Hi guys,
CEC applicant here w/ 8 years of history in Canada. I haven't received it yet but I am pretty sure my 2014 CEC application will be returned to me soon (it was delivered to CIC in mid-December 2014). I have got:
-1+ year Canadian work experience in engineering,
-half year (part time) Canadian work experience in academics/research,
-max. CELPIP scores in each competency,
-Bachelor's Degree from a Canadian university (Engineering),
-no spouse,
-no foreign work experience,
-with full time, permanent job in engineering, but obviously no LMIA, (don't qualify for it)
-on an open (PGWP, LMIA-exempt) work permit due to expire in 4 months,
-don't qualify for PNP in Ontario because I have graduated more than two years ago (not eligible through the Student path) and have less than 2 years of Canadian experience (not eligible through the Worker path). Don't think I have time for it either.
TOTAL: 444/1200 points.
Some questions:
1) With 4 months left on my PGWP, what are my options of extending my work permit and staying in Canada without jeopardizing my career at my current firm other than waiting for the EE cutoffs to drop down to where I am? (Going back to school is not an option)... This is so frustrating to know that if I had applied two months earlier in October for CEC, I would have gotten an AOR, and I would have been on a seamless path... But I wasn't eligible until mid-December (1560 work hours weren't met). Now I am at the mercy of a lottery / statistics nightmare.
2) Currently under EE, I do qualify for CEC and CEC only, and I believe the reason for that is that I didn't declare any proof of funds while setting up the EE profile. Just put down "0" as this is not a requirement for CEC. I was wondering if it would be to my advantage to show proof of funds so that I am eligible for FSW as well. Not sure if they will ever have FSW-specific draws anytime soon but I guess being nominated in two programs would be advantageous? Or is it possible that the wait time for FSW would be longer down the line? (I know they promised "less than 6-months" for all programs, but still... This is too optimistic of a promise to hold once the # of ITA's increase in the next few months... I believe, historically, the FSW has always been the slower path between the two.)
3) Isn't it odd that even though engineering education is required to practice a strictly-regulated occupation (requires 4 years of EIT experience to become a professional engineer, P.Eng, in Ontario), Express Entry doesn't reward it with the 135 points? I think it is a big contradiction that here, CIC considers it a regulated and licensed professional profession:
- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/ofs/engineer.asp
But here under EE, it isn't considered as a "Professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession":
- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/eca-conversion.asp
4) Here's some strange wording from one of the CIC notices ( http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2014-12-01.asp ):
"Under Express Entry, labour market demand, in the form of a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or a nomination by a province or territory will provide candidates with enough additional points and be ranked high enough to be invited to apply at the next eligible round of invitations." Doesn't this clearly suggest that if you have an LMIA or PNP, you will be invited "at the next eligible round of invitations" or am I misinterpreting it? Were there any candidates among us who were in the pool with LMIA/PNP but wasn't invited because they had scores less than 886 and 818 points in the first two draws, respectively?
Same wording can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/express-entry/
"These additional points will make a candidate rank high enough to be invited to apply at the next eligible round of invitations."
I mean, listening to the CIC December conference call made it obvious that the cut-off is surely expected to fall beneath the sub-600 tier one day (with obviously some higher-tier applicants with recently-obtained LMIA/PNP's prior to the draw), but I believe this wording surely suggests that the cutoff will, according to CIC's projections and statistics, one day plateau below 600. So, for those of us who have less than 600 points, it is not a matter of "if", but "when". If the numbers from that same conference call is true and there were indeed only 1200 positive LMIA's issued last year, with a constant trend of 3000/year before that, than we may very well have exhausted most back-logged LMIA/PNP holders and may see the cut-off dropping down to sub-600 as early as the next few draws. Thoughts?
Anyway, hopefully that day will come be within the next 3-4 months... Otherwise, after 8 years in Canada, my hands are quite tied.
Best of luck everyone!
CEC applicant here w/ 8 years of history in Canada. I haven't received it yet but I am pretty sure my 2014 CEC application will be returned to me soon (it was delivered to CIC in mid-December 2014). I have got:
-1+ year Canadian work experience in engineering,
-half year (part time) Canadian work experience in academics/research,
-max. CELPIP scores in each competency,
-Bachelor's Degree from a Canadian university (Engineering),
-no spouse,
-no foreign work experience,
-with full time, permanent job in engineering, but obviously no LMIA, (don't qualify for it)
-on an open (PGWP, LMIA-exempt) work permit due to expire in 4 months,
-don't qualify for PNP in Ontario because I have graduated more than two years ago (not eligible through the Student path) and have less than 2 years of Canadian experience (not eligible through the Worker path). Don't think I have time for it either.
TOTAL: 444/1200 points.
Some questions:
1) With 4 months left on my PGWP, what are my options of extending my work permit and staying in Canada without jeopardizing my career at my current firm other than waiting for the EE cutoffs to drop down to where I am? (Going back to school is not an option)... This is so frustrating to know that if I had applied two months earlier in October for CEC, I would have gotten an AOR, and I would have been on a seamless path... But I wasn't eligible until mid-December (1560 work hours weren't met). Now I am at the mercy of a lottery / statistics nightmare.
2) Currently under EE, I do qualify for CEC and CEC only, and I believe the reason for that is that I didn't declare any proof of funds while setting up the EE profile. Just put down "0" as this is not a requirement for CEC. I was wondering if it would be to my advantage to show proof of funds so that I am eligible for FSW as well. Not sure if they will ever have FSW-specific draws anytime soon but I guess being nominated in two programs would be advantageous? Or is it possible that the wait time for FSW would be longer down the line? (I know they promised "less than 6-months" for all programs, but still... This is too optimistic of a promise to hold once the # of ITA's increase in the next few months... I believe, historically, the FSW has always been the slower path between the two.)
3) Isn't it odd that even though engineering education is required to practice a strictly-regulated occupation (requires 4 years of EIT experience to become a professional engineer, P.Eng, in Ontario), Express Entry doesn't reward it with the 135 points? I think it is a big contradiction that here, CIC considers it a regulated and licensed professional profession:
- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/ofs/engineer.asp
But here under EE, it isn't considered as a "Professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession":
- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/eca-conversion.asp
4) Here's some strange wording from one of the CIC notices ( http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2014-12-01.asp ):
"Under Express Entry, labour market demand, in the form of a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or a nomination by a province or territory will provide candidates with enough additional points and be ranked high enough to be invited to apply at the next eligible round of invitations." Doesn't this clearly suggest that if you have an LMIA or PNP, you will be invited "at the next eligible round of invitations" or am I misinterpreting it? Were there any candidates among us who were in the pool with LMIA/PNP but wasn't invited because they had scores less than 886 and 818 points in the first two draws, respectively?
Same wording can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/express-entry/
"These additional points will make a candidate rank high enough to be invited to apply at the next eligible round of invitations."
I mean, listening to the CIC December conference call made it obvious that the cut-off is surely expected to fall beneath the sub-600 tier one day (with obviously some higher-tier applicants with recently-obtained LMIA/PNP's prior to the draw), but I believe this wording surely suggests that the cutoff will, according to CIC's projections and statistics, one day plateau below 600. So, for those of us who have less than 600 points, it is not a matter of "if", but "when". If the numbers from that same conference call is true and there were indeed only 1200 positive LMIA's issued last year, with a constant trend of 3000/year before that, than we may very well have exhausted most back-logged LMIA/PNP holders and may see the cut-off dropping down to sub-600 as early as the next few draws. Thoughts?
Anyway, hopefully that day will come be within the next 3-4 months... Otherwise, after 8 years in Canada, my hands are quite tied.
Best of luck everyone!