seniors too).

2.Cover letter
Its highly desirable that you include a cover letter. It looks very professional. You can start with general introduction your NOC and job duties and can include your husband's job duties and his employment history(if you decide to include). In short what ever you feel is missed in the forms can be added. It can also include contact details of employers: eg boss's name and contact details, etc.

3. Time frame
I was post 26 June appllicant so I have no information regarding this. Please wait for someone else advise.

4. NOC
Your application counts from the moment they open my envelop at the CIO. If by the time the cap is reached they will return the application.

Regards,

[sapanaB]

For the Cover Letter part..

Yes, you should include a cover letter and any other document that you think makes your case stronger.

And as you are the principal applicant, your husbands employment really doesnt matter much. The only thing you need to make sure that you dont provide any info which can be seen as misrepresentation.  If you have a offer letter for your husband from those jobs then you can put those along with a letter explaining that as the company is out of business we can not provide you with the ref letter. You can also include the salary statements.

e.g. Although I have not applied under CEC (our stay there was less than a year), I included proofs of my previous stay in Canada and the T4 form and salary statements for my husband. and also my education equivalence certificate.

Sapana

[victor.shareen]

Hello to everyone

and congratz on the great support you give here. Been reading this forum for so long and you gave me lots of useful information. But since I'm planning on applying myself with no consultant help (would it help to hire one if you are to follow the checklist word-by-word?), I do have some questions.
Me and my husband are under Rome's visa office and I am the principal applicant.

1. Spouse work experience
My husband worked only for 2 companies in the past and both were from another country (meaning hard to obtain and translate any documents since we are currently living in Greece). Last job was 2 years ago. From the first one he left after a fight, so no way to ask them now for a reference letter. The other company no longer exists. Here I need some advise from a senior. Should I just mention his experience without providing any supporting documents for it? Maybe it would be preferable to just say he was unemployed from the time he finished his studies? He has a master's degree, so education is no problem.  What would create less mess in the application?

2. Cover letter
In general do you provide cover letters with the application? Checklists seem to me very clear, but does a letter written by us help further? And if yes, what should it include?
Meaning, is there ANY other document/letter that is not mentioned in neither's CIO or VO checklist that applicants should include to make the case stronger?

3. Time frame
In order to save time we decided not to give the police certificates now, but wait (hoping that everything will work fine) the VO to ask for them later on. Could anyone estimate how long it takes for the application to be sent to the VO and when they will ask us to provide the police certificates? And how much time does the VO give you to submit them once they ask for them?

4. NOC numbers
My occupation is close to reach the cap and therefore I'm in quite a hurry to submit the application. If I understood correctly my application counts from the moment they open my envelop at the CIO? Or is there any chance that I send the application, they open it and process it later when the cap is already reached?

Any help please greatly appreciated

Hi Thalia,

1. If you are the main applicant, then i guess there should be no problem with ur husband's employment history....even my husband couldn't submit a reference letter....all he could manage were appraisal letters and pay slips....so i guess you could do the same thing...

2. Its always advised to use a cover letter. It looks more professional. You could provide them a write up about yourself, educational/work background, family background etc...But this isn't mandatory...

3. Though i had submitetd PCC at the initial stage along with the application, PCC is not required at the CIO stage...there are lot of applicants who haven't submitted PCC and still received their PER....It normally takes 4-5 months for the file to reach visa office.....this is only after you receive a PER (positive eligibility review)....and i guess they provide you 60 days after that to submit the necessary documents....Dont worry the visa office will issue a letter to you with clear instructions....

4. Your NOC cap is applicable from the moment they open your envelope....so if the cap is full by the time they open your envelope, they would return your application....if not they would start processing

Hope this info helps ....

Thanks,

Shareen

[victor.shareen]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/EG7.pdf

check out this link for info on PCC

[Thalia]

Thank you all so much for spending time to answer my questions.   
That cleared some things for me.

Yes, I am the main applicant, btw...

We tried to find some documents from his previous job. We found a letter confirming working period from one job and a recommendation letter from the other job. However they are both copies of the original  (still we'll have to translate them). Do you think that they are going to be that picky when it comes to spouse's work experience?
We are getting a bit stressed with submitting the application, and no much time to look for originals (if they still exist) and we want at least to send those 2 for translation to get things over with. Should I just go for it and hope they won't pay much attention to that?

And ehmmm.... once again.... thank you!