Refugee and Asylum Seeker Question

[waterfall97]

[ Previous asylum seekers, please leave your experience below as well ]
[ Other experts, your help will be greatly appreciated ]

Hi guys! I have applied as an Asylum seeker with a family of 6 members [2 parents, 3 non-dependant children, and a dependent child]
The three non-dependant children are well educated and the parents have basic education.

We applied in Dec 2019. With well educated non-dependant children, does it increase the chances of getting the refugee claim any faster?
If yes, how effective is it? If not, what is the average timeline like for a usual asylum seeker to receive the refugee claims?

Thanks in advance!

 

[canuck78]

How old are your non-dependent children? If they are adults they should have their own claims. Definitely no preference for educated children. Depending where you are from either up to 1 year or 1-2.5 years if everything goes well. Are all 6 of you in Canada?

 

[scylla]

[ Previous asylum seekers, please leave your experience below as well ]
[ Other experts, your help will be greatly appreciated ]

Hi guys! I have applied as an Asylum seeker with a family of 6 members [2 parents, 3 non-dependant children, and a dependent child]
The three non-dependant children are well educated and the parents have basic education.

We applied in Dec 2019. With well educated non-dependant children, does it increase the chances of getting the refugee claim any faster?
If yes, how effective is it? If not, what is the average timeline like for a usual asylum seeker to receive the refugee claims?

Thanks in advance!

A well educated non dependent child doesn't make any difference in the chances of being approved or result in faster processing. Your chances of being approved are entirely dependent on the strength of your claim.

In terms of processing times, it depends on how you've applied. If you've applied from within Canada, you're looking at 2-3 years for protected person status to be determined and another 2 years or so for permanent residency application processing.

 

[waterfall97]

How old are your non-dependent children? If they are adults they should have their own claims. Definitely no preference for educated children. Depending where you are from either up to 1 year or 1-2.5 years if everything goes well. Are all 6 of you in Canada?

Non-dependant children are 23 and 24. My other non-dependant child was 21(dependant) at the date of application but he is already 22(non-dependant) now.
The 23 and 24 year old had their application submitted separately but we asked the officers to process it together as a family.
All of us are in canada right now. We came to canada with a tourist visa and applied from within canada.
I read up on one of the threads in the forums that education was a factor, I believe its not

 

[canuck78]

Non-dependant children are 23 and 24. My other non-dependant child was 21(dependant) at the date of application but he is already 22(non-dependant) now.
The 23 and 24 year old had their application submitted separately but we asked the officers to process it together as a family.
All of us are in canada right now. We came to canada with a tourist visa and applied from within canada.
I read up on one of the threads in the forums that education was a factor, I believe its not

Asylum claims are purely based on your ability to prove persecution. Assume you are not from one of the expedited countries if you all got TRVs. You are likely looking at 2 years before you get a hearing. If your children want to study at college or university before you have your hearing they will have to get a study permit and pay international fees. Have you consulted your lawyer about whether having you all I the same hearing is a good idea? I don’t know if it is wise to have your adult children heard at the same time. They need to prove their own persecution. Children can be denied while one or both parents are approved or a child can be approved and parents denied.

 

[waterfall97]

A well educated non dependent child doesn't make any difference in the chances of being approved or result in faster processing. Your chances of being approved are entirely dependent on the strength of your claim.

In terms of processing times, it depends on how you've applied. If you've applied from within Canada, you're looking at 2-3 years for protected person status to be determined and another 2 years or so for permanent residency application processing.

We've applied from within Canada. Is the 2-3 years time period an average estimate? ive seen some people waiting longer than 3+ years and still no news.
Does processing time depend on the country we are seeking asylum from?

 

[waterfall97]

Asylum claims are purely based on your ability to prove persecution. Assume you are not from one of the expedited countries if you all got TRVs. You are likely looking at 2 years before you get a hearing. If your children want to study at college or university before you have your hearing they will have to get a study permit and pay international fees.

Thank you so much for your insight!

 

[canuck78]

We've applied from within Canada. Is the 2-3 years time period an average estimate? ive seen some people waiting longer than 3+ years and still no news.
Does processing time depend on the country we are seeking asylum from?

Yes certain countries get expedited processing like Syria, Eritrea, Yemen and Afghanistan. The countries have very high approval rates at the moment. The rest are a bit luck of the draw when you get called. Would plan for 2 years but yes it could be linger and if you are extremely lucky less. You should not leave Canada during this time or there is no guarantee you can come back to Canada. Your best thing you can do is get employed and volunteer in your community. Also find permanent housing. Many employers are reluctant to hire asylum claimants because there is no guarantee that they will be able to remain in Canada longterm so finding a job may be challenging.

 

[Mi90s]

Employers will not know, nor they care either you're an asylum seeker or permanent resident, all they want to know is whether you're legal to work here. Some employers are not interested in hiring because you're not a permanent resident.

It will be challenging to find your first job without Canadian experience, do any job you can get, once you have some experience in Canada, you can easily find a better job that suits you. Good Luck!

 

[canuck78]

Employers will not know, nor they care either you're an asylum seeker or permanent resident, all they want to know is whether you're legal to work here. Some employers are not interested in hiring because you're not a permanent resident.

It will be challenging to find your first job without Canadian experience, do any job you can get, once you have some experience in Canada, you can easily find a better job that suits you. Good Luck!

Would humbly disagree based on the feedback of numerous asylum seekers especially when it comes to “white collar” jobs. Once you become a protected person and employers know you will be able to stay in Canada longterm many employers are willing to spend time training you. No Canadian experience is a factor as well. Just warning people so they don’t feel too discouraged. What is important is to get any work experience that you can build upon.

 

[Mi90s]

Would humbly disagree based on the feedback of numerous asylum seekers especially when it comes to “white collar” jobs. Once you become a protected person and employers know you will be able to stay in Canada longterm many employers are willing to spend time training you. No Canadian experience is a factor as well. Just warning people so they don’t feel too discouraged. What is important is to get any work experience that you can build upon.

What you said is not true, I wish not to drag this post any further.

 

[Copingwithlife]

Employers will not know, nor they care either you're an asylum seeker or permanent resident, all they want to know is whether you're legal to work here. Some employers are not interested in hiring because you're not a permanent resident.

It will be challenging to find your first job without Canadian experience, do any job you can get, once you have some experience in Canada, you can easily find a better job that suits you. Good Luck!

That's incorrect. Why would an employer invest time & money , yes it's an investment, on someone who potentially can't stay here permanently? They wouldn't . They could invest weeks in training , and poof, person is denied status and asked to leave
There goes there investment.. They are looking for a return on that investment.

 

[Mi90s]

There is a better assurance, a temporary worker with 4 year work permit (IRCC is now issuing 4 year work permit for asylum seekers) would stay in the job than any citizen or a permanent resident.

Some of my friends, some are asylum seekers and international students (post graduate) got jobs and getting trained as a part of undertaking duties in those white color jobs, the only barrier for them would be getting promotions.
Most of the employers are not into your current status in Canada, you can be an international student or an asylum seeker, if your qualifications and experience matching the job requirements, they will hire you, if you're legal to work here.

Also, there are companies prefer citizens than permanent residents, so it really depends.

 

[scylla]

That's incorrect. Why would an employer invest time & money , yes it's an investment, on someone who potentially can't stay here permanently? They wouldn't . They could invest weeks in training , and poof, person is denied status and asked to leave
There goes there investment.. They are looking for a return on that investment.

I've personally hired several individuals on open work permits where there was no guarantee they would be able to remain in Canada in the long term. So it does happen. This was for relatively high paying white collar jobs. You don't actually know what kind of open work permit they hold unless they tell you (i.e. PGWP, SOWP, OWP based on spousal sponsorship, OWP based on refugee claim). Generally these individuals have had at least 2 years remaining on the validity of their work permit at the time I've hired them. I don't generally expect to get more than 2 to 3 years out of anyone regardless of whether they are here on an open work permit or are Canadian. I try to hire smart people where my return on investment starts 3 months into the job. My team is cross border and I just hired someone on an H1B to run one of my US teams. He only has temp status in the U.S. but was the right person for the job.

 

[canuck78]

Unfortunately I think the fact that asylum claimants don’t have other avenues to be able to extend their work permit if they get denied influences many employers. Many employers are also unaware of how long the process can be. Just passing on the experience of the people I knew. One ended up returning to school. Not all employers are aware of the immigration system.