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Does unpaid leave count as work time?

fl_pie

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I've been on unpaid leave for 3 months on one of my jobs. In EE profile, should I split the period when I was at that job because of it (into 3 periods: working/ on unpaid leave /working), or not? I think not, because it's not that different from the normal annual leave, which of course doesn't need to be specified, but I wonder what other people think about it.
 

scylla

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No - it's not counted as work time. You'll need to split your job to reflect the upaid leave.

You can only include leave as part of your experience if it was paid leave.
 
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fl_pie

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scylla said:
No - it's not counted as work time. You'll need to split your job to reflect the upaid leave.

You can only include leave as part of your experience if it was paid leave.
Thanks. Just to clarify - is it simply common sense, or are there any explicit instructions from CIC regarding this?
 

scylla

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fl_pie said:
Thanks. Just to clarify - is it simply common sense, or are there any explicit instructions from CIC regarding this?
It's common sense. Experience is only experience if you are working and being paid. When you are not working and not being paid - you're obviously not gaining any experience.

If you include unpaid time off in your work experience and CIC catches this - this will likely be flagged as misrepresentation and result in your application being refused (you could also end up with a ban from Canada).
 
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fl_pie

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Jan 13, 2015
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scylla said:
It's common sense. Experience is only experience if you are working and being paid. When you are not working and not being paid - you're obviously not gaining any experience.

If you include unpaid time off in your work experience and CIC catches this - this will likely be flagged as misrepresentation and result in your application being refused (you could also end up with a ban from Canada).
Thanks. It actually doesn't matter for my experience points, I have more than enough anyway, but it's better to play supersafe.
 
Aug 28, 2020
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No - it's not counted as work time. You'll need to split your job to reflect the upaid leave.

You can only include leave as part of your experience if it was paid leave.
What if the organization that I am working on gives me work experience certificate counting the duration of unpaid leave also? If the organization verifies it, will there be a problem? Public service rules of my country counts unpaid leave also as work experience
 

scylla

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What if the organization that I am working on gives me work experience certificate counting the duration of unpaid leave also? If the organization verifies it, will there be a problem? Public service rules of my country counts unpaid leave also as work experience
The rules in your country don't matter. What matters is how work experience is evaluated by IRCC for the purposes of immigration.

If you get a work experience certificate that includes unpaid leave, that is a significant period of time (i.e. more than a holiday of a couple of weeks), that's misrepresentation which could result in your application being refused and a 5 year ban from Canada.
 

PR2024-25

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Sep 13, 2024
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The rules in your country don't matter. What matters is how work experience is evaluated by IRCC for the purposes of immigration.

If you get a work experience certificate that includes unpaid leave, that is a significant period of time (i.e. more than a holiday of a couple of weeks), that's misrepresentation which could result in your application being refused and a 5 year ban from Canada.
How do I prove I was on leave if the letter doesn’t say when I was on leave?