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

[websphereguy]

Been doing alot of googling on the subject of this just introduced PhD stream and it being a fast-track option to PR status... Earlier on, in one of this thread's conversation someone shared an article from the toronto sun. I found out that other articles exist too and pretty much the word "fast-track" has been use multiple times with reference to this particular stream that we are all applying to. Unfortunately, I am unable to post up the links here to share with you some of the articles I found as this messageboard has prevented me from putting links in my msg.

Thus the only concern we have is that, despite almost every media out there identifying it as a "fast-track", question is how fast is "fast-track" is? I suppose most of our concerns are pretty much based on the fact that the processing office would be Buffalo and that place has been known to process applications at a slower pace than other offices. I guess it wouldn't hurt to believe that perhaps with the announcement of this stream late last year, the CIC may have already gotten some allocation of resources devoted entirely to processing applications through this stream. Cross our fingers and hope that is true.

 

[JBR]

Hello all,

Just to confirm with everyone here before I resend my employment letters. I am sending one letter from the HR/dept. that talks about my job title ( and full time), working hours per week (both TA and RA), total annual salary plus benefits and finally the period of my employment. Then I am attaching another letter from my supervisor that talks about my responsibilities and duties as TA and RA and working hours per week. No other details on the letter from my supervisor. So between the 2 letters I have covered all details required. have I got it right? Thanks!

 

[TyrusX]

Been doing alot of googling on the subject of this just introduced PhD stream and it being a fast-track option to PR status... Earlier on, in one of this thread's conversation someone shared an article from the toronto sun. I found out that other articles exist too and pretty much the word "fast-track" has been use multiple times with reference to this particular stream that we are all applying to. Unfortunately, I am unable to post up the links here to share with you some of the articles I found as this messageboard has prevented me from putting links in my msg.

Thus the only concern we have is that, despite almost every media out there identifying it as a "fast-track", question is how fast is "fast-track" is? I suppose most of our concerns are pretty much based on the fact that the processing office would be Buffalo and that place has been known to process applications at a slower pace than other offices. I guess it wouldn't hurt to believe that perhaps with the announcement of this stream late last year, the CIC may have already gotten some allocation of resources devoted entirely to processing applications through this stream. Cross our fingers and hope that is true.

"fast-track" are all the streams under the ministerial instructions (MI 1 to 4). This only means that the process will take from 8 months to up 24 months instead of the 8 years it used to take before 2008. You just applied, the anxiety of getting PR will diminish with time, don't worry so much. Some people here have been waiting for more than 4 months just to get PER.

 

[AST]

Hello all,

Just to confirm with everyone here before I resend my employment letters. I am sending one letter from the HR/dept. that talks about my job title ( and full time), working hours per week (both TA and RA), total annual salary plus benefits and finally the period of my employment. Then I am attaching another letter from my supervisor that talks about my responsibilities and duties as TA and RA and working hours per week. No other details on the letter from my supervisor. So between the 2 letters I have covered all details required. have I got it right? Thanks!

did they specify "full time" in the letter ?

How many hours r u claiming for RA? I am totally confused with RA hours and the rate.... plz share some information regarding this...

TA is 130 hours per term, rite?


I have given request for the letters to the payroll section... dont know what will they include!!!

 

[JBR]

did they specify "full time" in the letter ?

How many hours r u claiming for RA? I am totally confused with RA hours and the rate.... plz share some information regarding this...

TA is 130 hours per term, rite?


I have given request for the letters to the payroll section... dont know what will they include!!!

Yes, the letter says im a full time graduate student and RA and TA. its a little ambiguous. I was given a letter that says 6 hours per week of TA per term and 34 hours per week for RA per term. The annual salary is then given. I guess CIC can calculate what is the pay per hour.

 

[websphereguy]

"fast-track" are all the streams under the ministerial instructions (MI 1 to 4). This only means that the process will take from 8 months to up 24 months instead of the 8 years it used to take before 2008. You just applied, the anxiety of getting PR will diminish with time, don't worry so much. Some people here have been waiting for more than 4 months just to get PER.

Found the footnotes of MI 1 to 4. Good to know that its btw 8 to 24 and not longer than that.
Well, the anxieties are there indeed. Surely they'll diminish with time like everyone else.
But I suppose we'll have the forum to keep ourselves updated on what's going on from time to time.
Anyhow, I noticed that you've updated the tracker sheet. Here are my details:
No of person applying with: 2
Not requiring TA/RA, have 10 yrs working experience
Nationality: Singapore

Cheers

 

[YNS]

Yes, the letter says im a full time graduate student and RA and TA. its a little ambiguous. I was given a letter that says 6 hours per week of TA per term and 34 hours per week for RA per term. The annual salary is then given. I guess CIC can calculate what is the pay per hour.

In that case, I think your annual salary should be around $40,000 (based on the minimum salary of $20/hour). That is the reason my supervisor didn't give me such letter (as it can be problematic for them too).

 

[TyrusX]

Found the footnotes of MI 1 to 4. Good to know that its btw 8 to 24 and not longer than that.
Well, the anxieties are there indeed. Surely they'll diminish with time like everyone else.
But I suppose we'll have the forum to keep ourselves updated on what's going on from time to time.
Anyhow, I noticed that you've updated the tracker sheet. Here are my details:
No of person applying with: 2
Not requiring TA/RA, have 10 yrs working experience
Nationality: Singapore

Cheers

My roommate is from Singapore! HE is the best!

 

[websphereguy]

My roommate is from Singapore! HE is the best!

You're from Brazil right? Olá! 8)

 

[AST]

In that case, I think your annual salary should be around $40,000 (based on the minimum salary of $20/hour). That is the reason my supervisor didn't give me such letter (as it can be problematic for them too).

that is my basic doubt..... Is there any minumum wage requirement for research assistant? If so, we cannot claim that much hours or we should have a funding of around $40,000 per year.

In the ministry of labor webiste (http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/srt/index.php), its given that ESA does not apply for "People performing work under a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology or university". If RA comes under this, Employment Standards Act will not cover the job, and hopefully there is no minimum pay requirement.

 

[JBR]

that is my basic doubt..... Is there any minumum wage requirement for research assistant? If so, we cannot claim that much hours or we should have a funding of around $40,000 per year.

In the ministry of labor webiste (http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/srt/index.php), its given that ESA does not apply for "People performing work under a program approved by a college of applied arts and technology or university". If RA comes under this, Employment Standards Act will not cover the job, and hopefully there is no minimum pay requirement.

If you ask me, I would say students from my uni have gotten PR with the same letter I got from HR. I dont know where the $20 thing comes from. I will also tell you my total funding package is a little above 30k per annum (salary + benefits).

 

[TyrusX]

This may be good for us: its seems they decided to cut all the backlog. But is certainly sad for those people.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/feds-move-to-eliminate-immigration-backlog-by-returning-applications-144958485.html

 

[websphereguy]

This may be good for us: its seems they decided to cut all the backlog. But is certainly sad for those people.

Hmmm... interesting piece of news. Of course it doesn't sound good for folks who are affected by it but sure does mean good news for us.
Wondering why it wasn't shown on CBC though. Perhaps not such a big news amidst all the other hot off the press budget news today. Maybe now a shorter fast-track time frame sound more possible.

 

[TyrusX]

another one:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/29/budget-2012-new-immigration-rules-and-130m-aimed-at-fixing-skilled-worker-backlog/

I also got this piece of new from my Uni:

There have been recent issues of refused applications due to adaptability points. Details on the Adaptability points can be found at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/factor-adaptability.asp

It is advisable that students who have not “completed a PROGRAM of study of at least two years in duration” in Canada risk being refused for their PR application if the lack of these 5 points results in a total score of 67 or less. Should you have questions on this, please speak with an International Student Advisor –

I start to believe that a lot more people are getting rejected that our sheet shows, this maybe a reason why we have not reached the numbers of applicants we were expecting months ago, given that almost all PhDs in Canada are from other countries.

 

[jjww]

The following is a part of the letter. I lose points in the red part. The bold 'complete' is in the original letter. It is the official who wants me to notice this.

My wife has a vocational secondary certificate. But I didn't submit any document for this, since I thought my score was enough. Do you guys know this could earn 3 points for me or not?

########################################################
Your application was assessed based on the occupation(s) in which you requested assessment. The table below sets out the points assessed for each of the selection criteria:

Points assessed Maximum Age 10 10 Education 25 25 Official language proficiency 8 24 Arranged employment 0 10 Experience 21 21 Adaptability 0 10 TOTAL 64 100 You have obtained insufficient points to qualify for immigration to Canada, the minimum requirement being 67 points. You were assigned 25 points for your educational credential at the Master's degree level and at least 17 years of study. You were assigned 8 points for your official language proficiency. This assessment was based upon the language results on file. No points were assigned for your second official language. No points were assigned for arranged employment. You were assigned maximum points for work experience. No adaptability points were assigned for your accompanying spouse's education as there was insufficient evidence of a post-secondary school educational credential. No points were assigned for adaptability for work in Canada or Study in Canada as points are assigned for: (a) work in Canada if the work is performed under a work permit in accordance with R83(1)(c) and R83(4) of IRPA and (b) study in Canada is assigned points for having completed a full-time program of post secondary study of at least two year duration in a Canadian institution in accordance with R83(1)(b) and R83(3) of IRPA. No additional points were assigned for adaptability. You have not obtained sufficient points to satisfy me that you will be able to become economically established in Canada. Subsection 11(1) of the Act states that a foreign national must, before entering Canada, apply to an officer for a visa or for any other document required by the regulations. The visa or any other document may be issued if, following an examination, the officer is satisfied that the foreign national is not inadmissible and meets the requirements of this Act. Subsection 2(2) specifies that unless otherwise indicated, references in the Act to “this Act” include regulations made under it. Following an examination of your application, I am not satisfied that you meet the requirements of the Act and the regulations for the reasons explained above. I am therefore refusing your application. Note: Any different or new information that you submit cannot be taken into consideration. ######################################################

Hi Mapledream, thanks for the information you shared with us. There is one thing I want to clarify with you and other PhD friends. When you claimed your adaptability points, did you click YES or NO on the Schedule 3 (IMM0008-3e) form for claiming 5 points of 7.study in Canada. This is a very confused sentence, it seems we should complete a two-year program in order to get 5 points, so many PhD applicants might click NO but according to the new 7000 guide (updated December 2011), it can be read as once we studied two years we should get these 5 points. However, many applicants submitted the applications before the updated version and said No to this questions. So what I am thinking is, even if we are eligible to get these 5 points for studying in Canada but if we clicked NO on this question and signed below, namely, we want to give up the chance to get 5 points. I am not sure whether my guessing is right. Is there anybody who clicked YES and got NER without getting adaptability points of studying in Canada, or anyone who might not be able to get PER without these 5 points got PER. Thank you very much for everyone to share the information and make this question clear.