Certainly preparing documents in advance is advisable, since we THINK what will happen is that CIC will re-open FSW in the early part of next year, and there will be no specific work experience or in-demand occupation list. I believe it's going to be at least one year's experience in ANY occupation which is type 0, A or B.
And of course you will need to meet the minimum points requirement, and strong rumours are there will be a minimum language score.
But all we've had is tweets and rumours so far. Nothing has been officially announced.
Whatever is announced, you will certainly need full educational certificates (University transcripts must be in a sealed University envelope), work experience letters and language test results (IELTS or equivalent). Since IELTS can be up to 2 years old when they are submitted it's certainly worth getting that done now.
Once the FSW is "open" again there will likely be a single cap, perhaps 10,000 or even less, and it is likely that will fill up in a matter of weeks, perhaps even days.
So it's certainly going to be a scrabble when it opens! Those getting accepted will be those who are most prepared and those who can act quickly and timely to the announcement that the cap is open.
Eventually the system is reputedly going to be replaced with an EOI (expression of interest) system where Canadian employers chose applications from a pool, however that is unlikely to be in place before the end of 2014.
Wayne.
