Please suggest

[theatlantic]

Hello everyone,

I am a mechanical engineer with 5 years of relevant experience in my field who is currently employed in a manufacturing company and parallelly doing MBA which is going to be completed in next March. Although I went to the top engineering and business schools in my country, I have got a blot in my resume that I have overstayed in my previous visa in the US which occurred nearly five years back. Later I got married and have settled in my country where I own properties, have friends, relatives and colleagues. By the way, I have also been to South Korea for a professional training earlier this year.

Now I have two plans, first is to apply for a phd program in engineering management or manufacturing engineering in Canada which is my passion for long. In this regard I have got a good TOEFL/GRE backup also.
My plan B is to directly apply for express entry following the steps outlined herein.

So, what do you think my friends? Will I face hard times in obtaining any of these visas under the pretext of my prior violations? Your suggestions are appreciated.

 

[StAnger]

Hello everyone,

I am a mechanical engineer with 5 years of relevant experience in my field who is currently employed in a manufacturing company and parallelly doing MBA which is going to be completed in next March. Although I went to the top engineering and business schools in my country, I have got a blot in my resume that I have overstayed in my previous visa in the US which occurred nearly five years back. Later I got married and have settled in my country where I own properties, have friends, relatives and colleagues. By the way, I have also been to South Korea for a professional training earlier this year.

Now I have two plans, first is to apply for a phd program in engineering management or manufacturing engineering in Canada which is my passion for long. In this regard I have got a good TOEFL/GRE backup also.
My plan B is to directly apply for express entry following the process outlined herein.

So, what do you think my friends? Will I face hard times in obtaining any of these visas under the pretext of my prior violations? Your suggestions are appreciated.

So when you overstayed what was the reason? How long was the overstay?

Lately, overstays have been taken seriously while one is on a nonimmigrant visa. The officer will access the reason for your overstay and definately will have lot of questions to ask. I am not sure how they deal with these cases but i am sure someone around here with personal experience will help you.

In both your plans, they will definately dig deeper on the reasons for this violation.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Hello everyone,

I am a mechanical engineer with 5 years of relevant experience in my field who is currently employed in a manufacturing company and parallelly doing MBA which is going to be completed in next March. Although I went to the top engineering and business schools in my country, I have got a blot in my resume that I have overstayed in my previous visa in the US which occurred nearly five years back. Later I got married and have settled in my country where I own properties, have friends, relatives and colleagues. By the way, I have also been to South Korea for a professional training earlier this year.

Now I have two plans, first is to apply for a phd program in engineering management or manufacturing engineering in Canada which is my passion for long. In this regard I have got a good TOEFL/GRE backup also.
My plan B is to directly apply for express entry following the steps outlined herein.

So, what do you think my friends? Will I face hard times in obtaining any of these visas under the pretext of my prior violations? Your suggestions are appreciated.

It is always good to apply for a PR and then after landing here, you can continue your studies. This is because :

1) You get to become a PR.
2) Fee for PR is way less than for International Students.
3) Immigration is an ever-changing process. So, taking the quickest path to becoming a PR and then continuing studies makes sense.

Your previous US visa overstay does not necessarily mean that your PR application will be rejected. You can explain your situation to them in a very politely and well drafted letter of explanation why you overstayed in the US. You might have to give them solid reasons as to why you overstayed.

So, the bottom line is - I suggest you to work towards becoming a PR first and then continue your studies in Canada.

Let me know if you need any further information.

 

[theatlantic]

Thank you rajkamalmohanram and StAnger for your replies.
I am in deep confusion as to which path to follow now. It was back in 2008 while I failed to avail the funding during my masters program in the US and was dropped off the program and started working off campus. It was the onset of their economic recession period and I was having a family problem with my parents about their decision on my marriage. Being too much stressed and unable to follow any clear guidelines on how to restore my legal status, I decided not to leave the country and thereby accrued unlawful presence of two years in the US. Though later, when my parents got sick ,I opted to depart voluntarily and started a new life at my home thereafter. The reason I am hopeful now is because a significant amount of time has elapsed since then and I am in a better footing in my career at this moment. I am married and my spouse can also contribute her share of points this time around. Though countries like US, Canada, UK, Aaustralia and EU share information on immigration issues on third country individuals, their legal jurisdiction on immigration issues are not exactly the same. May be someone with legal expertise can have some input here.

 

[ladyluck]

Hello here. I am in the same predicament as yours. Overstayed my USA visa by more than 3 years and graduated last August after which I came back to my home country.

Now I got a full scholarship to study in Canada for my masters. Do you think I will be granted a study permit based on my USA visa history?

 

[big fish]

I suggest to consult with an immigration lawyer about overstay.

It makes sense to try get your PR first. Students with PR pay less tuition. Also as engineer you might not need a phd at all (in fact, people with Msc get jobs easier than with phd).

You can also start making steps towards studying and PR simultaneously - if already have some work experience, you can apply.

 

[ladyluck]

I am currently not married, so I cannot add a second person to increase my scores. I recently tried to pre-calculate my scores (Haven't taken IELTS) and it came up to slightly higher than 400. Get an LMIA is almost impossible outside Canada but nothing is impossible with God on my side. Neverthesles, I will still try.

On that note, did you go ahead and apply for your student Visa? I would advice doing that first because incase your PR does not go through first round and you try to obtain a student Visa, the Officer will automatically know that you have an intent to immigrate because remember they have your data in their database. That is what I am trying to avoid.

 

[theatlantic]

Hi ladyluck, what's up with your application? We seem to be on the same boat, rite? Kind of puzzled what to do next. Please keep in touch.

 

[ladyluck]

I will go ahead and try to apply for a study permit. However, I will soon be preparing my Express Entry Application......

 

[Dexmoody]

I am currently not married, so I cannot add a second person to increase my scores.

Adding a second person does not increase your scores. I don't know why you think that.

The maximum amount of points is still the same, but if you have a spouse, part of these points will have to be earned by your spouse.

Single applicants do not have a disadvantage.

 

[Maverickjo]

Hello everyone,

I am a mechanical engineer with 5 years of relevant experience in my field who is currently employed in a manufacturing company and parallelly doing MBA which is going to be completed in next March. Although I went to the top engineering and business schools in my country, I have got a blot in my resume that I have overstayed in my previous visa in the US which occurred nearly five years back. Later I got married and have settled in my country where I own properties, have friends, relatives and colleagues. By the way, I have also been to South Korea for a professional training earlier this year.

Now I have two plans, first is to apply for a phd program in engineering management or manufacturing engineering in Canada which is my passion for long. In this regard I have got a good TOEFL/GRE backup also.
My plan B is to directly apply for express entry following the steps outlined herein.

So, what do you think my friends? Will I face hard times in obtaining any of these visas under the pretext of my prior violations? Your suggestions are appreciated.

If you allow me here.. these are two different scenarios that each will have different requirements...

pHD.. first you need to finish you MBA i guess.. then apply for pHD, that will take minimum 1 year to contact one of the universities there get their approval.... Ielts..... Academic one of course not the one we all did here..!! in addition, you need to work out the financial side of it.. it wouldnt be easy..!!

for the E.E.. you have at least to prepare all the requirements, ECA, Ielts (here it should be General not the academic one) so the same for your spouse if possible and THEN you can see what is your score!!

IF your score is far from the current cut off or whatever they call it, then you need to pursue Job OFFer or Nomination which is another story all together...

SO to cut it short, NO direct answer for your question.. you have to work out the details of each and find the best that suits you...

For your overstay thing... I believe you need to answer all the above then that would be the last to worry about.. Good luck!

 

[ladyluck]

Adding a second person does not increase your scores. I don't know why you think that.

The maximum amount of points is still the same, but if you have a spouse, part of these points will have to be earned by your spouse.

Single applicants do not have a disadvantage.

Thank you for the advice. I actually discovered that after doing my research. I will be preparing my application soon. I just turned 27 so I am VEEERY optimistic that things will work out in JESUS name.