Work history questions

[johnjkjk]

Hi the guidance asks to provide details of self-employment, it is sufficient to note the type of work and industry code? Shall I provide further information in my LoE if my self-employment income has been at the lower end (due to start-up costs+covid)?

Also for several months during my first year here, I worked for free/volunteered simultaneously on several projects with several organisations. It was not a formal arrangement and I worked remotely from home. Can I list the various organisations names under one unemployed (volunteering with...) entry, with my home address? Also for one of the organisations, I was offered potential future paid work if I was successful in helping them get federal funding, which didn't materialise. Does this need a separate entry, or would it just be part of the same volunteering entry?

 

[123123321]

Not sure about volunteering. I am working as self-employed and indicated month/year I started my self-employment with residential address, business phone number and my occupation. It should be enough.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Hi the guidance asks to provide details of self-employment, it is sufficient to note the type of work and industry code? Shall I provide further information in my LoE if my self-employment income has been at the lower end (due to start-up costs+covid)?

Also for several months during my first year here, I worked for free/volunteered simultaneously on several projects with several organisations. It was not a formal arrangement and I worked remotely from home. Can I list the various organisations names under one unemployed (volunteering with...) entry, with my home address? Also for one of the organisations, I was offered potential future paid work if I was successful in helping them get federal funding, which didn't materialise. Does this need a separate entry, or would it just be part of the same volunteering entry?

Not sure about volunteering. I am working as self-employed and indicated month/year I started my self-employment with residential address, business phone number and my occupation. It should be enough.

There is no need to complicate things. IMO, the volunteering job where you were offered potential future work can be included under "Volunteering" category.

 

[johnjkjk]

Thanks for replying both, that's helpful. Perhaps I am over-thinking. So should I mention all the volunteering organisations in one entry with my own residential address, or just select one and give their address? The current staff wouldn't be able to vouch for me if any background check was done.

For self-employment, I'm concerned that if my business income has been low, that this would throw up a red flag for physical presence (which they state is partly verified through tax returns) or that I've not been contributing enough taxes (although the law is just having filed tax which I've done)?

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Thanks for replying both, that's helpful. Perhaps I am over-thinking. So should I mention all the volunteering organisations in one entry with my own residential address, or just select one and give their address? The current staff wouldn't be able to vouch for me if any background check was done.

For self-employment, I'm concerned that if my business income has been low, that this would throw up a red flag for physical presence (which they state is partly verified through tax returns) or that I've not been contributing enough taxes (although the law is just having filed tax which I've done)?

I'm not trying to scare you here but long periods of self-employment itself might add a little bit of scrutiny to the physical presence component so it doesn't matter either way. They ask for employment history not to assess your work experience or anything like that. It is done in order to place you in Canada during that time. AFAIK, they certainly don't go around calling organizations and asking if you worked there. I am yet to hear of such a BG check conducted for Citizenship applicants. This might happen but AFAIK, even if it does, these things are extremely rare. So don't worry about people vouching for you. IF you are asked about it, you can provide them with whatever proof you have, emails, letters showing you volunteered there.

Also, "how much" tax you pay is immaterial. It only matters if you've filed your tax returns or not.

Good luck!

 

[johnjkjk]

Thank you Raj, I appreciate the info and advice. I will provide a brief note in my LoE to detail the nature of my self-employment and that my business is still growing and I'm working hard to make it successful- no harm writing that I think. What is the typical delay caused by RQ?

 

[johnjkjk]

Small follow-up question: I have to provide my residential address for self-employment. If this self-employment spans several addresses in my address history, would I need to create separate entries for self-employment with dates matching the date I moved? e.g.
01/2018 to 06/2018 Self-employment Address A
06-2018-12/2018 Self-employment (same as above) Address B
etc.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Thank you Raj, I appreciate the info and advice. I will provide a brief note in my LoE to detail the nature of my self-employment and that my business is still growing and I'm working hard to make it successful- no harm writing that I think. What is the typical delay caused by RQ?

If you get a RQ, it could potentially add many months (sometimes years) to the process but it depends on the case. There isn't a standard timeline.

 

[rajkamalmohanram]

Small follow-up question: I have to provide my residential address for self-employment. If this self-employment spans several addresses in my address history, would I need to create separate entries for self-employment with dates matching the date I moved? e.g.
01/2018 to 06/2018 Self-employment Address A
06-2018-12/2018 Self-employment (same as above) Address B
etc.

Yes, I would strongly recommend that.

 

[khushit]

I have a question about entering details and providing proof for self-employment (if it is required?). Here are the details: My husband was self-employed as a contractor with a major bank but was contracted through an agency (let's say ABC Inc.) from July 2017 to June 2018. After this, he was unemployed (preparing for an exam) from June 2018-December 2018. Then he went back to the same major bank, but this time as an incorporation (not self-employed) and was again contracted through the same agency (ABC Inc.) from December 2018-March 2019. Then in March 2019, he took up a permanent position at the same major bank and worked there on T4 from March 2019 to September 2021, and in September 2021, he changed to another major bank as a T4 employee. We are planning on including his work history as follows:

From: 2021-09	Occupation/activity: TITLE AT MAJOR BANK 2	Name of Employer: MAJOR BANK 2
To: PRESENT	TORONTO ADDRESS OF MAJOR BANK 2 (currently working from home due to COVID)	TORONTO	CANADA	ON
From: 2019-03	Occupation/activity: TITLE AT MAJOR BANK 1	Name of Employer: MAJOR BANK1
T0: 2021-09	TORONTO ADDRESS OF MAJOR BANK 1 (worked from home due to COVID: March 2020-September 2021)	TORONTO	CANADA	ON
From: 2018-12	Occupation/activity: CONSULTANT - FINANCIAL ANALYST (OPERATING AS XYZ CANADA CORP)	Name of Employer: CLIENT: MAJOR BANK 1 (CONTRACTED THROUGH ABC INC.)
To: 2019-03	TORONTO ADDRESS OF MAJOR BANK 1	TORONTO	CANADA	ON
From: 2018-06	Occupation/activity: UNEMPLOYED: STUDYING FOR DEF EXAM	NAME OF EMPOYER: NOT APPLICABLE
To: 2018-12	HOME ADDRESS	TORONTO	CANADA	ON
From: 2017-07	Occupation/activity: FINANCIAL ANALYST (SELF EMPLOYED)	Name of Employer: CLIENT: MAJOR BANK 1 (CONTRACTED THROUGH ABC INC.)
To: 2018-06	TORONTO ADDRESS OF MAJOR BANK 1	TORONTO	CANADA	ON

We are trying to see if these entries would suffice? Do we also have to provide additional documentation such as contract from ABC Inc which states the Major Bank 1 as the client and includes its address? We also have bank statements showing weekly deposits from ABC Inc. We would like to provide adequate information to support this and avoid an RQ, but NOT too many documents which may not be required. Any advice from experts would be highly appreciated! Thanks!