Express Entry - Immigration Questions

[pjchels]

Hi,

I have a few questions regarding evaluating whether I want to take the Express Entry approach or apply to be a PR in Canada via a partner sponsorship. To give you a bit of background about myself along the lines of the Express Entry Questionnaire: I am a 23 year old (citizenship India), received by Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Double Major in Applied Math) and graduated in May 2013 from the US. Since then, I have worked in the US under OPT and OPT STEM at various roles in IT as a Business Analyst for a large financial institution. Unfortunately, I was unable to be picked in the lottery for the H-1B visas although my company tried to process this under premium processing. I will have reached 2 years of work experience on 7/31. I am a Native English speaker, and I am not too concerned about taking the IELTS test for English proficiency. I have been applying for jobs in Canada, but unfortunately have not had much traction with this as yet, but I am still trying.

My partner and I have dated for the past 3 years and she is a Canadian citizen (we have known each other since we were 11 years old). When I was looking at the immigration website, I saw that there was a family sponsorship approach. I believe that my partner and I fit within the "conjugal partner" category, as we have been together longer than a year and have had difficulty staying with each other due to immigration constraints. She attempted to find a job in the US and even lived with me for 4 months in New York, but unfortunately, she was unable to find one and had to move back to Canada. She currently stays in Calgary, but graduated from University of Toronto in April 2013.

I am having difficulty evaluating between applying for Express Entry or through the family sponsorship avenue. My preference would be the quickest method (as my immigration status in the US is due to expire on 12/11), but I would like to understand the merits and benefits of each approach. I saw on the CIC website that there was a pilot program introduced that allows people in the second method (family sponsorship) to be granted an open work permit while their permanent residency application is processing. This would be very beneficial to me as it would enable me to find work in the meantime.

How do you recommend I approach this?

 

[scylla]

You won't qualify as a conjugal couple - you don't face real immigration barriers. There is nothing stopping you from getting married. There are also a number of ways you could live together for a year to achieve common law. While you feel that you may not be able to live together - the barriers you have mentioned are really lifestyle choices rather than true immigration barriers (true immigration barriers are where it is literally impossible for the two of you to be in the same country together - this is not at all true for the two of you). Long story short - you have zero chance of qualifying as a conjugal couple. If you want to go the partner sponsorship route - you'll either need to get married or live together first for a year to achieve common law status.

If you want the fastest route - get married and have her sponsor you as her spouse.

Note that to qualify for an open work permit through partner sponsorship she will have to sponsor you using the inland (within Canada) process which requires you to be in Canada. Sponsoring using the outland (outside of Canada) process comes with no OWP.

 

[pjchels]

Hi,

Thank you so much for your reply - this really clarifies things for me. I believe that my best way is through the Express Entry program. I had a few more questions however - how long can I expect the process to take end to end? I understand that it is contingent on the Invitation to Apply, and I did a self-evaluation and saw that if I get the highest scores on the English test, I only reach the 66/67 point threshold. If I have 66 points does that automatically disqualify me? If I have 67 points, does this put me at the bottom of the bucket in terms of consideration? Does my partner being in Canada enhance my application at all?

Also, in the case that I complete the educational assessment and the English test and submit my profile but suppose that I receive an employment offer during that time, can I revert my application and enhance it with the work offer? Basically, how do the work permit process and Express Entry program sync up?

 

[scylla]

You need a minimum of 67 points to qualify. If you have fewer than 67 points, don't apply.

You will need to spend more time reading up on the Express Entry program on the CIC web site. The ranking and selection is not performed based on the 67 FSW points - it's done based on the Express Entry points.

A job offer accompanied by an approved LMIA will get you an additional 600 points in your Express Entry profile. Note that a job offer isn't enough - you also need an approved LMIA which is only something your employer can obtain and which typically takes several months to secure.

Again, you'll need to spend more time reading through the Express Entry requirements on the CIC web site. A number of the questions you are asking are quite basic.

 

[pjchels]

The reason I ask is because my ranking can be influenced by whether Canada considers my degree to be equivalent to two degrees by a Canadian post secondary institution (due to it being a double major, that might get me an extra point). I wanted to get some perspective on how likely that will be without going forward with the ECA since there's a cost to that. I'm thinking I might as well just go forward with that and submit my application.

With regard to my partner being a Canadian citizen, I was unable to find anything online related to that. It talks about spouses or common-law partners immigrating with me, but I couldn't see anything if my partner is already Canadian. Do you have some insight into this?

 

[scylla]

A double major is still just one degree. It won't be evaluated as two separate degrees and you won't get extra points. Double majors are extremely common in Canada - they are still just counted as one single degree.

No points for your partner since your partner is already a Canadian and will not be immigrating with you.