Hi Everyone,
So we received an invite for the OINP Human Capital Priorities Stream - Tech Draw on 12th July 2019. We submitted our application on 24th August and have received a request for more information. Here are the two documents that they have asked for:
- Letter from bank stating that Fixed Term Deposit is non-locked and immediately available to liquidate
- Proof that NOC matches previous designation for work experience at self-owned business
Now the first point of getting the bank to provide a Fixed Term Deposit letter demonstrating liquifiability is easy.
The second part is what is confusing and I am looking for help on.
Sorry for the long post!
Here is some background: My wife (primary applicant) setup her own business in 2007 - for digital marketing and technology services (primarily web application development). I joined her company in 2007 as well.
From 2007 to 2019, she was part of her own business but as we decided to look at Canada for immigration, we slowed down our operations and shut down our tech services - which she was completely in charge of. Since January 2019, she has joined an American firm's technology division, working on their website as a Senior Full-Stack Developer.
Now, as proof of our work for technology clients from 2007 through 2019, we provided reference letters from the clients describing each project, the letters of inception and tax-registration (it was a propreitorship) as well as invoices and contracts for almost all of our technology projects.
In her company, her designation was Founder and CTO. And while we never had more than 5-members in the tech-team, out of 15-total employees, she was involved directly in every aspect of the project - from architecture design to programming, testing, bug-fixing and deployment - sometimes even documentation.
So now, here is the point of contention that OINP people have referred to in their letter:
"
In order to continue the assessment of your application, further information and/or documentation is required to verify the following program criteria:
1) You must have at least one year of continuous paid full-time work experience, or the equivalent in paid part-time work experience, within the five years prior to the date of application submission.
o Please note that your eligible work experience in your application should be consistent with the NOC code in your Express Entry profile. If there is a discrepancy between the NOC provided in your application and in your Express Entry profile, you will be assessed against the NOC code in your Express Entry profile.
The NOC code associated with your Express Entry profile is 2174. Please confirm:
• The appropriate NOC to classify your job duties as a Proprietor and CTO with <company name>, and
• If the primary NOC code in your Express Entry profile is the appropriate NOC to classify your duties in the above mentioned role. If you select a new NOC, please submit confirmation that you have updated your Express Entry profile accordingly (i.e. EE profile number if different, screenshot of NOC selected, etc.)."
Now the main thing they require us to confirm is whether her NOC is the correct one for "Proprietor and CTO" job duties - and while she did have to perform admin and accounting tasks (not sales), amongst other things, she was primarily a programmer working as a team leader. The designation was more for the clients rather than internal operations.
So my question to all of you are these:
- How do we convey the message to OINP that our organization's tech department was really small and she was essentially working as a programmer (maybe senior level slightly) alongside some other duties - will a letter stating her responsibilities in her company (along with all her client-reference letters) on a company letterhead be adequate?
- As she was the propreitor and the highest authority in the business, can she sign that letter herself?
- Is there any other way of informing them that while the NOC code is 2174, her designation was more symbolic rather than an accurate representation of her job duties at her own company?
Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for all your inputs.