CEC 1 year work requirement

[malik786]

Hi all

To be eligible for CEC you need to work 1 year in the last 3 year.

I am on PGWP right now.
I started working on 15 January 2014 in NOC 2173 as a new graduate but on my OCWP (off campus work permit).
My PGWP came on 4th February 2015 valid for next 3 years.

My one year of work experience completes on January 15th 2015 or February 4th 2015?

It is important because if i take February 4th as start date I cannot technically be part of January's express entry draw because my 1 year is not complete in Jan.

In short : does work full time work experience on OCWP (while NOT studying/after finsihing university) counts for 1 work experience

 

[dukhi]

Hi all

To be eligible for CEC you need to work 1 year in the last 3 year.

I am on PGWP right now.
I started working on 15 January 2014 in NOC 2173 as a new graduate but on my OCWP (off campus work permit).
My PGWP came on 4th February 2015 valid for next 3 years.

My one year of work experience completes on January 15th 2015 or February 4th 2015?

It is important because if i take February 4th as start date I cannot technically be part of January's express entry draw because my 1 year is not complete in Jan.

In short : does work full time work experience on OCWP (while NOT studying/after finsihing university) counts for 1 work experience

 

[dukhi]

have you try to enter info in express entry forms? It doesnt actually asks for any specific date (only month and year) nor whether or not you are eligible for cec...so from what i have seen if you enter starting from 01/2014 to present you will get eligible for cec with 1 year experience points

 

[MapleLeafCEC]

Don't make the mistake of applying for PR under Off campus work permit status. Some of the applicants got rejected because CIC only counted experience after you received your work permit. When you work under off campus work permit you are still a "Student" as per your legal status and are technically not allowed to work full time without pursuing studies. Apply when you complete the 1 year work experience as a "worker" under the PGWP.

 

[dukhi]

Don't make the mistake of applying for PR under Off campus work permit status. Some of the applicants got rejected because CIC only counted experience after you received your work permit. When you work under off campus work permit you are still a "Student" as per your legal status and are technically not allowed to work full time without pursuing studies. Apply when you complete the 1 year work experience as a "worker" under the PGWP.

I think you are wrong....A person can work full time with his off campus work permit. If he has applied for his PGWP he can use his off campus work permit to bridge the waiting period...

 

[MapleLeafCEC]

The fact remains that someone in this forum (applied last year) was rejected because he used his experience under the off campus work permit to count as 1 year work experience. The officer that replied back to him noted that he was short 3 weeks (before he got the pgwp). Why would you want to take that chance? Just wait another month or so and apply.

You cannot be on "Student" status and claim qualified work experience for PR. You have to be on "worker" status in the country. So sure you can work to bridge the gap before you get the PGWP but that bridging period is not counted by CIC.

 

[tiffany123]

Unfortunately, I dont think your work experience will count when you are still under "student" status. You should call CIC and ask them to make sure though

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately, I dont think your work experience will count when you are still under "student" status. You should call CIC and ask them to make sure though

OP is NOT under student status. OP is on a post graduate work permit. The experience certainly counts.

 

[mf4361]

I think @MapleLeafCEC has a point.

It is legal to work full time while Off campus work permit (OCWP) is still valid, while to CIC s/he is still a student. However, on CEC application, one has to work, after graduation and under worker status, for 1 year. So if someone who counted his/her experiences under OCWP, he had included time where he was still considered not graduated and therefore not a student. Thus those time were not counted.

The question is whether experiences is being counted when a person works under OCWP (that means PGWP hasn't been issued) but after completed all the courses (which CIC considers "graduated")

I think this is why many people here advise giving an extra week or two after 1 year mark, just as a buffer

 

[dukhi]

The fact remains that someone in this forum (applied last year) was rejected because he used his experience under the off campus work permit to count as 1 year work experience. The officer that replied back to him noted that he was short 3 weeks (before he got the pgwp). Why would you want to take that chance? Just wait another month or so and apply.

You cannot be on "Student" status and claim qualified work experience for PR. You have to be on "worker" status in the country. So sure you can work to bridge the gap before you get the PGWP but that bridging period is not counted by CIC.

But the thing is express entry forms doesnt allow exact dates to be entered...so if you started working full time in early Feb on your off campus work permit and got your pgwp in the last week of february in both cases you will have to enter I started working Feb/2014....I am not sure what will happen next if an ITA is sent by cic....because surely the applicant has done nothing wrong and entered all the info correctly....

 

[malik786]

this is from the manual

Any period of employment during which the applicant was engaged in full-time study will not be included in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (e.g. work experience gained through co-op work permits, off-campus work permits while a full-time student and on-campus work permits

I got a letter from university few days before i started work stating that I have completed my education from the university.

Hence i was no longer a student after the date on the letter.

 

[malik786]

Any period of employment during which the applicant was engaged in full-time study will not be included in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (e.g. work experience gained through co-op work permits, off-campus work permits while a full-time student and on-campus work permits

 

[MapleLeafCEC]

You can still put WHEN you started working full time (even if it was on off campus work permit) - just make sure to apply after you complete 1 year of work ex after obtaining PGWP. The CIC visa officer counts back your work experience from the lock in date (the date the officially receive your application). So lets say your application gets to them on March 10, 2015. They count back work experience qualifying periods from the date you got your pgwp to March 10, 2015 (just an example).

But the thing is express entry forms doesnt allow exact dates to be entered...so if you started working full time in early Feb on your off campus work permit and got your pgwp in the last week of february in both cases you will have to enter I started working Feb/2014....I am not sure what will happen next if an ITA is sent by cic....because surely the applicant has done nothing wrong and entered all the info correctly....

 

[dukhi]

so you are saying we should withdraw our profile because the cic system has a glitch...i dont think it make sense...Since I am eligible for both CEC and FSW...Lets see what happens ...my case is a bit one off

 

[MapleLeafCEC]

You might get an ITA based on what you have filled out but after that you still have to qualify under FSW or CEC. If you are considered under CEC (they will match the pgwp date to the lock in date (the date they register your file in ECAS).

If you do get an ITA, make sure to send your PR application after you complete one year from the PGWP issue date. If you get an ITA in first week of feb - apply for PR by end of feb after your pgwp issue date completes one year.