Hi everyone,
The reason why I am writing this post is because I have found this forum extremely useful for my application to Permanent Residency. As a “thank you”, I would like to share details of my application experience from top to bottom.
Before I continue, I would like to clarify that this post is mainly focus in Post Graduate Work Permit holders (PGWP) who are planning to apply within Canada and are currently working.
Background:
I went to the University of Victoria in BC. I did a Bachelor of Commerce (4 years) and later moved to Toronto (2012) with a PGWP which had an expiration date in August 10th, 2015 (max - 3 years’ work permit). I used to work in reinsurance multinational in the accounting department as an accountant technician. In late 2014 I moved to a different job (bank).
Concerns before being invited to apply:
1) I found about all the changes in the immigration system at the start of the year (2015). I already had the requirements (work experience), but I was concerned that I was not going to be invited to apply before my PGWP was set to expire.
2) POF concerns: When I created my Express Entry Profile, I put that I had $4,000 CAD. I put this as an estimate but my real amount was less than $3,000. Considering credit card debt, the “real net” amount was probably $1,500 at the time.
3) NOC: One of my main concerns was my NOC. The description of my position, “Technical Accountant” did not match all of the bullets from the CIC NOC website. Once I was invited to apply, I wrote the letter myself, contacted my HR department from my previous job (at that time I was already working in the bank) and hoped them to sign. I applied through NOC 1311.
4) Background check: if you look for my other posts in this forum, I have a very specific question which includes being detained by the police (drunk times). Not charged, so no criminal record, but I was still concern that it was going to come up during the background check from CIC and it could damage my application.
5) Passport Expiring: The passport that I had before applying had an expiration date of Nov. 2015. Even though I was planning to get a new passport, I thought this could hurt my application.
Process:
1) I was invited to apply at the end of March. So I had 60 days to collect all the support documents.
2) Passport: I applied using my old passport (at that time the only one I had) which was going to expire in November 2015.
3) Proof of Employment 1: The tricky document was the Proof of employment. I was already working on a different company (bank) and had to go back to my old company to ask them for help on this. So to make their life easier (and mine) I wrote the whole letter myself, and simply sent them the letter with a formal request to review it, edit it and sign it. Although this was my main concern, they replied fairly quickly. I really recommend everyone to write your own letter and match each of your duties to the CIC NOC description as much as possible. Make HR’s life easier and they will help.
4) Proof of Employment 2: I saw a lot of comments about what to include in the support document for this category. I included:
a. Letter of employment (Date when I started, date when I finished, salary). Letter contained details from the company (company logo, HR contact info, etc.)
b. Letter of job description (Dates, salary, and the description written by me). Letter contained details from the company (company logo, HR contact info, etc.)
c. Offer Letter (when I joined the company)
d. ROE (Record of Employment)
e. T4s and 2 Paystubs (2014 for T4 and random dates for the paystubs)
5) Background Check: in the CIC profile, when you are filling the information after you are invited to apply, they ask you the following question: “Have I ever been detained, incarcerated, or put in jail?”, which I answered Yes. I mentioned in the explanation letter that I had just been detained once and that I have no criminal records.
6) POF: I applied with a support document of $3,000 CAD approximately. Very different to the initial $4,000 that I mentioned when I created my profile.
I don’t think there are major issues/questions about the other documents that are requested to be uploaded so I will not comment on the rest.
Concerns after I applied:
1) I received AOR notification immediately after 5 min of submitting my application. I applied in May 7th, 2015.
2) Medical check changed 2 days after my application to approved.
3) Since my PGWP was expiring on the 10th of August 2015, I knew I had to get a Bridge of Work Permit.
4) At first I thought the AOR email that I received after I sent my application was enough to apply for a Bridge of Work Permit, in order to extent my stay in Canada and be able to keep working. However, after a month I found through this forum that the CIC had made an announcement of a second AOR which was required to get the Bridge Permit. I decided to wait for that second AOR until July. I never received the second AOR, so I applied to the Bridge of Work Permit and attached my first AOR letter only (I have not heard of any inland applicant who had a PGWP getting the second AOR btw). In order to apply to the Bridge of Work Permit I had to get my new passport, which I did.
5) Request of additional documents: on August 7th, I received a request from CIC to upload scanned copies of my new passport to the system. At this point, I already had my new passport. This was a good sign since by that time it had been exactly 3 months from the date that I applied. I thought to myself, they would not ask me for additional documents (especially the passport) if things were not on track to a good outcome.
6) Implied status: On August 11th, my permit had expired, and I was officially in implied status. I was concern about this, especially when HR started asking for my SIN # being expired. I showed them the CIC website that showed proof that I can work legally under implied status as long as I had applied to the extension of the work permit (Bridge) before my PGWP expires. They didn’t give me any more problems after I sent them links.
7) Passport Request (PPR): On August 13th, I received a notification in my CIC inbox with the request of passport. At this point I knew I was in. All my concerns regarding POF, NOC, Background check, etc. were gone.
8) One August 14th (Friday) I send my passport to CIC. One thing to consider for people sending their passports. The tracking number of any package that you send to CIC is usually not updated to “delivered” because nobody signs for the package (it’s a PO Box). However, if you call Canada Post, they will be able to tell you if the package was delivered or not. Mine was delivered on August 17th.
9) Received Confirmation of PR: On August 21st, I received a package from CIC with my Confirmation of Permanent Residency Letter.
10) Landed: On August 28th (yesterday), I did first time landing. I did it on the Niagra bridge (don’t know the exact name). It takes about 1-2 hours.
My view on the Express Entry:
That is my story. At the start of the year I saw a lot of hate towards this new system. Specially from International Students. Even a couple of articles from the Globe and Mail. I, myself, was an International student and I was really upset about these changes in the system. However, I think this system is not that bad. The fact that my PR was processed within less than 4 months is amazing compared to the old system. Perhaps I am being bias. I don’t know. I definitely know that it has affected lots of PGWP holders (including my friends), but I think that now, with the feedback that people are giving from their experiences with this new system, you can organize/make a plan to obtain high points. I disagree with those people that said that “CIC abandoned us”.
My advice for PGWP holders:
My advice for PGWP is to get as many points as possible. Make your profile as soon as you can. Even when you don’t have that many points – who knows, maybe there is a draw where they call people with lower points. Get a really good mark in the English test (this seems easy for someone that has studied in Canada but it’s not that easy as there is a technique). Be honest in every single question and attach an explanation letter with details when you think you need to explain something.
Also, don’t use a lawyer. It is a waste of time and money. Your application should be fairly easy (note I am only referring to PGWP holders). I got quotes from lawyers to do my application from anywhere ranging from 3K-10K (for a single applicant). Do your research, read from sources that contain links to the CIC website. Also, read this forum, it is extremely useful and it keeps you updated. If you put the time, you don’t need to spend money in a lawyer.
Hope this long post helps someone in the future.
Best to everyone.
Alfredo.
The reason why I am writing this post is because I have found this forum extremely useful for my application to Permanent Residency. As a “thank you”, I would like to share details of my application experience from top to bottom.
Before I continue, I would like to clarify that this post is mainly focus in Post Graduate Work Permit holders (PGWP) who are planning to apply within Canada and are currently working.
Background:
I went to the University of Victoria in BC. I did a Bachelor of Commerce (4 years) and later moved to Toronto (2012) with a PGWP which had an expiration date in August 10th, 2015 (max - 3 years’ work permit). I used to work in reinsurance multinational in the accounting department as an accountant technician. In late 2014 I moved to a different job (bank).
Concerns before being invited to apply:
1) I found about all the changes in the immigration system at the start of the year (2015). I already had the requirements (work experience), but I was concerned that I was not going to be invited to apply before my PGWP was set to expire.
2) POF concerns: When I created my Express Entry Profile, I put that I had $4,000 CAD. I put this as an estimate but my real amount was less than $3,000. Considering credit card debt, the “real net” amount was probably $1,500 at the time.
3) NOC: One of my main concerns was my NOC. The description of my position, “Technical Accountant” did not match all of the bullets from the CIC NOC website. Once I was invited to apply, I wrote the letter myself, contacted my HR department from my previous job (at that time I was already working in the bank) and hoped them to sign. I applied through NOC 1311.
4) Background check: if you look for my other posts in this forum, I have a very specific question which includes being detained by the police (drunk times). Not charged, so no criminal record, but I was still concern that it was going to come up during the background check from CIC and it could damage my application.
5) Passport Expiring: The passport that I had before applying had an expiration date of Nov. 2015. Even though I was planning to get a new passport, I thought this could hurt my application.
Process:
1) I was invited to apply at the end of March. So I had 60 days to collect all the support documents.
2) Passport: I applied using my old passport (at that time the only one I had) which was going to expire in November 2015.
3) Proof of Employment 1: The tricky document was the Proof of employment. I was already working on a different company (bank) and had to go back to my old company to ask them for help on this. So to make their life easier (and mine) I wrote the whole letter myself, and simply sent them the letter with a formal request to review it, edit it and sign it. Although this was my main concern, they replied fairly quickly. I really recommend everyone to write your own letter and match each of your duties to the CIC NOC description as much as possible. Make HR’s life easier and they will help.
4) Proof of Employment 2: I saw a lot of comments about what to include in the support document for this category. I included:
a. Letter of employment (Date when I started, date when I finished, salary). Letter contained details from the company (company logo, HR contact info, etc.)
b. Letter of job description (Dates, salary, and the description written by me). Letter contained details from the company (company logo, HR contact info, etc.)
c. Offer Letter (when I joined the company)
d. ROE (Record of Employment)
e. T4s and 2 Paystubs (2014 for T4 and random dates for the paystubs)
5) Background Check: in the CIC profile, when you are filling the information after you are invited to apply, they ask you the following question: “Have I ever been detained, incarcerated, or put in jail?”, which I answered Yes. I mentioned in the explanation letter that I had just been detained once and that I have no criminal records.
6) POF: I applied with a support document of $3,000 CAD approximately. Very different to the initial $4,000 that I mentioned when I created my profile.
I don’t think there are major issues/questions about the other documents that are requested to be uploaded so I will not comment on the rest.
Concerns after I applied:
1) I received AOR notification immediately after 5 min of submitting my application. I applied in May 7th, 2015.
2) Medical check changed 2 days after my application to approved.
3) Since my PGWP was expiring on the 10th of August 2015, I knew I had to get a Bridge of Work Permit.
4) At first I thought the AOR email that I received after I sent my application was enough to apply for a Bridge of Work Permit, in order to extent my stay in Canada and be able to keep working. However, after a month I found through this forum that the CIC had made an announcement of a second AOR which was required to get the Bridge Permit. I decided to wait for that second AOR until July. I never received the second AOR, so I applied to the Bridge of Work Permit and attached my first AOR letter only (I have not heard of any inland applicant who had a PGWP getting the second AOR btw). In order to apply to the Bridge of Work Permit I had to get my new passport, which I did.
5) Request of additional documents: on August 7th, I received a request from CIC to upload scanned copies of my new passport to the system. At this point, I already had my new passport. This was a good sign since by that time it had been exactly 3 months from the date that I applied. I thought to myself, they would not ask me for additional documents (especially the passport) if things were not on track to a good outcome.
6) Implied status: On August 11th, my permit had expired, and I was officially in implied status. I was concern about this, especially when HR started asking for my SIN # being expired. I showed them the CIC website that showed proof that I can work legally under implied status as long as I had applied to the extension of the work permit (Bridge) before my PGWP expires. They didn’t give me any more problems after I sent them links.
7) Passport Request (PPR): On August 13th, I received a notification in my CIC inbox with the request of passport. At this point I knew I was in. All my concerns regarding POF, NOC, Background check, etc. were gone.
8) One August 14th (Friday) I send my passport to CIC. One thing to consider for people sending their passports. The tracking number of any package that you send to CIC is usually not updated to “delivered” because nobody signs for the package (it’s a PO Box). However, if you call Canada Post, they will be able to tell you if the package was delivered or not. Mine was delivered on August 17th.
9) Received Confirmation of PR: On August 21st, I received a package from CIC with my Confirmation of Permanent Residency Letter.
10) Landed: On August 28th (yesterday), I did first time landing. I did it on the Niagra bridge (don’t know the exact name). It takes about 1-2 hours.
My view on the Express Entry:
That is my story. At the start of the year I saw a lot of hate towards this new system. Specially from International Students. Even a couple of articles from the Globe and Mail. I, myself, was an International student and I was really upset about these changes in the system. However, I think this system is not that bad. The fact that my PR was processed within less than 4 months is amazing compared to the old system. Perhaps I am being bias. I don’t know. I definitely know that it has affected lots of PGWP holders (including my friends), but I think that now, with the feedback that people are giving from their experiences with this new system, you can organize/make a plan to obtain high points. I disagree with those people that said that “CIC abandoned us”.
My advice for PGWP holders:
My advice for PGWP is to get as many points as possible. Make your profile as soon as you can. Even when you don’t have that many points – who knows, maybe there is a draw where they call people with lower points. Get a really good mark in the English test (this seems easy for someone that has studied in Canada but it’s not that easy as there is a technique). Be honest in every single question and attach an explanation letter with details when you think you need to explain something.
Also, don’t use a lawyer. It is a waste of time and money. Your application should be fairly easy (note I am only referring to PGWP holders). I got quotes from lawyers to do my application from anywhere ranging from 3K-10K (for a single applicant). Do your research, read from sources that contain links to the CIC website. Also, read this forum, it is extremely useful and it keeps you updated. If you put the time, you don’t need to spend money in a lawyer.
Hope this long post helps someone in the future.
Best to everyone.
Alfredo.
