HELP!!! work experience short of a week

[prashjcha]

Hi Members,

I am an august 2013 applicant. I just figured out that work experience would be calculated from the date pgwp was issued. So in my case here is what my work experience looks like

I started working with my current employer from 23rd June 2012 till November 30th 2012 on contract full time from an agency. After that i went on a month long vacation and came to start working with same company from 7th January 2013 till date as a permanent employee.

I sent my application on 15th August 2013 but my reference letter was dated on 9th August 2013.

I received my pgwp on 11th july 2012. Which means if i start calculating my weeks from 11th july the calculation would be

11th July - november 30 :- 20 weeks and 2 days
7th January - august 9th (reference letter date):- 31 weeks

So basically i am short of 3 days.

What do you guys suggest. Should i send the exact same reference letter with present date because i am still working in the same company and also send an explation letter that the reference date was dated on 9th August which short than 52 weeks mark and that is the reason i am sending and updated letter to prove my 52 weeks work.

I have received my aor in october and fyi all the weeks are more than 30 hours.

Please suggest friends what should i do.

 

[prashjcha]

Any suggestions guys????

I have one more question. So they consider the work experience from the date the pgwp was issued till the date reference letter was dated. I am short of only 3 days because my reference letter was dated on 9th August but my application was received on 19th August.

Should i send the exact same reference letter dated today with my pay stubs or send only the pay stubs till August 19th to prove that i am still working in the company and this way i will have work experience counted till 19th August which will be 52 weeks and some days more.

 

[Goku]

Was your off-campus work permit valid when you got your PGWP ???

If yes, then you work experience will be considered from 23rd June. I had same issue; I called CIC and I confirmed that "Experience will be considered on Off-campus work permit if it is valid when you have applied for PGWP. If not, then your experience will be considered from 11the July.

I think 3 days should be ok, and even if VO figures out this thing they will ask for another Reference Letter. You should consider updating your reference letter, and send them explanation letter for sending them another reference letter.

 

[rinkupatel.dmj]

I guess we should not worry. Since, I am also in the same situation like as we prepare for applying we start collecting the documents well in advance hence sometimes we end up making silly mistakes like this.
However, in my case they mentioned the date when I joined the company i.e. when my I was having my Off-Campus WP & was waiting for my PGWP. But, I didn't want to take any chances so I waited until completion of 1 yr on my PGWP by applying with my experience letter falling short of 4 days.
However, since we are still employed at the same company we can do....
I got my T4 for Year: 2013 & I already filed for my e-tax for which I soon will be receiving my Notice of Assessment from CRA. So, I am gonna write a Cover-Letter informing to update my T4 information on my application and also briefing about timeline of my employment, like which you mentioned above.

Hope that convince VO. Fingers Crossed.

 

[LPS]

I'm not sure about the finer points of PGWP, off-campus permits etc.

But it sounds like you intend to send new reference letters, basically asking the VO to consider work experience that accrued after you applied for CEC. You should be warned that this is unlikely to work. The twelve months experience has to be within the three years before you applied.

As for the idea that the VO will disregard a shortfall of 'only' three or four days, I suppose anything is possible. But, by all accounts, VOs are pretty strict about the twelve month rule.

 

[prashjcha]

Was your off-campus work permit valid when you got your PGWP ???

If yes, then you work experience will be considered from 23rd June. I had same issue; I called CIC and I confirmed that "Experience will be considered on Off-campus work permit if it is valid when you have applied for PGWP. If not, then your experience will be considered from 11the July.

I think 3 days should be ok, and even if VO figures out this thing they will ask for another Reference Letter. You should consider updating your reference letter, and send them explanation letter for sending them another reference letter.

Thanks for your reply. Its good to hear that one of the CIC call center staff confirmed it. I just called CIC and the lady on the phone said that any work starting from the date of PGWP issued will be considered and not off-campus even if you are graduated and waiting for your PGWP. So i guess they are really confused that what actual rule is. But i will definitely send an updated reference letter with an explanation letter to support 52 weeks work experience. I am also planning to send my paystub for few more weeks just to make my claim little bit more strong.

 

[prashjcha]

I'm not sure about the finer points of PGWP, off-campus permits etc.

But it sounds like you intend to send new reference letters, basically asking the VO to consider work experience that accrued after you applied for CEC. You should be warned that this is unlikely to work. The twelve months experience has to be within the three years before you applied.

As for the idea that the VO will disregard a shortfall of 'only' three or four days, I suppose anything is possible. But, by all accounts, VOs are pretty strict about the twelve month rule.

Yeah somewhat like that but the reference letter that i have was dated on 9th August and my application reached on 19th August. So i was planning to send reference letter to consider those 10 days gap in my work experience. I will be sending my paystub from August 9th to August 19th. As i am short of only 3 days i guess if they consider work experience till they received my CEC application i should be fine. I dont want them to consider any experience after August 19th.

Do you think that even make sense and if they would consider work experience till August 19th when they received my CEC application if i send them enough proof that i was still employed and paid till they received the application.

 

[LPS]

Yeah somewhat like that but the reference letter that i have was dated on 9th August and my application reached on 19th August. So i was planning to send reference letter to consider those 10 days gap in my work experience. I will be sending my paystub from August 9th to August 19th. As i am short of only 3 days i guess if they consider work experience till they received my CEC application i should be fine. I dont want them to consider any experience after August 19th.

Do you think that even make sense and if they would consider work experience till August 19th when they received my CEC application if i send them enough proof that i was still employed and paid till they received the application.

Actually I'm not sure about that, but it is interesting.

From the CEC manual (emphasis added):

Applicants must have 12 months of full-time, Canadian skilled work experience (or the
equivalent in part-time work experience) in one or more NOC 0, A or B occupations within
the 36 months preceding the date on which their application is received.

The consensus is that the date the reference letter was signed is vital, because the letter attests to your job duties during a period of time, and it is your job duties that ultimately determine whether your work experience meets the definition of 'skilled'. All pay stubs and T4s can really prove is that you were paid to do some kind of work.

Now, they certainly do not consider work experience gained after you applied for CEC. As for whether they'll allow you to fill in the gap between your reference letter date and your application date with supplementary documents? I strongly doubt that they'll allow this either, but I'm sure stranger things have happened.

 

[prashjcha]

Actually I'm not sure about that, but it is interesting.

From the CEC manual (emphasis added):

The consensus is that the date the reference letter was signed is vital, because the letter attests to your job duties during a period of time, and it is your job duties that ultimately determine whether your work experience meets the definition of 'skilled'. All pay stubs and T4s can really prove is that you were paid to do some kind of work.

Now, they certainly do not consider work experience gained after you applied for CEC. As for whether they'll allow you to fill in the gap between your reference letter date and your application date with supplementary documents? I strongly doubt that they'll allow this either, but I'm sure stranger things have happened.

Yes that is the reason i was thinking about sending the same reference letter but dated on different date like 19th August or may be even today's date. So this will support my paystubs that i was indeed paid for the same work and job duties.

At least its good they consider experience till the date of application received. Now i guess its just sending the supporting documents to convince VO to consider those 10 days gap and then wait for the result.

Thanks for the manual reference.

 

[jsm0085]

1) They will not count any experience gained after the application received date, even with a new ref. letter.
2) CEC is pass of fail, if you have a shortfall of the requirements, you will fail the test and your application will be rejected.

Their is no discretion when it comes to eligibility.

 

[prashjcha]

1) They will not count any experience gained after the application received date, even with a new ref. letter.
2) CEC is pass of fail, if you have a shortfall of the requirements, you will fail the test and your application will be rejected.

Their is no discretion when it comes to eligibility.

Yes and i don't want them to count any experience after the application received date. Just want them to count experience up to application received date.

 

[jsm0085]

11th July - November 30 :- 20 weeks and 2 days
7th January - august 9th (reference letter date):- 31 weeks

This makes you short - so you would fail the test.

If you intend to count the time you were employed by agency: -

1) You will need a ref. letter from the agency confirming the employment.
2) You will need a ref. letter from your existing employer confirming the duties you undertook during the time you were employed by the agency.

But as it stands you are short of a few days, so chances are your app would be rejected.

 

[prashjcha]

This is from the cec manual. Link to cec manual
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op25A-eng.pdf

Any period of employment during which the applicant was engaged in full-time study will not be included in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (e.g. work experience gained through co-op work permits, off-campus work permits while a full-time student and on-campus work permits). [R87.1(3)(a)]

There is a post on trackit with same question. The guy who asked question went ahead and submitted the CEC file and he got PR. He had few months of work under off campus work permit after graduation while waiting for PGWP. This is the direct quote of his

I applied after I had one year full time one experience. Part of which was under off-campus and part was on the full time work permit. CIC approved the experience that was under off-campus work permit as well. You can call in CIC just to remove any other factors that might be involved in your case.

The link to the trackit post
trackitt.com/discussion-forums/canadian-experience-class/269730399/is-my-work-experience-enough

This is good news because if this is true than i am way above 52 week mark. Because my work experience would start from 23rd June instead of 11th July.

 

[jsm0085]

Just because one OP says he got through, doesn't mean you will.

They are clear, as per the OP, that experience from OCWP will not be counted. The other guy, if telling the truth, got lucky.

You shouldn't place your bets on this as you are likely to be disappointed. If you are still working, you should just put in a new application, as you will have the required 52 weeks of experience.

 

[prashjcha]

Just because one OP says he got through, doesn't mean you will.

They are clear, as per the OP, that experience from OCWP will not be counted. The other guy, if telling the truth, got lucky.

You shouldn't place your bets on this as you are likely to be disappointed. If you are still working, you should just put in a new application, as you will have the required 52 weeks of experience.

Did you even read the actual post. Are you making up things on you own? Its the same OP who posted back the same question in the form has replied after an year or so to inform that his few months of OCWP after graduation was considered. ITS FEW MONTHS OF OCWP AFTER GRADUATION NOT FEW DAYS.

Anyways i guess you have not even read my post properly. I am seeing you have been stating the same thing over and over again that experience after the application received date is not counted. But who the heck cares about experience after application date. Did you even see that 3 days short are because i calculated experience till 9th August and while my application received date is 19th August.

If you dont have time to read and understand the actual post than i would suggest not to keep blabbering your points over here.