Several people have mentioned that this thread has been very helpful to them (thanks - I'm glad it was!). I appreciate that it was made a sticky and that we've had a good discussion. It's gradually been turning into more of a general question thread spanning several periods of applications and instructions. Given that there have been several changes in recent months this can get confusing, especially for newer folks.
As context, there's been 4 distinct applicant periods with their own twist to the rules:
* Pre-April 10 2010 applicants: 38 NOC codes, simplified application still in effect, applicants had 120 days to submit all documents to their visa office once the application had been reviewed by the CIO and referred to the Visa Office. Maaties' thread at http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/faq-t13225.0.html covers the post 2008 to pre-April 10 2010 process.
* April 10 2010 – per announcement on March 10 2010, Proof of Language ability had to be sent to the CIO at the time of initial application (test results or written submission) (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2010/2010-03-10.asp)
* June 26 2010 – new Ministerial Instructions issued defining 29 NOC codes in demand as a result of which several instructions changed in significant ways – summarized in the first post of this thread @ http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-need-to-send-all-documents-to-the-cio-now-not-visa-office-t45808.0.html;msg331057#msg331057 (including: all documents in the Visa Office checklist had to be sent to the CIO, all applicants had to submit language test results to the CIO)
* August 4 2010 – new FSW applicant instructions (IMM EG7000) and operational manual (OP6) issued with several changes (e.g., EG7000 indicates Police Certificates should NOT be sent to the CIO and instead to the Visa Office and must be issued 3 months prior to receipt by the Visa Office, applicants need to rank NOCs they qualify under in preferential order, PCCs have 1 year stated validity). These changes were briefly mentioned in this thread (posts around http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-need-to-send-all-documents-to-the-cio-now-not-visa-office-t45808.0.html;msg375776#msg375776) and a specific discussion was initiated at http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t49610.0.html
This thread initially served to notify folks of the major changes that occurred on June 26 2010. Then on August 4 this thread announced rule changes.
Posts have been moving into more of a mish-mash of information across different periods so pay attention to what information is actually relevant for your case (as you always should, of course, but hopefully the structure above helps new folks understand some of the history and where they fit in and why information seems to be changing so fast).
As context, there's been 4 distinct applicant periods with their own twist to the rules:
* Pre-April 10 2010 applicants: 38 NOC codes, simplified application still in effect, applicants had 120 days to submit all documents to their visa office once the application had been reviewed by the CIO and referred to the Visa Office. Maaties' thread at http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/faq-t13225.0.html covers the post 2008 to pre-April 10 2010 process.
* April 10 2010 – per announcement on March 10 2010, Proof of Language ability had to be sent to the CIO at the time of initial application (test results or written submission) (http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2010/2010-03-10.asp)
* June 26 2010 – new Ministerial Instructions issued defining 29 NOC codes in demand as a result of which several instructions changed in significant ways – summarized in the first post of this thread @ http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-need-to-send-all-documents-to-the-cio-now-not-visa-office-t45808.0.html;msg331057#msg331057 (including: all documents in the Visa Office checklist had to be sent to the CIO, all applicants had to submit language test results to the CIO)
* August 4 2010 – new FSW applicant instructions (IMM EG7000) and operational manual (OP6) issued with several changes (e.g., EG7000 indicates Police Certificates should NOT be sent to the CIO and instead to the Visa Office and must be issued 3 months prior to receipt by the Visa Office, applicants need to rank NOCs they qualify under in preferential order, PCCs have 1 year stated validity). These changes were briefly mentioned in this thread (posts around http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/important-need-to-send-all-documents-to-the-cio-now-not-visa-office-t45808.0.html;msg375776#msg375776) and a specific discussion was initiated at http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t49610.0.html
This thread initially served to notify folks of the major changes that occurred on June 26 2010. Then on August 4 this thread announced rule changes.
Posts have been moving into more of a mish-mash of information across different periods so pay attention to what information is actually relevant for your case (as you always should, of course, but hopefully the structure above helps new folks understand some of the history and where they fit in and why information seems to be changing so fast).
