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Paid/UnPaid Vacation

bharat1369

Star Member
Jan 8, 2014
66
3
Since its been a while after my medicals are submitted, I have a concern regarding about my application.

I had started working form 15 April 2013 and had taken a vacation for 5 weeks in December out of which I got 3 and half weeks of vacation paid out and some were statutory holiday even that was paid and around 51 hours(7 days) of unpaid vacation or Leave Without Pay.

I have applied under Canadian Experience Class on 4 th May 2014. So i did waited for couple of weeks in order to cover my unpaid hours or Leave without pay.

This is bothering me as some people say that the paid leave are counted towards your experience.

Can somebody can assist me in this or what steps should i take...

Reply will be appreciated.
 
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jes_ON

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Jun 22, 2009
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bharat1369 said:
I had started working form 15 April 2013 and had taken a vacation for 5 weeks in December out of which I got 3 and half weeks of vacation paid out and some were statutory holiday even that was paid and around 51 hours(7 days) of unpaid vacation or Leave Without Pay.

I have applied under Canadian Experience Class on 4 th May 2014. So i did waited for couple of weeks in order to cover my unpaid hours or Leave without pay.

This is bothering me as some people say that the paid leave are counted towards your experience.

Can somebody can assist me in this or what steps should i take...
Well, it doesn't matter so much what "some people" say, only what CIC says. CIC says:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/perm/econ/cec/work.asp
"An allowance for a reasonable period of vacation time will generally be made in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (e.g., a two-week period of paid vacation leave within a given 52-week period in which the applicant was engaged in qualifying work experience). An allowance for normal vacation time during a period of qualifying work experience cannot be used as a substitute or proxy for meeting the in-Canada element of the work experience requirement (i.e., work experience obtained outside Canada will not be considered as though the applicant had been on a period of vacation in order to be counted as part of the period of in-Canada work experience). While officers will account for a reasonable period of vacation time in calculating the period of qualifying work experience in Canada, each application is considered on its own merits with a final decision based on a review of all the information available to the officer at the time of decision."

Whether or not CIC would give full credit to 3 1/2 weeks of paid vacation is uncertain. The unpaid time, definitely not. So you definitely cut it close, but it's good that you had at least 2 weeks extra time...
 
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bharat1369

Star Member
Jan 8, 2014
66
3
jes_ON said:
Well, it doesn't matter so much what "some people" say, only what CIC says. CIC says:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/perm/econ/cec/work.asp
"An allowance for a reasonable period of vacation time will generally be made in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (e.g., a two-week period of paid vacation leave within a given 52-week period in which the applicant was engaged in qualifying work experience). An allowance for normal vacation time during a period of qualifying work experience cannot be used as a substitute or proxy for meeting the in-Canada element of the work experience requirement (i.e., work experience obtained outside Canada will not be considered as though the applicant had been on a period of vacation in order to be counted as part of the period of in-Canada work experience). While officers will account for a reasonable period of vacation time in calculating the period of qualifying work experience in Canada, each application is considered on its own merits with a final decision based on a review of all the information available to the officer at the time of decision."

Whether or not CIC would give full credit to 3 1/2 weeks of paid vacation is uncertain. The unpaid time, definitely not. So you definitely cut it close, but it's good that you had at least 2 weeks extra time...
Thank you for the reply, but one more thing i just noticed that on my offer letter, they have specified 3 weeks of vacation time period.

Would this can help me to save....
 
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jes_ON

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Jun 22, 2009
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bharat1369 said:
Thank you for the reply, but one more thing i just noticed that on my offer letter, they have specified 3 weeks of vacation time period.

Would this can help me to save....
Well, I hope you meant that in the Letter of Employment that you included with your application, that your employer mentioned 3 weeks of paid vacation as a benefit. If so, it may help. But it will still be up to the VO to determine whether that's a reasonable amount of time.
 

bharat1369

Star Member
Jan 8, 2014
66
3
jes_ON said:
Well, I hope you meant that in the Letter of Employment that you included with your application, that your employer mentioned 3 weeks of paid vacation as a benefit. If so, it may help. But it will still be up to the VO to determine whether that's a reasonable amount of time.
Thank you, Will wait for the response by cic....
 

gta88

Hero Member
Jun 30, 2018
575
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Thank you, Will wait for the response by cic....
Can you share what happened later?
A friend of mine is working in Canada for last 2 years in Noc A position.
He took 2 unpaid leaves of 1 month each to see his family while working in Canada. Can he apply under CEC? He gets a score of 490 if he counts his Canadian experience of 2 years. But as @jes_ON said, a 2 weeks period is considered a reasonable time. Wondering if he should not submit his application and wait to apply under FSW instead to complete 1 continuous year of work experience.
 

gta88

Hero Member
Jun 30, 2018
575
40
Can you share what happened later?
A friend of mine is working in Canada for last 2 years in Noc A position.
He took 2 unpaid leaves of 1 month each to see his family while working in Canada. Can he apply under CEC? He gets a score of 490 if he counts his Canadian experience of 2 years. But as @jes_ON said, a 2 weeks period is considered a reasonable time. Wondering if he should not submit his application and wait to apply under FSW instead to complete 1 continuous year of work experience.
@jes_ON I read some of your posts. You advised that working for extra days to fill the gap of unpaid days is a solution and getting it ratified by the employer is recommended. But how to explain this while creating a profile ? So here, in my friend's case, he is totally clear now that he is falling short of ~60 days to complete 2 years of Canadian work experience. So if he goes ahead to work for 60 days more, the timeline would be 2 years and 2 months inside EE profile. From creation of profile to submitting e-APR, how should this be taken care of to avoid misrepresentation??

Also, he is planning to explain that while submitting e-APR. But I have read that there are cases where officers only refer to what was declared in the pre-ITA stage. So can you please share how to tackle this situation in terms of timeline selection for Express Entry pool submission? Sorry for posting subsequent questions on same topic.
 

jes_ON

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Jun 22, 2009
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New York
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Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
06-May-2010
AOR Received.
13-Aug-2010
File Transfer...
01-Mar-2011
Passport Req..
30-Jun-2011
VISA ISSUED...
12-Jul-2011 (received 25-Jul-2011)
LANDED..........
03-Sep-2011
@jes_ON I read some of your posts. You advised that working for extra days to fill the gap of unpaid days is a solution and getting it ratified by the employer is recommended. But how to explain this while creating a profile ? So here, in my friend's case, he is totally clear now that he is falling short of ~60 days to complete 2 years of Canadian work experience. So if he goes ahead to work for 60 days more, the timeline would be 2 years and 2 months inside EE profile. From creation of profile to submitting e-APR, how should this be taken care of to avoid misrepresentation??

He just needs to work the 60 extra days to be sure he qualifies for the points he is claiming, and be up front about it, either in the letter of employment or a letter of explanation.

Also, he is planning to explain that while submitting e-APR. But I have read that there are cases where officers only refer to what was declared in the pre-ITA stage.

Really? Then a VO would be violating regulations. I´ve never read any such thing. Either the persons who posted those misunderstood, or you did.

So can you please share how to tackle this situation in terms of timeline selection for Express Entry pool submission?

There is really no good way to handle this in the profile. You have to do the best you can, make any necessary corrections in the actual application, and provide a written explanation.
 

gta88

Hero Member
Jun 30, 2018
575
40
Thanks @jes_ON
Can he do this-
Remove 2 months from the actual start date of Canadian work place and put the start date as (actual + 2 months) so that unpaid gap is automatically covered?
He can then explain this once he gets invite. Would this be the correct approach???
 

aabir

Full Member
May 10, 2020
49
0
Since its been a while after my medicals are submitted, I have a concern regarding about my application.

I had started working form 15 April 2013 and had taken a vacation for 5 weeks in December out of which I got 3 and half weeks of vacation paid out and some were statutory holiday even that was paid and around 51 hours(7 days) of unpaid vacation or Leave Without Pay.

I have applied under Canadian Experience Class on 4 th May 2014. So i did waited for couple of weeks in order to cover my unpaid hours or Leave without pay.

This is bothering me as some people say that the paid leave are counted towards your experience.

Can somebody can assist me in this or what steps should i take...

Reply will be appreciated.
so your 3.5 weeks vacation was considered part of CeC experience? you got PR?