I agree. This is why we hope that they would do something not to disadvantage CEC candidates. Our issue is age, but even younger CEC candidates will not be able to compete. If they resume FSW draws, my wife's only option is French, which she is not keen on doing because her language knowledge is below the level they require. True, there are 6 months to dedicate to extensive language learning, but it feels - yes, unfair - to have to do that just because they handled this stream so poorly (announced it late, didn't check for language test results, etc.) Furthermore, she would much rather focus on her job than extensive language learning atm.
New Policy for International Students - April 12th, 2021
- Thread starter Mari_Anne17
- Start date
I couldn't agree more! This was a joke, what they did. And why stretch the stream until 5th of Nov... You know what this reminded me off? Hunger Games movie. Just sick!
I've been following this thread for a while now and I understand your opinion but I don't totally agree.
I applied to the French Speaker: Essential, Non Health-care stream so I wasn't under the same pressure as most of the people here but I think it is partially wrong to say that the system is unfair because "many highly skilled immigrants... didn't get to apply".
The new program is basically the CEC stream but with more NOC considered qualified. The government was clear that they are doing this program because they are lacking workers in essential position, in majority held by immigrants. So we are not talking about skilled or not skilled but essential and that's an important difference.
The Government is simply assuming that if you graduated from an Canadian University, you will get a qualified job during your PGWP and apply to CEC (which is exactly the purpose of the CEC program in the first place and the 'regular' way to get the PR). It is even more true if you have a PhD.
I am in the EE FSW pool since February with a CRS score of 527 and that's why I had most of my documents ready as well as my IELTS, TEF, Medical Exam and Police Certificate. Many of those who applied were in a similar situation, but I don't think they stole the PR from skilled immigrants.
No sadly I don't speak French. If Canada wants to get more people in and give them PR's, they need to focus on inland applicants and keep the CEC points low! We are already in the country, we are working full time throughout this pandemic and we are paying taxes. We deserve PR's. All I can say is that this 40.000 stream was a real shits storm and nothing more, half of the applications will probably get rejected. I feel for your wife and I'll pray for all of us.
The stream was unfair nor because of the eligibility requirements but because it was announced last minute. It was down to luck and more akin to lottery.
EDIT: I am not talking about skilled or unskilled; these are all university graduates who are skilled by definition. I am talking about the fact that people were not given enough time to prepare. It was down to pure luck whether you had your language tests ready or other documents.
My entire point was that they better not disadvantage CEC applicants who didn't get to reply just because they didn't have a language test ready. Yes, I know they saw this as a stream that should have attracted a different crowd than people who are (or are soon to be) eligible for CEC, but because they are poor with communication, no CEC candidate could afford to skip this stream because nobody wants to compete with FSW candidates. Which is, again, unfair. It is unfair because it IS down to luck over who happened to have all documents ready at a time they announced this stream.
Last edited:
I agree that they should do something as to not make it unfair for all CEC candidates. We are talking about people who worked in skilled jobs during the pandemic and who should not be unfairly disadvantaged by having to compete with FSW candidates. I hope changes to EE stream will reflect that.
I agree that it was really unfair to release the guide last minute. A lot of stress and a lot of spots have been taken by applicants who don't qualified but they didn't know it because they were too lazy to read the requirements. I totally agree with you on that point.
But again, it is not down to luck. If you are applying for the PR, whatever stream or program, you know what you need to do (IELTS and/or TEF, Medical Exam, Police certificat, etc...). The government didn't announced anything about FSW but I still passed the medical exam and passed my language exams "just in case". It is not down to luck because those are things you could have prepared a long time ago (IELTS is valid for 2 years).
I understand your position and the situation is extremely frustrating but it is definitely not down to luck.
How is the date of your language exam not down to luck? My wife literally learned that she will be eligible for CEC in the first week of April. How is that not down to luck? We literally learned we would be eligible for PR a week before this new program was announced.
I am sorry but I disagree,
I don't mean to be disrespectful and I understand your frustration but, the Canadian government is assisting us with this program.
Think of it this way, one day, you make food for a hundred people, only 100. Then, unfortunately, some people arrived late because of traffic, work, whatever, and they were left without a meal. How would you feel if they got upset at you?
And I know it's easy for me to say this because I got a spot and fingers crossed, I get my PR. I also understand the struggle of being an immigrant in this great country and being worried about having to go back to your country and leaving everything you've worked behind. I'm sure that this will not be the first nor the last program and I'm sure that you and many others will be able to apply, get your PR and eventually, your citizenship.
Keep your head up guys, and I wish you the very best of lucks.
And again, I don't mean to be disrespectful or anything. I just see this as an opportunity that Canada was kind enough to give to us., I am also very sorry that you and many others had to go through this and I wish you the best.
How can she learned that she will be eligible for CEC, only in April? Because if she was planning to apply for CEC, she knew when she would meet the 1 year of work experience requirement and she would have planned the IELTS exam before they announced the new program. I might be wrong in regard to your situation as I don't know all the detail but it sounds like that's something that people can plan. I apologize if I am missing an important information that would help me understand your case.
If you're talking about now and how difficult it is to get a date to pass IELTS, then yes it is mostly down to luck. But IELTS is part of every immigration program in Canada so it's definitely something you can plan.
She works on a semester to semester basis. They typically announce jobs for next semesters early, but the university was restructuring so they only announced it in April. She went from not knowing whether she would have a job in May to securing employment in the new academic year. It's just how it goes with university instructors.
It doesn't matter. This was her situation. Someone else had something different. You can't expect people to pay for medicals and language tests "just in case" something comes up. Which illustrates my original point: they are pitting people against each other, while this was on them. They are the ones who organized this sloppily. They didn't even check for language test results in the end, which means that ineligible people could go through. This is on them.
Again, nothing against you or anyone else who got to apply. I just hope they will not make things more difficult for CEC candidates in the future.
Fingers crossed,
if anything, I think it will make them easier.... less applicants!!
To be fair the whole thing was rushed and was ultimately down to luck. If this was done last year I wouldn't have been able to apply as I only took a language test when I wanted to get into a FSW pool in October of last year.
Actually, I remember thinking how unfortunate I was because I completed my masters degree on the week the pandemic started, my study permit extension application was delayed by over six weeks meaning I couldn't work or apply for pgwp while international students at the time could work full time due to the public policy, lost an employment as a result and had to start looking for a skilled full-time job which I didn't get until November last year.
It is also not lost on me that there are more qualified people in the country who couldn't apply because they didn't have a language test, and that is more a failing of IRCC than it is the fault of people who had their tests but were less skilled.
In all, I hope there will be an easier path for most of those very skilled (PhD etc) applicants who couldn't get it in the nearest future.
Actually, I remember thinking how unfortunate I was because I completed my masters degree on the week the pandemic started, my study permit extension application was delayed by over six weeks meaning I couldn't work or apply for pgwp while international students at the time could work full time due to the public policy, lost an employment as a result and had to start looking for a skilled full-time job which I didn't get until November last year.
It is also not lost on me that there are more qualified people in the country who couldn't apply because they didn't have a language test, and that is more a failing of IRCC than it is the fault of people who had their tests but were less skilled.
In all, I hope there will be an easier path for most of those very skilled (PhD etc) applicants who couldn't get it in the nearest future.