Foreign Work Experience - Misrepresentation or not?

[wealthboy13]

Hi! As IRCC is conducting extensive checks on everything now. I have a question regarding how I can show my foreign work experience. This is my timeline:

Company A: full-time one year experience (Jun 2016 - August 2017) have bank statement to support this, will get paystubs and work experience letter

Company B:

• unpaid work (September 2017 - April 2018) since i was changing my field
• paid work (May 2018 - November 2020) have paystubs, work experience letter, and bank statements to support this
• part-time work (December 2020 - August 2021) i was paid in lumpsum for this in January, April, and August (have bank statement to support this)

Now the issue is, when i showed my company B experience in my study permit application and CV, I showed it from September 2017 - August 2021. I did not specify what was unpaid, paid, and part-time. If I claim points for the paid work in the experience class PR, could this be flagged as misrepresentation as I would only be claiming points for a portion of work experience? I am scared and contemplating whether I should claim any points for company B experience. While I have bank statements, paystubs, and experience letter. I will not be able to obtain tax returns as my salary was within the tax bracket. My study permit was for a business degree - what if they flag it saying you did not specify paid, unpaid, and part-time because you wanted to show more work experience for the business degree. I was also unable to include this work experience in my PGWP application as i had no space. Any advice would be great.

 

[abff08f4813c]

What happened with the PGWP? You shouldn't have left the experience off of that - you can always add an extra page to the paper app for space, or upload an extra letter to include details as a supporting document for an online app.

My understanding is that you don't "get points" for work experience on a study permit application. Study permits aren't points based and work experience isn't required for a successful application. Best bet would be to include the experience for company B but break it down into the three parts and also include an extra Letter of Explanation to explain how you got paid.

 

[wealthboy13]

I did not know about adding the extra page for work experience on PGWP. I also didn't think it would matter. I know the best bet is to attach a letter but i'm concerned if the immigration officer flags it. If that happens then i will not be able to provide tax returns for it. This might lead to a ban which is not the goal. I just find it risky to reveal that info. Doing a gamble with my PR application does not feel like a wise move. I am considering PNP pathway but unable to figure out which province has the easiest path. I am open to moving to that province and working.

 

[abff08f4813c]

I did not know about adding the extra page for work experience on PGWP. I also didn't think it would matter.

It can matter - you don't want to do anything that can be accused of as misrepresentation. Remember that IRCC has copies of everything you sent for all previous applications, and can check if you left something out that was included in an older application (like a study permit app).

Doing a gamble with my PR application does not feel like a wise move.

I agree. And leaving stuff out that IRCC already knows about is exactly the kind of gamble that one should avoid, imvho.

I just find it risky to reveal that info.

Well that's kind of the point - you already have. As you wrote,

Now the issue is, when i showed my company B experience in my study permit application and CV, I showed it from September 2017 - August 2021.

So it's already been revealed.

I know the best bet is to attach a letter but i'm concerned if the immigration officer flags it. If that happens then i will not be able to provide tax returns for it. This might lead to a ban which is not the goal.

You have a good reason that you don't have tax returns, and you have other proof. If you're that worried I'd just add a line in your letter of explanation along the lines of, "I did not file a tax return for this because I did not make enough to be required to file a tax return." and that would be that.

The only way I see this being an issue is, if you were not only actually supposed to file, but also if you had owed taxes, and the failure to file was to avoid paying those taxes.

If the above does not apply to you, then you're worrying about nothing.

Tax returns aren't a required document, for the obvious reason that not everyone has to file them. There's no way you'd get banned for not having that doc (unless the above case applies to you, but you already said it didn't).

I am considering PNP pathway but unable to figure out which province has the easiest path. I am open to moving to that province and working.

For that try the subforum here dedicated to PNP. Note that you'd still have to deal with the above even in a PNP application.