Applicant from PhD program after 5 Nov, 2011 connect here to get status

[asbereth]

Thanks for your reply!
Well, I have given my PER letter to grad studies office since mid April and when I followed up I received this email : "We are currently reviewing the "new" letters that have been issued to students applying for their Permanent Residency in Canada through the Federal Skilled Worker. You will be notified when we have reached a decision."

Payam8, I'm also from the University of Waterloo, and I've heard from my friend that his friend tried to use the new PER letter, and they did not accept it to waive international tuition differential (because of the new wording of the PER email). All I can say is, keep trying.

Last year, I had a huge argument with the university immigration advisor (I'll PM you her information). She didn't agree with my interpretation of "eligibility to apply for PR" and "approval in principle". At the very same night, I sent her a link from York University that supported my case, and she agreed to clarify it with the ministry. About three weeks later, the GSO sent out a university wide email to clarify the matter, and that the PER email would be accepted to lower tuition fee. About two weeks later, my friend used the response from our GSO to lower his wife's tuition at the University of Guelph.

My point is this, if last year they agreed to waive international fee for those who have already received PER, why not this year? The essence of PER stays the same. It just shows your eligibility to apply for PR under the appropriate ministerial instructions. The wording changed a bit, but what it means is still exactly the same. If they accepted it last year, they should still accept it this year. Even last year PER email only confirmed your eligibility to apply under the current MI, not necessarily eligibility for the status itself.

Another thing to point out, as The_Prince pointed out, you will still be eligible for OHIP, even using the new PER email, and I believe eligibility for OHIP, and eligibility for local tuition are based on the same thing: eligibility to apply for PR, which is what the PER email is supposed to confirm.

So keep fighting. I already fought my battle last year, now you need to fight yours

PM me if you need to talk more about this

Still I am afraid that I do not have the duties word by word (copy paste) according to the NOC code. My supervisor is on a conference. I asked him to send me another letter, almost the same and I just changed the duties with the exact wording of NOC. I am really hesitated to send this letter as it would be the 3th updated latter. I would really appreciate it if you could comment on my letter?

Do I need to send another letter for my RA?

I understand your anxiety. But I don't think it would be that easy to modify your letter any further. It's already got leading statement, and also substantial number of job duties. IMO (which is not an expert's opinion), your letter is fine the way it is, but it is always hard to tell exactly what they want, so nobody can tell for sure what they will do or whether they will accept your wording (yeah, it's all a game of words)...

 

[aidina]

Aidina and other senior members please help me.

I am a May Applicant. I updated my work experience letter one in January to get more points which was missing the lead statement. I decided to update again on May 15 with the following letter:

This reference letter is an update for Mr. XXX application for Permanent Resident status of Canada. XXX is a full-time PhD student (student ID XXXX) who is working as a research assistant under my supervision in the Department of XXX at the XXX. XXX joined us in September 2009 as a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) student and has been working with me continuously since then.

XXX's work in the area of XXX is focusing on making XXX applications. As my Research Assistant, he assisted me in research activities in the XXX area and his main duties are:

- Compiling and analyzing research activities related to XXX
- Preparing technical reports in the subject matter
- Designing and making laboratory experimental set ups. He designed and made an XXX apparatus for making nanofibers in the time between September 2010 and September 2012. He also recently designed a XXX for XXX test stand and it has been scheduled to run by June 2013.
- Preparing scholarly publications and writing scientific journals.
- Assisting me to review and analyze scientific works which have been published in peer reviewed journals
- Assisting me as a Teaching assistant in undergraduate course which is entitled XXX in Fall 2009 and Winter 2010 semesters.
During his work as my research assistant, XXX published the following publication:
--------------
He also had the following talk:
-----------

Moreover, the rest of his work has been well documented and will be published in a high-ranked peer-reviewed journal related to XXX.
XXX is working full time (40 hours per week) as a doctoral research assistant and he has received a salary of $25,000 per year for his work as research assistant and teaching assistant. XXX will continue to receive the research assistantship stipend until he finishes his Ph.D. program.
XXX is very talented academically and because of this he has been making significant contributions to my research group and thus to the Canadian XXX Community.
Should you have any questions, or require further information regarding XXX's work, character or language skills, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,

Still I am afraid that I do not have the duties word by word (copy paste) according to the NOC code. My supervisor is on a conference. I asked him to send me another letter, almost the same and I just changed the duties with the exact wording of NOC. I am really hesitated to send this letter as it would be the 3th updated latter. I would really appreciate it if you could comment on my letter?

Do I need to send another letter for my RA?

It contains the lead statement. The TA part will be declined for sure. Regarding the RA duties, you have 2 of the duties more or less exactly the same as NOC code. It should pass. As asbereth said, it is not easy for you to send another letter, as this one already contains lots of duities even if some of them are not exactly the same as NOC code, which should not matter. For example, I had "data acquisition" instead of "compiling results" as one of my duties, and it was accepted.

 

[asbereth]

I guess this is for applicants after May 04

With all due respect to SFU dean of graduate studies, I don't think they necessarily have the final say as to what work experience is or is not accepted for immigration purposes. I checked that particular section of OP6C (Section 6.3), and nowhere is it mentioned that non-taxable income is not accepted.

Just because you receive a research funding in lump sum at the beginning of the term, it DOES NOT mean that you are not paid to conduct your research activities. As long as your funding (taxable or non-taxable) is dispersed specifically to remunerate your research activities, your RA should be considered PAID work experience. Now, if your scholarship is for something else not related to your research (such as to waive international differential fee), then obviously you cannot claim this as your research compensation. But if it is a research funding, it should be fine.

The most important part is to document your TA/RA duties and lead statement, and also the number of hours (which may be a challenge if your research funding is non-taxable). Hard, but doable.

 

[asbereth]

To once again clarify "work" for immigration purposes, IRPA Section 2 has the following definition as to what constitutes work

“work” means an activity for which wages are paid or commission is earned, or that is in direct competition with the activities of Canadian citizens or permanent residents in the Canadian labour market.

And there is NO difference AT ALL in the definition of "work" between last year and this year. If non-taxable RA was accepted before May 4, it should still be accepted even after May 4. Check all the previous versions of IRPA

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/PITIndex.html

If I had the chance to talk with that border agent again, I would point it out to her that TA/RA, even though you gain this experience while studying full-time, should also be considered work, at least for the purposes of Canadian immigration.

 

[Stuck In Quebec]

From the spreadsheet, Almost all rejected applicants due to TA/RA didn't get a document request. I think doc request is a positive sign you wont get rejected of TA/RA issues although not guaranteed. Those who go through medical and PPR, could you please share us your reference letter statements.

Best,

Dec_Applicant

I like the way you think. I made the same observation when we got all these bad news all day long and went through the tracker to see who's who and what's what.

You are right that the people with prior doc request have not been caught in the loop of exp letter, but the real thing will begin now with Kuzey ans later applicants as if we look at the tracker, all have been asked documents and lets see what is to happen next, RA/TA letter problem or steps further.

Also all these codes FA, RK, NN are not departments, but individual officer identifiers I think, least I could figure out from my GCMS.

Besides I am confused with selection and eligibility still. Does doc request mean they are not gonna be fussy with RA/TA or its just checking the completeness of the file and run eligibility against work experience and funds.

This is depressing. Congratulations to successful members.

 

[asbereth]

Besides I am confused with selection and eligibility still. Does doc request mean they are not gonna be fussy with RA/TA or its just checking the completeness of the file and run eligibility against work experience and funds.

Hi Stuck In Quebec,

I've had the opportunities to briefly analyze my friend's GCMS notes (he applied on August 2012). He received a document request from RK6165 two months ago, and initially we all thought that he already passed selection factor.

But according to his GCMS notes, we checked the "notes" section, assessment was not even started yet. It looks like that RK6165 was responsible only to check whether certain documents were missing. Applications from the second and the third thirds of 2012 usually went through initial completeness checks by RK6165 before being transferred to FA01772 (or some other officers) for final evaluation of eligibility.

And passing selection factor usually only means getting awarded 67 points AND passing minimum requirements of one year of continuous full-time work experience (or equivalent in part-time). It does not yet mean you pass eligibility (since you need to have the required settlement funds to pass eligibility as well).

 

[kuzey]

Thanks Aidina and Asbereth for your comments. I am totally agree with you that you can not say my letter would be accepted for sure. I just wanted to make sure that I did my best to prevent rejection.

It contains the lead statement. The TA part will be declined for sure. Regarding the RA duties, you have 2 of the duties more or less exactly the same as NOC code. It should pass. As asbereth said, it is not easy for you to send another letter, as this one already contains lots of duities even if some of them are not exactly the same as NOC code, which should not matter. For example, I had "data acquisition" instead of "compiling results" as one of my duties, and it was accepted.

 

[kuzey]

I am totally agree with asbereth,

I am a May applicant who got document request from RK6165 on Feb. My GCMS notes (dated on March 2013) shows that my eligibility assessments did not started by the time they requested me more documents. Having document request would not necessarily mean that you passed the eligibility especially for applicants after me in the spreadsheet.

Hi Stuck In Quebec,

I've had the opportunities to briefly analyze my friend's GCMS notes (he applied on August 2012). He received a document request from RK6165 two months ago, and initially we all thought that he already passed selection factor.

But according to his GCMS notes, we checked the "notes" section, assessment was not even started yet. It looks like that RK6165 was responsible only to check whether certain documents were missing. Applications from the second and the third thirds of 2012 usually went through initial completeness checks by RK6165 before being transferred to FA01772 (or some other officers) for final evaluation of eligibility.

And passing selection factor usually only means getting awarded 67 points AND passing minimum requirements of one year of continuous full-time work experience (or equivalent in part-time). It does not yet mean you pass eligibility (since you need to have the required settlement funds to pass eligibility as well).

 

[kuzey]

My suggestion is that for financial issues with your university in Ontario contact with the following manager in the Ministry of training directly:

Mehta, Mehul
Phone: 416-314-6912 Email: mehul.mehta@ontario.ca
Address:
Mehul Mehta
Manager - UNIVERSITIES FINANCE UNIT
Mowat Block
7th Flr
900 Bay St
Toronto ON M7A1L2

Send an email to her and first resolve your issue with her. Then ask her to contact with your office of registrar to force them to accept your letter. She is the manager of the section in Ministry of training who updated the operation manual to all universities in Ontario.

Payam8, I'm also from the University of Waterloo, and I've heard from my friend that his friend tried to use the new PER letter, and they did not accept it to waive international tuition differential (because of the new wording of the PER email). All I can say is, keep trying.

Last year, I had a huge argument with the university immigration advisor (I'll PM you her information). She didn't agree with my interpretation of "eligibility to apply for PR" and "approval in principle". At the very same night, I sent her a link from York University that supported my case, and she agreed to clarify it with the ministry. About three weeks later, the GSO sent out a university wide email to clarify the matter, and that the PER email would be accepted to lower tuition fee. About two weeks later, my friend used the response from our GSO to lower his wife's tuition at the University of Guelph.

My point is this, if last year they agreed to waive international fee for those who have already received PER, why not this year? The essence of PER stays the same. It just shows your eligibility to apply for PR under the appropriate ministerial instructions. The wording changed a bit, but what it means is still exactly the same. If they accepted it last year, they should still accept it this year. Even last year PER email only confirmed your eligibility to apply under the current MI, not necessarily eligibility for the status itself.

Another thing to point out, as The_Prince pointed out, you will still be eligible for OHIP, even using the new PER email, and I believe eligibility for OHIP, and eligibility for local tuition are based on the same thing: eligibility to apply for PR, which is what the PER email is supposed to confirm.

So keep fighting. I already fought my battle last year, now you need to fight yours

PM me if you need to talk more about this

I understand your anxiety. But I don't think it would be that easy to modify your letter any further. It's already got leading statement, and also substantial number of job duties. IMO (which is not an expert's opinion), your letter is fine the way it is, but it is always hard to tell exactly what they want, so nobody can tell for sure what they will do or whether they will accept your wording (yeah, it's all a game of word)...

 

[Stuck In Quebec]

Hi Stuck In Quebec,

I've had the opportunities to briefly analyze my friend's GCMS notes (he applied on August 2012). He received a document request from RK6165 two months ago, and initially we all thought that he already passed selection factor.

But according to his GCMS notes, we checked the "notes" section, assessment was not even started yet. It looks like that RK6165 was responsible only to check whether certain documents were missing. Applications from the second and the third thirds of 2012 usually went through initial completeness checks by RK6165 before being transferred to FA01772 (or some other officers) for final evaluation of eligibility.

And passing selection factor usually only means getting awarded 67 points AND passing minimum requirements of one year of continuous full-time work experience (or equivalent in part-time). It does not yet mean you pass eligibility (since you need to have the required settlement funds to pass eligibility as well).

Hi Asbereth

Thanks for the clarification. So pretty much eligibility should include work ex and funds both then. So it means FA or someone will scrutinize POF and work ex and still throw it out.

This is bizzare as my GCMS notes show I was rejected at Sydney twice and I showed 2 and 1/2 years of experience without RA/TA. The senior officer did the scrutiny and sent it to Ottawa. Wonder thats why my PER took 2 months.

Just enraged with the callous attitude.

 

[asbereth]

My suggestion is that for financial issues with your university in Ontario contact with the following manager in the Ministry of training directly:

Mehta, Mehul
Phone: 416-314-6912 Email: mehul.mehta @ ontario.ca
Address:
Mehul Mehta
Manager - UNIVERSITIES FINANCE UNIT
Mowat Block
7th Flr
900 Bay St
Toronto ON M7A1L2

Send an email to her and first resolve your issue with her. Then ask her to contact with your office of registrar to force them to accept your letter. She is the manager of the section in Ministry of training who updated the operation manual to all universities in Ontario.

Thanks for sharing, kuzey. I think the Ministry of Training will be the one with a final say on whether or not the new PER wording is eligible to waive international differential fee.

This is bizzare as my GCMS notes show I was rejected at Sydney twice and I showed 2 and 1/2 years of experience without RA/TA. The senior officer did the scrutiny and sent it to Ottawa. Wonder thats why my PER took 2 months.

Your PER took two months because you applied during the time where a lot of other applicants also were waiting 2+ months before they got their PERs. I believe similar pattern is going to emerge this year as well, with summer coming, and a lot of these officers will be taking extended vacations

Also, can you share what you found on your GCMS notes regarding rejection by Sydney? What exactly did they reject? Your work experience? We know that Sydney, to an extent, also checked your total number of points, it's just that Ottawa is the one that will make the final decision (as very clearly pointed out on the new PER email).

 

[Stuck In Quebec]

Hi Members

A while back I posted a problem posed by one of my friends, he attached his work ex from home for 2 years but didnt include RA/TA exp as his department doesn't have a contract and things are not stated but implied. The only letter he got was congratulations on acceptance and stipend. The duties were not stated and he didnt even know that we are actually RAs. I mentioned the discussions we have here on this forum and actually he is doing all the duties mentioned in NOC 4012. He has not mentioned NOC 4012 and claimed points under some other NOC code. He then sent a RA letter from his supervisor with the lead statement and remuneration and T4As to proove his income source.

He was asked for doc request, I think it was POF. Do you think his adding RA letter without mentioning the code on the application will do him good?? Will they count that too?? The OP-6 says that update work exp gained during the application process before final assessment, does this include this situation??

Thoughts???

 

[asbereth]

He was asked for doc request, I think it was POF. Do you think his adding RA letter without mentioning the code on the application will do him good?? Will they count that too?? The OP-6 says that update work exp gained during the application process before final assessment, does this include this situation??

If he did not specify NOC 4012 on his application form, then I would say it would be hard to convince the officer to accept his TA/RA experience as well. OP6B states the following regarding exactly this matter

Officers must consider only those occupations which the applicant has specified and for which the applicant has provided the four-digit NOC code on their application form (R80(6))

But he should try it anyway if he somehow thinks his work experience from home would not be accepted. That's the about the only thing he can do (unless he can contact people from back home to send updated letter of reference, which would be tough I'm assuming).

 

[Stuck In Quebec]

Your PER took two months because you applied during the time where a lot of other applicants also were waiting 2+ months before they got their PERs. I believe similar pattern is going to emerge this year as well, with summer coming, and a lot of these officers will be taking extended vacations

Also, can you share what you found on your GCMS notes regarding rejection by Sydney? What exactly did they reject? Your work experience? We know that Sydney, to an extent, also checked your total number of points, it's just that Ottawa is the one that will make the final decision (as very clearly pointed out on the new PER email).
[/quote]

You may be partly right on the timelines though. I did apply during a busy time. I received my GCMS yesterday and took time to go over them. My file in Sydney was opened by a service agent and he/she stated, 1 year fulltime doesnt seem to be there, though I showed 2and1/2 yrs. of occupation in a very advanced field. The file was transferred to an officer for further evaluation, he did same thing. Send it to someone else, he now sees and states that I have more than 1 yr exp. but the letters have not been verified and issues PER and send off to Ottawa. My calc showed 72-73 points, they decided to give me 68 including 5 adaptability points. This whole thing went about for 3 weeks. So I have so many identifier codes for handlers that I am confused.

In Ottawa, nothing has started except no reportable trace by RCMP and POF requested. Thats it. And yes file has been transferred to FA.....

So I have pretty much started looking into Quebec options again becoz here you never know whats waiting for you the next day. Plus I am a Quebec applicant, though I send them soon to submit and defend letter from department and post doc employment etc for intentions to go out of Quebec.

That was the summary. Please let me know if I can provide more info from my GCMS that might help someone.

 

[asbereth]

You may be partly right on the timelines though. I did apply during a busy time. I received my GCMS yesterday and took time to go over them. My file in Sydney was opened by a service agent and he/she stated, 1 year fulltime doesnt seem to be there, though I showed 2and1/2 yrs. of occupation in a very advanced field. The file was transferred to an officer for further evaluation, he did same thing. Send it to someone else, he now sees and states that I have more than 1 yr exp. but the letters have not been verified and issues PER and send off to Ottawa. My calc showed 72-73 points, they decided to give me 68 including 5 adaptability points. This whole thing went about for 3 weeks. So I have so many identifier codes for handlers that I am confused.

This is interesting. Have you finished your PhD, or did you complete a Bachelor's or a Master's in Canada? Also, you mentioned that you expected 72 or 73 points, but Sydney only gave you 68 points. Could it be because your education was evaluated differently than you expected? Or were you expecting some adaptability points that you were not awarded by Sydney?