Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum and nice to meet you all.
I have been thinking to apply for Express Entry - Federal Skilled Workers (FSW). There are certain things about minimum requirement for Work Experience obtained outside of Canada, which have been asked around in this forum/ internet, but still not 'super' clear to me and I just would like to ask again to confirm and clear my mind a bit (probably just my anxiety to be honest).
The minimum requirement for Work Experience under FSW is 'one-year continuous or 1560 hours'. I'm still quite confused with this 'continuous' as defined in here. I know these questions have been brought up a lot but the answers given were either mixed or not directly to FSW category (sometimes I found the specific information for this query but they are for Express Entry in general, or for Canadian Experience Class only). My queries are:
1. Would probation period be counted towards the work experience to make up to the 'one-year continuous'? Specifically, under the my probation period, I received 100% wage, had annual leave, did exact job responsibilities just like a normal staff. The only differences were that I didn't have statutory insurance paid by employer and the employer could terminate me at any time. I started the job on November 2nd 2019 (with an offer letter stating that day) but also with a 2 months probation; then I resigned on the 6th of November 2020. I heard mixed opinions about this, some said probation wouldn't be counted as I was not an official employee; many others said the opposite that it should be counted as I was paid to do a service.
2. Would paid annual leave/ compulsory holiday leave (like national day day-off/ Christmas/ New Year's Eve etc.) affect the 'continuous' or '1560 hours', if at all? In my understanding, as long as the leaves are reasonable, and paid, then it will absolutely be counted for the 'work hours', disregarding whether I was working as they are my entitlements annually. But, still, there have been some opposite opinions saying that annual leave should not be counted!? I found a piece of instructions stating that 'allowance for a reasonable vacation leave will generally be counted towards the work experience', but this is directly for Canadian Experience Class, nothing noting to Federal Skilled Workers stream so I'm not sure whether my assessment is correct.
3. Would the wage/ salary be a matter for the Work Experience? I live in Vietnam, and obviously the wage in Vietnam for my profession is much much lower than Canada specifically or the world in general; but the wage I am receiving is still legal as it is higher than the national minimum wage of my country. Again, I did find a piece of information for this but it was not directly for Federal Skilled Workers.
I know I asked a lot, but I guess I just want to have some peace of mind to avoid mistakes in preparing my application. Is there anyone out here who had had the similar situations just like in my queries and passed the minimum requirement for EE FSW for the 'one-year work experience'? Do you guys think I should give IRCC a call to clear these queries? Would they be available to answer these kind of questions though?
Would love to hear your thoughts and knowledge.
Many thanks for your help!
I'm new to the forum and nice to meet you all.
I have been thinking to apply for Express Entry - Federal Skilled Workers (FSW). There are certain things about minimum requirement for Work Experience obtained outside of Canada, which have been asked around in this forum/ internet, but still not 'super' clear to me and I just would like to ask again to confirm and clear my mind a bit (probably just my anxiety to be honest).
The minimum requirement for Work Experience under FSW is 'one-year continuous or 1560 hours'. I'm still quite confused with this 'continuous' as defined in here. I know these questions have been brought up a lot but the answers given were either mixed or not directly to FSW category (sometimes I found the specific information for this query but they are for Express Entry in general, or for Canadian Experience Class only). My queries are:
1. Would probation period be counted towards the work experience to make up to the 'one-year continuous'? Specifically, under the my probation period, I received 100% wage, had annual leave, did exact job responsibilities just like a normal staff. The only differences were that I didn't have statutory insurance paid by employer and the employer could terminate me at any time. I started the job on November 2nd 2019 (with an offer letter stating that day) but also with a 2 months probation; then I resigned on the 6th of November 2020. I heard mixed opinions about this, some said probation wouldn't be counted as I was not an official employee; many others said the opposite that it should be counted as I was paid to do a service.
2. Would paid annual leave/ compulsory holiday leave (like national day day-off/ Christmas/ New Year's Eve etc.) affect the 'continuous' or '1560 hours', if at all? In my understanding, as long as the leaves are reasonable, and paid, then it will absolutely be counted for the 'work hours', disregarding whether I was working as they are my entitlements annually. But, still, there have been some opposite opinions saying that annual leave should not be counted!? I found a piece of instructions stating that 'allowance for a reasonable vacation leave will generally be counted towards the work experience', but this is directly for Canadian Experience Class, nothing noting to Federal Skilled Workers stream so I'm not sure whether my assessment is correct.
3. Would the wage/ salary be a matter for the Work Experience? I live in Vietnam, and obviously the wage in Vietnam for my profession is much much lower than Canada specifically or the world in general; but the wage I am receiving is still legal as it is higher than the national minimum wage of my country. Again, I did find a piece of information for this but it was not directly for Federal Skilled Workers.
I know I asked a lot, but I guess I just want to have some peace of mind to avoid mistakes in preparing my application. Is there anyone out here who had had the similar situations just like in my queries and passed the minimum requirement for EE FSW for the 'one-year work experience'? Do you guys think I should give IRCC a call to clear these queries? Would they be available to answer these kind of questions though?
Would love to hear your thoughts and knowledge.
Many thanks for your help!
