FSW - Small gap in 1 year work experience

[joey19802]

Hello all,

I am reaching out for guidance and insights regarding my Express Entry application for immigration. Here's a brief overview of my situation:

I worked at a company in New York from January 31, 2019, to November 6, 2019. Subsequently, I transitioned to my second job in Seattle, which commenced on November 18, 2019, and concluded on October 9, 2020. I needed these few days to relocate and move into a new place in a different city.

I am seeking to claim points for one year of experience under the same NOC code. However, there seems to be conflicting information regarding the acceptability of short gaps between employment. Some sources suggest that continuous experience must be without a single-day gap, while others mention the discretion of the visa officer.

Upon submitting my Express Entry profile online, I noticed that the system accepts only the month and year without specifying the dates, making me eligible for the points according to my CRS score. My concern is whether this will pose an issue when I submit my supporting documents.

Could anyone with any experience on this please advise?

Thank you,

 

[scylla]

Hello all,

I am reaching out for guidance and insights regarding my Express Entry application for immigration. Here's a brief overview of my situation:

I worked at a company in New York from January 31, 2019, to November 6, 2019. Subsequently, I transitioned to my second job in Seattle, which commenced on November 18, 2019, and concluded on October 9, 2020. I needed these few days to relocate and move into a new place in a different city.

I am seeking to claim points for one year of experience under the same NOC code. However, there seems to be conflicting information regarding the acceptability of short gaps between employment. Some sources suggest that continuous experience must be without a single-day gap, while others mention the discretion of the visa officer.

Upon submitting my Express Entry profile online, I noticed that the system accepts only the month and year without specifying the dates, making me eligible for the points according to my CRS score. My concern is whether this will pose an issue when I submit my supporting documents.

Could anyone with any experience on this please advise?

Thank you,

Your work experience needs to be continuous. Technically this means no gaps at all. There is always some discretion with the visa officer. Your gap is close to two weeks so you would certainly be at risk of refusal.

 

[joey19802]

Your work experience needs to be continuous. Technically this means no gaps at all. There is always some discretion with the visa officer. Your gap is close to two weeks so you would certainly be at risk of refusal.

Appreciate the response. Excluding weekends, I notice that it's exactly 7 days technically. I've seen other posts where members were able to provide a letter explaining the gap which is moving to a new job location. That being said, do you think it's unwise for me to apply? Right now, my case sounds like a 50-50 from what I'm hearing folks say.

 

[scylla]

Appreciate the response. Excluding weekends, I notice that it's exactly 7 days technically. I've seen other posts where members were able to provide a letter explaining the gap which is moving to a new job location. That being said, do you think it's unwise for me to apply? Right now, my case sounds like a 50-50 from what I'm hearing folks say.

You're free to apply. Just be aware that IRCC may say your work experience is not continuous. Ultimately your choice if you apply or not.

Do you already have ITA?

 

[joey19802]

You're free to apply. Just be aware that IRCC may say your work experience is not continuous. Ultimately your choice if you apply or not.

Do you already have ITA?

Thank you for your prompt responses; I'm inclined to submit my application. It's difficult for me to comprehend that my 20 months of experience in the USA will hold no weight in Canada simply due to a 7-day gap caused by relocation.

Unfortunately, I haven't received an ITA yet. My score is currently at 520, and I anticipate the cutoff will decrease soon. Hence, I'm proactively gathering my documents to be well-prepared.

 

[joey19802]

Your work experience needs to be continuous. Technically this means no gaps at all. There is always some discretion with the visa officer. Your gap is close to two weeks so you would certainly be at risk of refusal.

Sorry, I had another question. I'm applying under CEC. This post below linked and a lot of others I saw mentioned that if you're applying for CEC and satisfy the 1 year work exp for CEC, the foreign work experience gap won't matter. Is this valid? One of the posts mentions that here -

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/applying-for-cec-foreign-work-experience-question.683790/

 

[scylla]

Thank you for your prompt responses; I'm inclined to submit my application. It's difficult for me to comprehend that my 20 months of experience in the USA will hold no weight in Canada simply due to a 7-day gap caused by relocation.

Unfortunately, I haven't received an ITA yet. My score is currently at 520, and I anticipate the cutoff will decrease soon. Hence, I'm proactively gathering my documents to be well-prepared.

Ultimately it's going to be up to IRCC. None of us here can tell you what the outcome will be.