This is the email I sent to Alberta today keeping up my word that I will take some action. Here is the email:
Dear Immigration Officer and Head of Provincial Nomination Program,
I am deeply disappointed in the recent communication received from Alberta Department of Immigration. I had applied under NOC code 2171 last year March end/April beginning and received a file number in August. My details are below. Day before yesterday, I received a notification stating my file has been closed until 2011 unless I receive a valid employment letter from Alberta.
Here are some reasons why I feel this communication was inappropriate and may undermine confidence of would be immigrants to the province of Alberta:
1) This was not the original deal. Originally, when I applied, a job offer was not a requirement. At no point during the process, job offer became a requirement. Had I known that my file would have been closed one year down the road so abruptly, I would have pursued other immigration options that are now not available to me due to lapse of time.
2) Alberta had already removed IT related NOC codes from the list in May. It should have honored the IT codes that were in place for applications received prior to the May cut-off date. The choice to undermine its credibility at the gain of fending off extra IT candidates is an unfortunate decision. Reputations live longer than actions sometimes.
3) The automatic assumption that candidates that belong to a certain NOC code would end up working in technology is also misguided. I applied as part of NOC 2171 (Business Analyst) but most of my work experience in the United States has been with the world’s biggest retailers including Canadian retailers. I was planning to work in the logistics/supply chain sector in Calgary, something entirely non-IT and perhaps so pertinent to a modern city like Calgary, but somehow I was typecast in the NOC code that was not entirely representative of my skill-set and experience. While the selection of the NOC code was mine, the decision to typecast all candidates falling in a certain NOC code to be outside the “in demand” occupations was not mine.
4) The requirement to obtain a job offer by April 2011 from a distant land is too cumbersome. How do you propose candidates who are sitting across the country to be able to obtain a legitimate job offer? In all likelihood, most candidates were planning on acclimatizing themselves in their newly adopted home and then begin to look for a job in the area they’d like to contribute to the Albertan economy.
5) Above all, from an ethical and moral standpoint, Dear Head of PNP program, how would you have felt if you were in my shoes and you had applied in the right category, right time, right NOC code, right paperwork, and arguably the right province that boasts of a high quality of life of its citizens, only to have been rejected on grounds not in your control and not part of the original requirement after waiting for more than a year? If you can answer this question for me, I’d happily ignore all 4 points above.
Finally, all is not lost. If you renege on your recent unfortunate decision, you’d be a bigger organization for recognizing that something wrong has been done and it should be rectified.
Warm Regards,
(My Name)
