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Work experience COVID Impact

Vancitybh

Star Member
Sep 26, 2020
162
59
Hi Everyone,

I have a specific work experience scenario and would really appreciate if any of you has knowledge or experience if my scenario would satisfy the 1 year CEC work length requirement. The scenario is as follows:

I got my bachelor degree in Vancouver in 2019, got the PGWP (length: 3 years) and starting working full time from October 1st as a Software Engineer in a corporate in BC. I have been working 40 hours per week since then, initially in their office, but now pretty much everyone in the company is working remotely due to Covid. Where it gets tricky is that I had to to go out of the country for two weeks in March due to a family emergency (had return ticket, bereavment leave from work etc.). But, 1 week in the leave, my return trip ticket got cancelled due to Covid and airports got closed until the beginning of June. I came back to Canada the first chance I had in June. The important thing here is though, I worked full time remotely from outside of Canada from when my 2 weeks leave ended in March, until I came to Canada in June. That means, I will have 1 year of full time work experience in October 2020.

My question:
Does this specific scenario qualify as 1 year work experience for CEC if I have the proof to back my situation up (ticket cancellation, foreign country airport closure etc.

Thank you for your time!
 

jeevan1205

Star Member
Feb 28, 2020
135
11
Hey,

I am in the same situation, went to home country for a 3 weeks trip(in March) and got stuck there and started working from outside Canada.
I gained 1 year work experience in which I worked 4 months from outside Canada and when I contacted IRCC they stated me only work experience in Canada will be counted towards CEC. I have also received my ITA and not sure whether to accept it ot decline it. Some people told me that it depends on VO as this is a pandemic situation.

Lets see what others say.
 

Petpea

Full Member
Aug 19, 2020
24
17
It doesnt matter at all. Do not over think it. Your Employer just needs to include in your Job reference letter that you have worked fultime (40 hours) from Oct to Oct. The details about where ( worked in office or worked from home or worked remotely) is irrelevant and never gets included in the letter. IRCC just wants to know if you are a fultime employee of a company in Canada)
 

t6e4m8

Star Member
Aug 3, 2019
119
28
Alberta, Canada
It doesnt matter at all. Do not over think it. Your Employer just needs to include in your Job reference letter that you have worked fultime (40 hours) from Oct to Oct. The details about where ( worked in office or worked from home or worked remotely) is irrelevant and never gets included in the letter. IRCC just wants to know if you are a fultime employee of a company in Canada)
Hi. speaking of the Job Reference letter, is it ok to only submit it to prove Canadian work experience when applying PR? Are tax documents such as T4 and pay stub also required?
 

Viz1904

Full Member
Jun 12, 2020
23
10
I d
Hi Everyone,

I have a specific work experience scenario and would really appreciate if any of you has knowledge or experience if my scenario would satisfy the 1 year CEC work length requirement. The scenario is as follows:

I got my bachelor degree in Vancouver in 2019, got the PGWP (length: 3 years) and starting working full time from October 1st as a Software Engineer in a corporate in BC. I have been working 40 hours per week since then, initially in their office, but now pretty much everyone in the company is working remotely due to Covid. Where it gets tricky is that I had to to go out of the country for two weeks in March due to a family emergency (had return ticket, bereavment leave from work etc.). But, 1 week in the leave, my return trip ticket got cancelled due to Covid and airports got closed until the beginning of June. I came back to Canada the first chance I had in June. The important thing here is though, I worked full time remotely from outside of Canada from when my 2 weeks leave ended in March, until I came to Canada in June. That means, I will have 1 year of full time work experience in October 2020.

My question:
Does this specific scenario qualify as 1 year work experience for CEC if I have the proof to back my situation up (ticket cancellation, foreign country airport closure etc.

Thank you for your time!
I don’t think it’s a safe option to apply if the agent said no on call you have to upload all your passport pages containing any stamps it might be an issue. I would call 1 more time to IRCC and would go forward from their.
 

lostinquebec

Hero Member
Feb 8, 2019
318
92
It doesnt matter at all. Do not over think it. Your Employer just needs to include in your Job reference letter that you have worked fultime (40 hours) from Oct to Oct. The details about where ( worked in office or worked from home or worked remotely) is irrelevant and never gets included in the letter. IRCC just wants to know if you are a fultime employee of a company in Canada)
From where do you work DOES become relevant if it´s IN or OUT of Canada. Working outside of Canada for a Canadian employer was never considered as a canadian work experience for Express Entry and as far as I know there´s no exception issued from IRCC regarding this due to the pandemic.
 

pulkitkumar190

Hero Member
Jan 28, 2017
242
56
Toronto
Category........
CEC
NOC Code......
2174
Software Engineer here, it seems although you can try applying for PR in October, but it's kind of risky, I would wait for 3 more months, and then create a profile, just to be damm sure they don't reject me down the line