Hi everyone,
Today I received an email requesting additional documents for my OINP application. I should say they have asked for A LOT OF additional documents, most of which I can provide easily, but I have some questions about two of them. So I ask my questions first (in blue) and then at the end I will give a list of other documents that are requested just for sharing info (in green).
So my biggest concern is regarding work experience. I am a PhD student here in Ontario and have applied with my TA/RA work, which I have had since Jan 2013. The work experience letter I had included from the head of my department (i.e., my employer) does explain that my employment has been continuous and because of the nature of our job the hours I have worked and the payments I have received are varied throughout the period of employment. But the email from OINP asks that I explain all the gaps in my employment. There are particularly two months during summer 2013 that I didn't TA and my payroll shows 0 earning. I was wondering if there is a way to explain this by reference to the nature of the job. This is not a big problem, because even if I don't count the work before summer 2013, I sill do have 1560 hours if I count my RAships and my instructorships. But the problem with these is that the number of hours worked for these is not listed nicely in my payroll (you should infer it from the $ paid, etc). So I am wondering if someone could share their experience with explaining any gaps in their paychecks. I just have no idea how strict they are about this. I was hoping that my employer's mentioning that my employment has been continuous would be enough, but I am not sure anymore.
The other question I have is about showing intent to reside in Ontario. The email from OINP says I should submit "written statement explaining ties established in Ontario and intention to reside in the province", but I had already included in my application. They also ask that I submit the following: "Information/ documentation in support of your intention to reside in Ontario such as evidence of Ontario Labour Market Research, employment prospects for jobs related to your experience, job search/leads, any communications with employers in Ontario with potential job offers/ opportunities related to your professional background and experience." Because I live in Toronto, I was kind of hoping that showing intent to live in Ontario would be easy. But now it seems like it's going to be difficult to prove intent, particularly because my area is Philosophy and the only kind of job I can go into is academic, and academic job market just doesn't work by you contacting employers (not to mention the prospects of getting a position in Toronto or any particular place of your choosing are not so good). You apply for many many jobs AFTER you graduate, and there is really no point in contacting the employers directly. Also, I don't know if it would help or hurt my case to explain the situation in my intent letter, because the job I have applied under is TA/RA (4012), and the kind of job I will have after I finish my PhD is a bit different (lecturer/professor=4011). So I wonder if I am overthinking this or I should worry. How easy/difficult has it been for other people to show intent? I would really appreciate it if you could share your experience.
Alright, the rest of my post is just sharing info.
1) my IELTS results had expired in October, which resulted in my EE profile becoming ineligible for a while. Although I stressed so much over it, it seems like the fact that my EE profile was ineligible wasn't a big deal. Their email asks that I take IELTS again and send them my new results and info about my new EE profile, which I have already done. (The email only gives me 15 days for sending all the additional documents).
2) Education: they ask that I authorize WES to share my ECA reports.
3) Work experience: Aside from explaining the gaps, they ask for bank statements showing the payroll deposits as well as my tax slips
4) Bank statements for the last 5 months
5) Legal status: The study permit I sent them when I applied in February is now expired. So they are asking that I send my renewed study permit.
Thank you so much in advance and good luck to everyone!
