ITA - Accept / Decline

[Blueeyzz1310]

Hello Guys,

I recently re took my IELTS exam to improve my CRS score and I currently have 435 points. I got my invitation today ( Latest draw ) and I am confused whether I should accept it or decline it.

I am in my last year of F-1 visa and I recently got my H1-B picked ( Yet to be approved ) . I don't know the odds of approval as things are getting really weird here in the states and hence, I decide to apply for express entry as my back up plan. As a part of this plan, I took my IELTS, got FBI clearance certificate ( as I was told that I takes time ) and currently in the process of evaluating my academic documents. Now that I got my H1-B picked, I am confused on whether I should continue with my application process or wait till I find out the result of my H1-B and then accept the invitation and take it from there.

Please let me know your thoughts / suggestions

Thank you so very much in advance.

 

[DEEPCUR]

How reputed is your employer who filed H1b? Is it a FTE job or contract job based on several layers to the end client? That should determine the outcome.

Also, what is your country of birth? If it is India, I would suggest you to go ahead and get Canadian PR without second thoughts, and keep it as back up. You would have 3 years to decide whether to move to Canada or not. You will learn how bad the immigration system is as you start working and see the backlog for Green card.

Indians have endless wait (20+ years at a minimum) to US Green Card (US PR basically). Unless there is a legislative reform, there is no way the wait will get fixed. Chinese have significant wait times too. If you are from any other part of the world (country of birth, not citizenship), then you can get your US PR several years down the line as there is no wait time.

 

[Blueeyzz1310]

How reputed is your employer who filed H1b? Is it a FTE job or contract job based on several layers to the end client? That should determine the outcome.

Also, what is your country of birth? If it is India, I would suggest you to go ahead and get Canadian PR without second thoughts, and keep it as back up. You would have 3 years to decide whether to move to Canada or not. You will learn how bad the immigration system is as you start working and see the backlog for Green card.

Indians have endless wait (20+ years at a minimum) to US Green Card (US PR basically). Unless there is a legislative reform, there is no way the wait will get fixed. Chinese have significant wait times too. If you are from any other part of the world (country of birth, not citizenship), then you can get your US PR several years down the line as there is no wait time.

Hello,
Appreciate your response. Yes, I am from India and I am currently living in the USA . My employer is not a highly reputed firm and I am working in a contract to hire role ( Full time contingent on H1-B approval ) . I too am interested in applying for PR, but I was told that I will less than 1 year to move to Canada after I get my PR approved ( Not sure on this ). Is this true ? or do we get 3 years to make a decision.

Thank You!

 

[DEEPCUR]

So, it works this way. You submit the application for PR, and the final step is passport request. You get something Certificate of Passport Request which is valid exactly one year from the day you did your medical exam. You need to use that as document to do your first landing to Canada before the expiry date printed in it. Once you do that, you would get the actual PR card which would be valid for 5 years from that day you did your landing.

To renew your PR card for next time after five years, you need to meet the residency obligation which is 2 years of minimum residence in Canada. So effectively will have 3 years after your first landing to move permanently to Canada and keep your permanent residence. If you don't move within 3 years, you would not be able to meet your residency obligation and would lose the PR eventually.

You might want to check this out - http://immigrationgirl.com/what-is-the-real-wait-time-for-eb-2-india-82-5-years/

You might not see any pushing need to have permanent residency at this point as your heart is set to H1b, but eventually this will come to haunt you. Trust me, it's a tough wait and you will have to spend your life time on visa extensions. It will be such a pain for job mobility (not so easy to get H1b sponsorship if you want to change jobs), travel etc etc. Moreover you will have keep counting your stars on policies and legislation every time to survive. One denial after 10 years wait, and you might have to pack your back to India.

On the other hand, Canadian PR is a sure shot way to get Canadian citizenship and lead a peaceful life. Wages and job opportunities are lot lower in Canada compared to US for a much expensive cost of living, so that's the flip side.

 

[h1b_to_pr]

Hello Guys,

I recently re took my IELTS exam to improve my CRS score and I currently have 435 points. I got my invitation today ( Latest draw ) and I am confused whether I should accept it or decline it.

I am in my last year of F-1 visa and I recently got my H1-B picked ( Yet to be approved ) . I don't know the odds of approval as things are getting really weird here in the states and hence, I decide to apply for express entry as my back up plan. As a part of this plan, I took my IELTS, got FBI clearance certificate ( as I was told that I takes time ) and currently in the process of evaluating my academic documents. Now that I got my H1-B picked, I am confused on whether I should continue with my application process or wait till I find out the result of my H1-B and then accept the invitation and take it from there.

Please let me know your thoughts / suggestions

Thank you so very much in advance.

Any tips to improve ielts score? do you have to get fbi clearance before or after ITA? thanks a lot

 

[Blueeyzz1310]

Any tips to improve ielts score? do you have to get fbi clearance before or after ITA? thanks a lot

You don't have to get the clearance before ITA, but, you need it once you accept the ITA (90 Days to accept ITA) and start submitting the documents. It takes around 2 -3 months to get the certificate if you currently reside in the U.S.

Coming to IELTS, I screwed up listening in my first attempt (Got 7.5). I was not aware that time you have to get 8 in listening to come close to CRS 400 and so, the second time, I concentrated more on listening and writing as these are the two bands that will affect your CRS score in a big way (Writing 7.5 - 9 is the same). So, I would suggest you to aim for L- 8, R - 7.5, W- 7.5 , S - 7 or 7.5 .

All the best!.

 

[Blueeyzz1310]

So, it works this way. You submit the application for PR, and the final step is passport request. You get something Certificate of Passport Request which is valid exactly one year from the day you did your medical exam. You need to use that as document to do your first landing to Canada before the expiry date printed in it. Once you do that, you would get the actual PR card which would be valid for 5 years from that day you did your landing.

To renew your PR card for next time after five years, you need to meet the residency obligation which is 2 years of minimum residence in Canada. So effectively will have 3 years after your first landing to move permanently to Canada and keep your permanent residence. If you don't move within 3 years, you would not be able to meet your residency obligation and would lose the PR eventually.

You might want to check this out - http://immigrationgirl.com/what-is-the-real-wait-time-for-eb-2-india-82-5-years/

You might not see any pushing need to have permanent residency at this point as your heart is set to H1b, but eventually this will come to haunt you. Trust me, it's a tough wait and you will have to spend your life time on visa extensions. It will be such a pain for job mobility (not so easy to get H1b sponsorship if you want to change jobs), travel etc etc. Moreover you will have keep counting your stars on policies and legislation every time to survive. One denial after 10 years wait, and you might have to pack your back to India.

On the other hand, Canadian PR is a sure shot way to get Canadian citizenship and lead a peaceful life. Wages and job opportunities are lot lower in Canada compared to US for a much expensive cost of living, so that's the flip side.

Thank you for the reply. Appreciate it.

 

[DEEPCUR]

Hi,
Can you please let us know when did you apply for FBI clearance and when you received it. I am tracking the tentative time it takes to get FBI PCC from USA. Was it returned in Fedex or regular mail?

Thanks,

It takes anywhere between 50 days to 65 days. They send the report via ordinary USPS first class mail.

 

[thisworks]

You might not see any pushing need to have permanent residency at this point as your heart is set to H1b, but eventually this will come to haunt you. Trust me, it's a tough wait and you will have to spend your life time on visa extensions. It will be such a pain for job mobility (not so easy to get H1b sponsorship if you want to change jobs), travel etc etc. Moreover you will have keep counting your stars on policies and legislation every time to survive. One denial after 10 years wait, and you might have to pack your back to India.
.

100% agree.

 

[harirajmohan]

So, it works this way. You submit the application for PR, and the final step is passport request. You get something Certificate of Passport Request which is valid exactly one year from the day you did your medical exam. You need to use that as document to do your first landing to Canada before the expiry date printed in it. Once you do that, you would get the actual PR card which would be valid for 5 years from that day you did your landing.

Agree completely 100%.

Hello Guys,

I recently re took my IELTS exam to improve my CRS score and I currently have 435 points. I got my invitation today ( Latest draw ) and I am confused whether I should accept it or decline it.

I am in my last year of F-1 visa and I recently got my H1-B picked ( Yet to be approved ) . I don't know the odds of approval as things are getting really weird here in the states and hence, I decide to apply for express entry as my back up plan.
Thank you so very much in advance.

Log the application. Check it out in the next 2-3 years how things working and then you can decide.
Same mistake i did thinking i got H1 and then i ended up nowhere. Luckily i could apply after a decade while i was tracking things since 2006 (while it was so easy to apply - based on my points at that time).
With the upcoming rules, i dont have confidence on H1 unless there is meaningful and reasonable changes which makes things ok for candidates and employers. If they make it too strict ( 100k+ sal, Masters degree and preference to US degree and so on) then i dont think many will be retaining H1 status. So think 100 times before you decide to lose this chance and see if temporary work visa is worth the wait for losing permanent residency.
Of course no one knows if it will turn out good during this/next presidency but no one seems to care about clearing waiting time for Indians (by removing the country-wise cap).
Apart from that surviving in H1 for 10-20 years is not going to be easy when we just start it now. Reason - Too many H1 already accumulated due to waiting, H4 EADs are eating up 3 to 6 months projects in most cities, getting full time also another headache as not many are willing to sponsor - unlike a 5-10 years ago. Unless you are in special skills or with good employer who can keep you for 10+ years then you can consider negatively on accepting ETA.
I agree that Canada is not comparable with the economy size of US but its definitely comparable on what happens if we dont get anything after 10-15 years and losing H1 status and ending up nowhere. There is no guarantee that same H1 rules or flexible rule exists for 10-20 years, our skills are good in market for 10-20 years, US economy is good or the company is good so that we can keep the job, etc - too many parameters. Sorry i am not trying to scare you but this is the reality.