Re: A Word About the Nurse Cap on Marc Laforce's BLOG
mlaforce said:
Dear Forum:
Allow me to reply on some of the remarks regarding our BLOG entry with respect to the nurse cap.
Public forums are fun to read but can be harsh and dead-wrong at times.
The question of police reports at the CIO stage is irrelevant as CIC advises applicants not to submit their police certificates in this stage - precisely because they have limited validity and they will expire by the time the application is forwarded to the visa post.
On whether work references need to be "recent" is not true. Experience can go back 10 years; does that mean you need a recent verification letter for a job that took place in 2004? And what if the supervisor or manager, let alone the company, is no longer in place? We submit "old" references all the time and CIC will accept them if they believe it to be accurate and truthful at the time it was signed. And don't estimate the power of providing a reasonable explanation on your cover letter as to why you're submitting a six-month verification letter in the first place.
The comment about forms is valid - but CIC generally allows for a reasonable transition period whereby an old form is accepted provided there's no policy change.
But the most critical point here for those sceptical people is this. What strategy do they have? Give up? Do nothing? One of the forum people remarked that it took many months for the cap to be reached and that the same will be true next year. Perhaps- but that was for the year the cap was introduced (in 2010). For those of you familiar with the US system, whereby a cap can be reached within days, a similar situation will exist in Canada; and that was my point in my BLOG. The fact that the nurse cap is closed now doesn't mean that all prospect clients are suddenly going to give up on their plans to file in Canada. Stock-piling applications have been a reality in many countries that have a cap system. (And Canada is new to the CAP system for this particular stream.) True, some prefer to file when they have absolute assurance about the future. And that's fine. Others, who follow the labour market closely, we'll make an assumption that the nurse profession will continue to see demand. If people begin to stock-pile applications today, and if you believe that there's a high chance that the application will be eligible next year in July 2011, then you have to assume that there's a chance that CIC will receive 1000 applications in a single day - just like USCIS received over 64,000 H-1B applications in a single day for many years (until now - true).
"Blatant scaremongering" to "drum up trade" theory. That's a harsh statement. If you read the tone of the BLOG, it is meant to reassure and calm people down. More to the point, our BLOGS are worded for the benefit of our Clients. There's no additional "trade" to win - those are our existing clients.
I say stock-pile is the way of the future (unfortunately) - it is inevitable in a cap regime.
Mr. LaForce:
I remember a while back when a few paragraphs of your blog were posted here by an applicant. Just a few comments:
In the original blog segment posted here you were recommending people to submit applications to you for stockpiling not only for nurses NOC 3152, but also for professional services to management NOC 1122.
While no one truly knows whether these NOCs are going to be listed again by the Ministry this July, you went further on your blog to suggest there were behind the scenes talks going on by certain law firms with CIC. These talks were aimed to convince CIC to accept more applications than the 1000 cap in various NOCs, because the 20,000 general cap will no not be reached.
While I have no idea what is taking place "behind the scenes," I can certainly tell you from what I have read to date from Minister Kenney, that accepting more than 1000 applications in any NOC goes directly against what CIC is trying to accomplish. The caps are there for a reason; that is how many people they feel they need in each of those categories.
Now for informational purposes, if some applicants believe what you are saying, and submit their applications to you to be stockpiled, could you tell us how much you charge for this service? And if your behind the scene efforts with CIC fail, they don't accept more applications above the 1000 cap, and the NOCs applications are submitted under disappear come July 2011, how much of their money can applicants expect to get back?
You wrote: "Public forums are fun to read but can be harsh and dead-wrong at times." I disagree, for the most up to date info of what is taking place with the post June 26 applicants, this is the best place to come for accurate information. Our spreadsheet alone can generally determine within a few days when your application would be cashed after receipt at CIO. Similarly most people can determine when they would receive their email for passing the final eligibility review. Furthermore, any changes in application guidelines are immediately discovered by one of our forum members... I honestly believe most attorneys and consultants would benefit immensely from reading this forum.
All in my opinion,
Cam
