Hi all,
My partner and I applied for FSW NOC 2173 in August 2014, both of us have valid job offers in reputed MNCs in Calgary. CIC deducted our application fees from our credit card in early November 2014 and we received our file number in mid December 2014. We thought everything looked good, and we would soon have our medical request! However, in the first week of January our file was returned with a letter dated November 21st that we had a wrong NOC code. Despite being as careful as we were while filling out our application, we didn't realize that we submitted a Schedule 11 for Federal Skilled Traders instead of Schedule 3 for Federal Skilled Workers (hence, the NOC didn't match)- it was a human error and we take full responsibility of our mistake. However, CIC took 1.5 months to return this file while we were in Canada? Seems a bit unfair that the file reached us in January - when the new Express Entry was in effect. And how can they issue a file number AFTER they've decided the file in incomplete? We were kept in the dark about our file being returned all along and in all my many emails to CIC in November and December. We consulted many lawyers, created an Express Entry profile instantly and even sent our file back to CIC Sydney, with a detailed cover letter explaining the error and attaching the new Schedule 3 for FSW - however, this file was returned back to us within a week with a letter saying we could ONLY apply though Express Entry now. Funny enough, we can access our file online and it still shows 'in process'. Our current PGWP expire end of April. When we resent our file the second time (in February), we applied for an online extension of our permit based on our old file number and the fact that our status still shows 'in process' online. However, our file was returned again and we are not sure where we stand - current processing times are 53 business days for an online application and we don't expect to hear from CIC until the first week of April - this is frustrating and ridiculous with their backlogs considering permits and visas never took more than 15 days in 2014.
Both our employers, as much as they like us, will be unable to give us LMIAs since they have thousands of employees and it is difficult to prove why they can't hire a Canadian. Having said this, our current Express Entry score is in the 480s and my partner is yet to give his IELTS/CELPIP - no dates until may however. Due to the time we lost in our first FSW application, we are now eligible for FSW and CEC under the new express entry. As much as we would like to wait for the scores to come down, we are running out of time and our employers cannot loose us. We have contacted our MP for support and explained how CIC deliberately delayed sending our file looking at timelines and we were under the notion we were ok as we had a file number - but there has been no response from her.
We live in Calgary and Alberta PNP is not an option as everyone is very well aware of.
We have done everything we could and are hoping our work permit application comes through or we will have to file a paper based work permit to buy more time and hope the scores come down. CIC has been extremely unfair to our case, and as much as we do not demand permanent residency, I think CIC could have done a better job in their communication. We are two very highly qualified individuals in reputed jobs that we earned and applied for - one would think we deserve permanent residency based on our qualifications, job skills, eligibility scores and the fact we've been living here for years, paying high tax $$ and contributing to the economy.
