Cannot contact a former employer, he's possibly running from the law!?

[Emilyanimator]

Basics:
-I'm an American, 27 years old
-I have been living and working in Canada for two years under the same NOC code
-had about 3 years of experience working in the states before coming here
-I have been invited to apply for PR,
-I am in the process of gathering my last documents,
-already had a consultation lawyer look over everything
-deadline is coming up next week!

Alright, so all my Canadian experience is golden, I have the letters of employment, paystubs, no problem. BUT in my American employment history, one of the previous employers (I will call them "Media Company A") is being fishy about responding to my request for a letter of employment, and now that I have one week left, I'm going a little crazy.

Basically, I only worked for "Media Company A" for a few months, but during that time I learned the guy who ran it was less than trust worthy. He was weird about who at the company I was allowed to contact (I worked remotely, it was an independent contractor thing.) and at times he was frustratingly dodgy about paying me. (hence why I didn't work "Media Company A" long).

I was able to get him on the phone briefly and he sounded like he was going to sign this employment letter at the time (I sent him a drafted template of what it needed to say). He even sounded positive, like he was gonna get right on that! But now he has disappeared, he's unreachable at every phone number and email address I could dig up, and its been over a week since that call. The more I researched, the worse it got. The company's social media looks like it stopped over a year ago, so I think the company is no longer in business. And if you google either this guy's name, or the company, you get a bunch of scam and fraud warnings! It looks pretty bad.

I could be paranoid, but right now I'm guessing he and/or the company are in some hot water and he doesn't want to sign anything that can incriminate himself further.

I don't know what I can do. The crummy thing is, I don't have paystubs or a signed contract either because just like he gave me a runaround this time, he gave me a runaround when I worked for him, saying he was going to sign these things but never actually did. I have a copy of the contract that I had kept sending his way, but he never signed it. Only I did. Unfortunately I was desperate enough for the money at the time, I had to put up with it a few months until I found a better job

The good news (maybe?) :
I had another job in the States (same NOC code) I will call "Media Company B", where I worked for almost 3 years --just 9 days shy of 3 years. "Media Company B" was 100% legit and gave me a proper employment letter. Not sure if 2 years and 11 months foreign work experience would be enough for PR? I know my NAFTA visa required 3 years, though they didn't require me to back it up with employment letters. If I can't prove 3 full years, but I can prove at least the 2+ years I worked for "Media Company B", will I still be okay? A paranoid part of me wonders if they can yank my visa away if I fail to prove I worked 3 years. Like I'd be found in-admissible or something...(please tell me thats crazy.)

I am hoping because Canadian Experience Class focuses on CANADIAN EXPERIENCE, this weird hick-up in my american work experience wont be as important, but then again every detail of this is important so....what do you guys think I should do?

Thanks, sorry its so long to read.

 

[aneelkanth]

Please ignore this employer and the experience you gained there.
Do not claim points for the experience and list it under "personal history" only

 

[jes_ON]

Not sure if 2 years and 11 months foreign work experience would be enough for PR? ... If I can't prove 3 full years, but I can prove at least the 2+ years I worked for "Media Company B", will I still be okay? A paranoid part of me wonders if they can yank my visa away if I fail to prove I worked 3 years. Like I'd be found in-admissible or something...(please tell me thats crazy.)

If you received CRS points for 3 years of foreign work experience, and you only document 2 years (2 years 11 months is 2 completed years), then you would lose the CRS points for the third year. Assuming CLB 9 for you, the difference is 25 points.

So the question is, can you deduct 25 points from your CRS score and still meet the cut-off for your draw? If yes, you can safely ignore that job. If no, you cannot and are at risk of losing your eligibility.

So my advice - Do NOT ignore it. Write a letter of explanation (like you did here) and provide as much evidence as you can get, including tax documents.

BTW if you were an independent contractor, Media Company A was your client, not employer - you were self-employed. Nonetheless, IRCC usually wants letters from clients as well as other documents Did you prepare any invoices? Keep records of hours worked and tasks completed? Get a 1099-Misc? Any letters or emails (if not contracts) specifying the work requirements?

The section on work experience here also covers self-employment.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/perm/express/intake-complete.asp

As for whether your former employer is facing criminal charges - that will have no impact on you unless you also face charges.

 

[Emilyanimator]

If you received CRS points for 3 years of foreign work experience, and you only document 2 years (2 years 11 months is 2 completed years), then you would lose the CRS points for the third year. Assuming CLB 9 for you, the difference is 25 points.

Thanks for helping me understanding how it works better I read my invitation letter again and it kind of explains the same thing, but I think I just didn't understand it well before.

I went and redid the points calculator on the CIC website a few times just now. I re entered all my info but changed the years of foreign experience to 2 years instead of 3. Nothing changed! it was the same score. I re did it a few more times, trying to see what made the difference and it looks like they would only deduct the 25 points if I could prove NO foreign work experience at all. So I think I am in the clear if I leave that weird job off the employment section, and only put it in personal history.

 

[Irishgirl62]

Can you delete the job from your Work History or ignore even after you have been given an ITA?

I claimed CRS points for a job that I want to disregard. It is in my Work History Nov 2012- Oct 2013. This will bring my foreign work experience from 2 years and 3 months to 1 year and 3 months.

Can I delete this from my work history and just include it in my personal history?

I understand it will affect my points. How can I tell by how many points? The points in the round I received the ITA from was 472. If I still have above 472, am I ok to delete it from there? Will I need to give a letter of explanation?

Any advice would be great- I am really stressed and not sure whether I should decline the ITA and go back into the pool where I can edit my profile. I am afraid to do this in case I don't get another ITA.

 

[Emilyanimator]

I understand it will affect my points. How can I tell by how many points? The points in the round I received the ITA from was 472. If I still have above 472, am I ok to delete it from there? Will I need to give a letter of explanation?

On your letter of invitation you will find a link to the points calculator for your category. It says:

"If your situation (or that of your spouse or partner) changes, you should try to re-calculate your points score
before you decide to apply for permanent residence. To find out how to re-calculate your score, see: ....(link)...." [there is a link but I can't post links in the forum so you will have to go look at your letter]

It is a tool you can use to see if you still have enough points. It is not a form that you submit, and the number isn't sent off to CIC or anything. It is only for your reference, so don't hesitate to do it. Just fill in everything exactly as it was before, but change the foreign work experience to 1 year and 3 months, and see what points it tells you you have now.

I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I understand (from this forum's responses, and re reading my invitation letter) you are correct. as long as you still have enough points that you are above the cutoff for your round of invitation, you are ok.

 

[Irishgirl62]

Thank you for your reply! I really appreciate it.

Have you been able to delete that employer from your work history? I have my document checklist and it requires a letter of employment from my employer at the role I want to disregard. Is this where you are uploading your letter of explanation?

 

[Emilyanimator]

Have you been able to delete that employer from your work history?

Yep you just click "delete row" next that job on the "work history" part of the form, and it will be removed from your application. once you remove the job from the work history part of the form, the document upload page will change and you will notice it no longer asks for a document for that job.