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

[AST]

Hi AST,

Do you include other information in your letter other than the new employment letter? I also printed the letter I received containing my Client No. to help them find my files. But still no news now. Thanks.

3 letters - Letter from HR with salary details, letter from supervisor with details of RA responsibilities and the hours, and a letter from my department with details of TA responsibilities, along with the covering letter.

Did u mention the Attn: XX in the address? If not, it will take some time for the letter to reach your officer's desk.

 

[asbereth]

Thank you asbereth for your reply and for the clarification.

I can understand that a fellowship can be considered income. However, my fear is that it is not work. There is no contract and no hours worked, unless we are talking about different things. RA is indeed through scholarship, but one has some duties and responsibilities.

Hi informer2000, I understand that RA through scholarship does not usually have the number of hours. Also, for tax purposes, usually these incomes go under the T4As rather than the T4s. And I understand that you will need to specify the total number of hours in your letters of reference. This is precisely, as AST mentioned, where you will have to ask your supervisor rather than the HR for the approximate total number of hours per week. Remember, the letters of reference do not have to be from the HR or payroll, so ones from your advisor should be sufficient, and in fact, they are (at least for the purpose of point calculation by the CIO).

I believe full time to CIC is 37.5 hours/week. So, if I'm not mistaken, 35 hours should be part-time. If the there is no issue with counting the fellowship, that should be equivalent to at least two years of experience. The problem with the Masters experience is it was done back home and universities there only consider research assistants as temporary employees without any contract or anything to prove our work. I barely managed to get a signed a stamped document stating that I assisted in teaching this and that course during the Masters period. But nothing about the salary or the number of hours is mentioned.

Ya, but one thing that could still be ambiguous here is the fact that you are also claiming you are studying full-time during the period that you are working. Full-time studying means 15 hours a week, so if you claim that you work 40 hours a week, and doing full-time study at the same time, then they might have some concern. It is probably okay, but we can't say for sure since most people here do not claim to work 35 hours a week or more for PhD TA/RA experience.

Let us know what you decide to do, and keep us updated. Hopefully it will go through and we will have yet another piece of crucial information regarding how the processes work for future applicants And believe me, even though none of us here was approved PR yet, we have learned quite a lot by sharing information (especially the rejection cases unfortunately).

 

[informer2000]

Thanks again, asbereth!

And I understand that you will need to specify the total number of hours in your letters of reference. This is precisely, as AST mentioned, where you will have to ask your supervisor rather than the HR for the approximate total number of hours per week. Remember, the letters of reference do not have to be from the HR or payroll, so ones from your advisor should be sufficient, and in fact, they are (at least for the purpose of point calculation by the CIO).

In that case, I believe I can get such a letter for that fellowship semester from my supervisor stating that I have been working as an RA. But I have a couple of questions here though:

1) Do they require that I send contracts as well?! (this was actually one of the questions in my first post) If so, I won't be able to provide a contract for that particular semester. If not, I don't think my supervisor would mind and I can ask him to mention a fewer number of hours. But what should be done about the salary in that letter? And in that case, should I also submit my fellowship award letter?

2) Given that there will be a couple of semesters in which I TA'd (and I will need a letter from the department for that). How should the reference letter from my supervisor be organized? I mean, should he just mention the job description, the number of worked hours per week, and then some sort of table stating the periods for the RA semesters and the salary?

If I do go ahead and submit it, I'll definitely keep you guys updated..

 

[mike5182]

Hi AST,

Thanks. I didn't mention XX in the address. Hopefully it will reach to the officer quickly.

3 letters - Letter from HR with salary details, letter from supervisor with details of RA responsibilities and the hours, and a letter from my department with details of TA responsibilities, along with the covering letter.

Did u mention the Attn: XX in the address? If not, it will take some time for the letter to reach your officer's desk.

 

[yasinkaya]

These three words are the most important. Basically, after PER there are only few reasons why a person may be denied permanent residence in Canada (e.g. security threat; failing medical exam; or not presenting settlement funds). PER is as good as any other kind of "confirmation letter" from CIC. The only problem, I agree, is that it is in an email format. I don't know whether other agencies will honor it being an email.

I applied for eligibility for domestic tuition fees with PER to financial services department of York University. My application was denied with a note that the PER does not include the exact wording asked for. The department was OK with receiving the letter in e-mail format (printed out).

Is there anyone who used PER to apply to eligibility for domestic tuition fees, or any right similarly given to people with PR?

 

[AF___]

I applied for eligibility for domestic tuition fees with PER to financial services department of York University. My application was denied with a note that the PER does not include the exact wording asked for. The department was OK with receiving the letter in e-mail format (printed out).

Is there anyone who used PER to apply to eligibility for domestic tuition fees, or any right similarly given to people with PR?

My university also didn't accept my PER letter for domestic fees. I've heard from several people that they only accept to waive international fees after you get the medical.

 

[TyrusX]

Seems like another week without news. It's been around 2 months from our first AOR already

 

[websphereguy]

Seems like another week without news. It's been around 2 months from our first AOR already

Could it be true that they are waiting it out till the 1000 ceiling to be reach before taking action towards AOR for all?

 

[samira sokn]

What's your expectation for the 2nd AOR? Do you have any time line any other categories?

 

[TyrusX]

It takes from 8 to 12 weeks to get AOR in most cases. We should receive it soon. It is very annoying to be left without news like this.

 

[cdhbamboo]

I applied for eligibility for domestic tuition fees with PER to financial services department of York University. My application was denied with a note that the PER does not include the exact wording asked for. The department was OK with receiving the letter in e-mail format (printed out).

Is there anyone who used PER to apply to eligibility for domestic tuition fees, or any right similarly given to people with PR?

As far as I know, Univ of Guelph and McMaster do not accept PER as a valid evidence that you are going to be PR. And Guleph said they need a mailed letter with signature to waiver international fee, which I guess is what others referred --medical request.

 

[snow_walker]

It takes from 8 to 12 weeks to get AOR in most cases. We should receive it soon. It is very annoying to be left without news like this.

What actually VO does before issuing 1st AOR and 2nd AOR? Anyone has any idea? And when do they start verifying documents? After 2nd AOR?

 

[TyrusX]

What actually VO does before issuing 1st AOR and 2nd AOR? Anyone has any idea? And when do they start verifying documents? After 2nd AOR?

I think this is the amount of time that takes to gather, let say around 200 applicants, put all in a big box, and send a guy walking all the way to Buffalo. Then when it arrives there, another month until someone open the box?

 

[mkrp21]

My university also didn't accept my PER letter for domestic fees. I've heard from several people that they only accept to waive international fees after you get the medical.

In my university they accept only after landing

 

[GeoCanadian]

Btw GeoCanadian, how do you check your eCas status? Is it through this link? https://services3.cic.gc.ca/ecas/?app=ecas&lang=en
And then providing your UCI# ?

Yes, i go to the cic website, click on "Check application status" which takes me to the link you provided. I tried both my UCI and the file number they provided in PER letter - to my surprise (NOT!) ), both ways I got the same status ;D .