Hi,
This is something that I feel needs to be posted in order to inform those who are trying to apply through the Express Entry Canadian Experience Class (CEC) Program with Military experience.
First things first, there is a lot of incorrect information surrounding previous military experience. I have however gone through this process and can inform you of my experience.
Most Importantly if you are wondering 'can I use my previous military experience as foreign skilled work to apply for PR through the Express Entry CEC program the answer is YES
The background to my application is as follows:
I arrived in BC, Canada in 2019 and worked in a Supervisor role for one year which made me eligible to apply for the CEC program in 2020. At this time before Covid-19 the points were very high and in order to get enough points to stand a chance of being invited to apply I needed to add some foreign skilled work experience to my application.
Before arriving in Canada I was a Commissioned Officer in British Armed Forces and therefore began looking for NOC codes to use this experience.
The only NOC code I could find was NOC 0433 - Commissioned officers of the Canadian Forces
The description of this NOC is:
This unit group consists of commissioned officers of the Canadian Forces who plan, organize, command and evaluate the activities of personnel in the Canadian Forces. All ranks of commissioned officers in the Air Force, Army, and Navy are included in this unit group.
Now the obvious issue I had with this was that while the job responsibilities and titles were identical, it specifically states you must be a member of the Canadian Armed Forces which makes absolutely no sense in terms of immigration - You can't be in the Canadian Armed Forces if you are not Canadian - Simple.
So I began asking around and a few friends of mine who were going through the Immigration process and they asked their Lawyers/Consultants who all said I could not use NOC 0433. I even know of people who have completely changed their immigration path because this was what they had been told as well. On top of this I could not find any answers online.
Eventually I met with a very highly regarded lawyer who informed me that yes you can use this NOC code. The reason why it states Canadian Armed Forces is that the NOC was originally never designed to be used for immigration but was repurposed and has not been changed. For anyone who has been in the military or worked for the government this is not very surprising as nothing is ever done the easiest way (on top of all the unnecessary bureaucracy).
I was still unsure at this point. I had heard countless people tell me I could not use this NOC and one lawyer tell me I can.
I even posed this question to the lawyer and their response was: 'just because they are lawyers doesn't mean they are smart'
So after thinking about it for a while I just went for it.
I gathered all the relevant proof of work, applied and was soon invited to apply and submit.
Just before submitting I met again with the lawyer to review my application and they informed me that in my Optional Documents section I would need to include the IMM5546 form. This gave me a lot more confidence as this is an official Canadian, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada form that specifically asks you to detail your previous Military Service. This form can take some time as it asks you to list previous units, ranks and titles which can quickly add up.
One thing my lawyer did point out with this form is that you don't necessarily have to include it in your initial application. But if you do not, they will ask for it in the future and this could delay your application, so I would suggest you do this at the start.
So with my application complete and everything submitted, I waited and 6 months later I received my PR with no questions asked or issues.
One thing to note is that while I have mentioned a lawyer I did this application myself. I had a consultation to discuss the use of NOC 0433 and an application review just before submitting to ensure my forms were correct. You do not need to pay for a lawyer to do your whole application. You can do this yourself.
If you were not a commissioned officer then I'm sorry but I cant be of much help as this was only for NOC 0433 not NOC 4313, but I'm sure the same principles apply.
Sorry for the long post but people are able to feel more confident when they can see someone's story, not just a post saying that you can use NOC 0433.
So long story short: Yes you can use NOC code 0433 with a CEC application (in my application). Sadly however lawyers and consultants that don't understand the system may still tell you that you cant use this experience. While I am not a professional and that this is just my experience not legal advice, please be careful with who you speak to about your application.
Maybe I got lucky and squeezed through the cracks but this was my experience.
Good Luck
This is something that I feel needs to be posted in order to inform those who are trying to apply through the Express Entry Canadian Experience Class (CEC) Program with Military experience.
First things first, there is a lot of incorrect information surrounding previous military experience. I have however gone through this process and can inform you of my experience.
Most Importantly if you are wondering 'can I use my previous military experience as foreign skilled work to apply for PR through the Express Entry CEC program the answer is YES
The background to my application is as follows:
I arrived in BC, Canada in 2019 and worked in a Supervisor role for one year which made me eligible to apply for the CEC program in 2020. At this time before Covid-19 the points were very high and in order to get enough points to stand a chance of being invited to apply I needed to add some foreign skilled work experience to my application.
Before arriving in Canada I was a Commissioned Officer in British Armed Forces and therefore began looking for NOC codes to use this experience.
The only NOC code I could find was NOC 0433 - Commissioned officers of the Canadian Forces
The description of this NOC is:
This unit group consists of commissioned officers of the Canadian Forces who plan, organize, command and evaluate the activities of personnel in the Canadian Forces. All ranks of commissioned officers in the Air Force, Army, and Navy are included in this unit group.
Now the obvious issue I had with this was that while the job responsibilities and titles were identical, it specifically states you must be a member of the Canadian Armed Forces which makes absolutely no sense in terms of immigration - You can't be in the Canadian Armed Forces if you are not Canadian - Simple.
So I began asking around and a few friends of mine who were going through the Immigration process and they asked their Lawyers/Consultants who all said I could not use NOC 0433. I even know of people who have completely changed their immigration path because this was what they had been told as well. On top of this I could not find any answers online.
Eventually I met with a very highly regarded lawyer who informed me that yes you can use this NOC code. The reason why it states Canadian Armed Forces is that the NOC was originally never designed to be used for immigration but was repurposed and has not been changed. For anyone who has been in the military or worked for the government this is not very surprising as nothing is ever done the easiest way (on top of all the unnecessary bureaucracy).
I was still unsure at this point. I had heard countless people tell me I could not use this NOC and one lawyer tell me I can.
I even posed this question to the lawyer and their response was: 'just because they are lawyers doesn't mean they are smart'
So after thinking about it for a while I just went for it.
I gathered all the relevant proof of work, applied and was soon invited to apply and submit.
Just before submitting I met again with the lawyer to review my application and they informed me that in my Optional Documents section I would need to include the IMM5546 form. This gave me a lot more confidence as this is an official Canadian, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada form that specifically asks you to detail your previous Military Service. This form can take some time as it asks you to list previous units, ranks and titles which can quickly add up.
One thing my lawyer did point out with this form is that you don't necessarily have to include it in your initial application. But if you do not, they will ask for it in the future and this could delay your application, so I would suggest you do this at the start.
So with my application complete and everything submitted, I waited and 6 months later I received my PR with no questions asked or issues.
One thing to note is that while I have mentioned a lawyer I did this application myself. I had a consultation to discuss the use of NOC 0433 and an application review just before submitting to ensure my forms were correct. You do not need to pay for a lawyer to do your whole application. You can do this yourself.
If you were not a commissioned officer then I'm sorry but I cant be of much help as this was only for NOC 0433 not NOC 4313, but I'm sure the same principles apply.
Sorry for the long post but people are able to feel more confident when they can see someone's story, not just a post saying that you can use NOC 0433.
So long story short: Yes you can use NOC code 0433 with a CEC application (in my application). Sadly however lawyers and consultants that don't understand the system may still tell you that you cant use this experience. While I am not a professional and that this is just my experience not legal advice, please be careful with who you speak to about your application.
Maybe I got lucky and squeezed through the cracks but this was my experience.
Good Luck
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