Hi everyone,
Hope you're all doing well and hope all your immigration processes are going smoothly. I've recently got my ITA but I'm afraid I'm not eligible for it since the system might have given me too many points.
I've done research online and have spoken to an unhelpful immigration consultant, but I can't seem to find any definitive answers. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I don't want to misrepresent myself and get my application rejected or get banned from the country.
If anyone knows anyone, a lawyer or specialist, who I can go to with these questions as well, please do let me know, I'm a bit lost right now.
QUESTION 1: Miscalculation of CRS-score by system?
I have received an ITA on January 8th for the latest CEC-draw. The system attributed me a CRS-score of 549, however, I believe the system might have given me too many points for my Canadian work experience.
I received 53 points for two years work experience. I worked at job 1 for 20 hours a week from May 15th 2022 to March 31st 2023, and at job 2 for 40 hours a week (NOC: 22221) from September 25th, 2023 until now.
I entered these job experiences on my Express Entry profile as working from May 2022 to March 2023 for the first job, and September 2023 until now.
However, when I add the hours I have been employed up from these dates, I am not sure I reach the benchmark of two years work experience, or the 3120 hours mark, needed for two years experience by the date I received the ITA (January 8th).
If I calculate the amount of weeks I was employed at Job 1 for 20 hours a week (May 15th, 2022 – March 31st 2023), it comes to 45 weeks and 5 days. If I multiple this amount of weeks with the hours I worked each week, it comes to 900 to 920 hours, depending on whether I count the last 5 days.
If I calculate the amount of weeks I have been employed at Job 2 for 40 hours a week (September 25th, 2023 – January 8th, 2025), it comes to 67 weeks and 2 days. If I multiple this amount of weeks with the hours I worked each week (30 hours, since the IRCC stops counting above 30) , it comes to 2010 to 2022 hours, depending on whether I count the last 2 days.
If I add these up, even with the extra days, the result is only 2942 hours. In this scenario, I would have to work 6 more weeks from the ITA onwards to make it to two years experience.
Even if I calculate it by day, I still seem to fall short of two years.
If I calculate the amount of employed at Job 1, excluding weekends, it gives me 230 days. Multiplied by 4 so it comes out to 20 hours a week (working 5 days a week, 20 hours a week), this gives me 920 hours as well.
The same calculation for Job 2 (338 days multiplied by 6, for 5 workdays in a 30 hour week) gives me 2028 hours.
This added up gives me 2948 hours, which is also not enough.
Even if the system assumed I started these employments at the first of their respective months, the same calculations come out to max 3090 hours using the first method with weeks, or 3084 hours using the second method by days, still short. How did this happen?
I have been told I need to meet the requirements on the day I receive the ITA. Am I ineligible for this ITA, and should I decline? Or can I still meet the requirements if I keep working?
QUESTIONS 2: Unpaid leave + Work from abroad
If the problem in question 1 doesn’t cause any issues, there is still a question of unpaid leave and work from abroad.
Since my family lives abroad and my company had flexible time-off schedules, I took a lot of time off, including some unpaid periods.
Unpaid time-off:
- Thursday January 4th, 2024 – Friday January 5th, 2024 (04/01/2024 – 05/01/2024)
- Monday March 18th, 2024 – Friday March 29th, 2024 (03/18/2024 – 03/29/2024)
- Monday June 10th, 2024 – Friday June 21st, 2024 (06/10/2024 – 06/21/2024)
- Monday, July 8th, 2024 - Wednesday, July 10th (07/08/2024 – 07/10/2024)
- Monday December 16th 2024 – Tuesday January 7th, 2025 (12/16/2024 – 07/01/2025, part-time work, 20hrs a week)
Total days: 23 days fully unpaid. Additionally, I worked half-time (20 hours a week) for 14 days in the last period mentioned, the rest of the time for those 14 days was unpaid time off (no changes to my work contract, just part time off work).
In addition to that, I had another 7 paid days off abroad, and 20 paid days off in Canada (including paid leave, sick days and statutory holidays) over the period of the second job.
In my first job, I did not take any unpaid leave or vacation, but I worked from abroad for four weeks. This was not indicated on my contract, but just a personal agreement between me and the company.
The IRCC states the following: “An allowance for a reasonable period of vacation time will generally be made in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (for example, a 2-week period of paid vacation leave within a given 52-week period in which the applicant was engaged in qualifying work experience)”. Clearly, I am way over the IRCC-vacation allowance.
Do these periods of unpaid leave have to be subtracted from my calculations of the hours/weeks I have of Canadian work experience?
For the 14 days I worked part-time from abroad, do I only calculate these 20 hours? If I take the month of December, I worked 40 hours in the first two weeks, and 20 hours in the last two weeks. Do these even out to a 30-hour a week-month? Can this be calculated a 4 weeks of 30 hours, or just as two weeks of 30 hours (rounded down from 40) and two weeks of 20 hours? Same principle for other unpaid time leave periods (I worked the first two weeks of March 2024, but didn't the last two weeks. Can I divide the 80 hours I worked over four weeks, so I have 4 20-hour work weeks, or do I just have 2 30-hour work weeks and two weeks of nothing?)
Finally, do the periods of work done abroad count? I read somewhere the work has to be performed in Canada. This work was paid, I was employed by a Canadian employer and my contract was the same. Nothing changed, I was only in a different country while doing it.
If the answers to these questions are negative, and I have to decline my invitation because I am ineligible, how do I proceed to edit my profile?
Can I still enter the work experiences as: Job 1: May 2022 to March 2023 and Job 2: September 2023 until now, or is there a different way to do this? Should I split these up according to unpaid time leaves (which were never more than a few weeks)?
Sorry for this gigantic wall of text. Thank you all, and good luck with all you applications!
Hope you're all doing well and hope all your immigration processes are going smoothly. I've recently got my ITA but I'm afraid I'm not eligible for it since the system might have given me too many points.
I've done research online and have spoken to an unhelpful immigration consultant, but I can't seem to find any definitive answers. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I don't want to misrepresent myself and get my application rejected or get banned from the country.
If anyone knows anyone, a lawyer or specialist, who I can go to with these questions as well, please do let me know, I'm a bit lost right now.
QUESTION 1: Miscalculation of CRS-score by system?
I have received an ITA on January 8th for the latest CEC-draw. The system attributed me a CRS-score of 549, however, I believe the system might have given me too many points for my Canadian work experience.
I received 53 points for two years work experience. I worked at job 1 for 20 hours a week from May 15th 2022 to March 31st 2023, and at job 2 for 40 hours a week (NOC: 22221) from September 25th, 2023 until now.
I entered these job experiences on my Express Entry profile as working from May 2022 to March 2023 for the first job, and September 2023 until now.
However, when I add the hours I have been employed up from these dates, I am not sure I reach the benchmark of two years work experience, or the 3120 hours mark, needed for two years experience by the date I received the ITA (January 8th).
If I calculate the amount of weeks I was employed at Job 1 for 20 hours a week (May 15th, 2022 – March 31st 2023), it comes to 45 weeks and 5 days. If I multiple this amount of weeks with the hours I worked each week, it comes to 900 to 920 hours, depending on whether I count the last 5 days.
If I calculate the amount of weeks I have been employed at Job 2 for 40 hours a week (September 25th, 2023 – January 8th, 2025), it comes to 67 weeks and 2 days. If I multiple this amount of weeks with the hours I worked each week (30 hours, since the IRCC stops counting above 30) , it comes to 2010 to 2022 hours, depending on whether I count the last 2 days.
If I add these up, even with the extra days, the result is only 2942 hours. In this scenario, I would have to work 6 more weeks from the ITA onwards to make it to two years experience.
Even if I calculate it by day, I still seem to fall short of two years.
If I calculate the amount of employed at Job 1, excluding weekends, it gives me 230 days. Multiplied by 4 so it comes out to 20 hours a week (working 5 days a week, 20 hours a week), this gives me 920 hours as well.
The same calculation for Job 2 (338 days multiplied by 6, for 5 workdays in a 30 hour week) gives me 2028 hours.
This added up gives me 2948 hours, which is also not enough.
Even if the system assumed I started these employments at the first of their respective months, the same calculations come out to max 3090 hours using the first method with weeks, or 3084 hours using the second method by days, still short. How did this happen?
I have been told I need to meet the requirements on the day I receive the ITA. Am I ineligible for this ITA, and should I decline? Or can I still meet the requirements if I keep working?
QUESTIONS 2: Unpaid leave + Work from abroad
If the problem in question 1 doesn’t cause any issues, there is still a question of unpaid leave and work from abroad.
Since my family lives abroad and my company had flexible time-off schedules, I took a lot of time off, including some unpaid periods.
Unpaid time-off:
- Thursday January 4th, 2024 – Friday January 5th, 2024 (04/01/2024 – 05/01/2024)
- Monday March 18th, 2024 – Friday March 29th, 2024 (03/18/2024 – 03/29/2024)
- Monday June 10th, 2024 – Friday June 21st, 2024 (06/10/2024 – 06/21/2024)
- Monday, July 8th, 2024 - Wednesday, July 10th (07/08/2024 – 07/10/2024)
- Monday December 16th 2024 – Tuesday January 7th, 2025 (12/16/2024 – 07/01/2025, part-time work, 20hrs a week)
Total days: 23 days fully unpaid. Additionally, I worked half-time (20 hours a week) for 14 days in the last period mentioned, the rest of the time for those 14 days was unpaid time off (no changes to my work contract, just part time off work).
In addition to that, I had another 7 paid days off abroad, and 20 paid days off in Canada (including paid leave, sick days and statutory holidays) over the period of the second job.
In my first job, I did not take any unpaid leave or vacation, but I worked from abroad for four weeks. This was not indicated on my contract, but just a personal agreement between me and the company.
The IRCC states the following: “An allowance for a reasonable period of vacation time will generally be made in calculating the period of qualifying work experience (for example, a 2-week period of paid vacation leave within a given 52-week period in which the applicant was engaged in qualifying work experience)”. Clearly, I am way over the IRCC-vacation allowance.
Do these periods of unpaid leave have to be subtracted from my calculations of the hours/weeks I have of Canadian work experience?
For the 14 days I worked part-time from abroad, do I only calculate these 20 hours? If I take the month of December, I worked 40 hours in the first two weeks, and 20 hours in the last two weeks. Do these even out to a 30-hour a week-month? Can this be calculated a 4 weeks of 30 hours, or just as two weeks of 30 hours (rounded down from 40) and two weeks of 20 hours? Same principle for other unpaid time leave periods (I worked the first two weeks of March 2024, but didn't the last two weeks. Can I divide the 80 hours I worked over four weeks, so I have 4 20-hour work weeks, or do I just have 2 30-hour work weeks and two weeks of nothing?)
Finally, do the periods of work done abroad count? I read somewhere the work has to be performed in Canada. This work was paid, I was employed by a Canadian employer and my contract was the same. Nothing changed, I was only in a different country while doing it.
If the answers to these questions are negative, and I have to decline my invitation because I am ineligible, how do I proceed to edit my profile?
Can I still enter the work experiences as: Job 1: May 2022 to March 2023 and Job 2: September 2023 until now, or is there a different way to do this? Should I split these up according to unpaid time leaves (which were never more than a few weeks)?
Sorry for this gigantic wall of text. Thank you all, and good luck with all you applications!