Paid vacation outside Canada & remote work

[dh627]

Hi all,

I thought I was eligible for CEC and have been invited to apply. However, I recently have read that remote work for a Canadian company (salary paid in Canadian dollars, taxes paid to Canada) does not count towards the 52 weeks worth of experience as it was not in Canada. I was out of Canada for approximately 9 weeks & another 3 upcoming in May. Does anyone have experience with this or can anyone confirm it?

Secondly, I've read mixed things about whether vacation time spent outside of Canada counts towards the 52 weeks experience. Can anyone confirm whether it does or not? I spent 15 days/3 weeks on vacation in another country. Additionally, we got 1 week of paid time off at Christmas, which I spent in another country, but this paid time off is not part of our contract - does anyone know if I can count this towards my 52 weeks?

I will likely have to reject my invitation to apply and re-apply at a later date, once I have gained 52 weeks worth of experience by the end of the 60 day window to submit my application.

Thanks!

 

[punter123]

yeah, IRCC is strict with how much you worked for the CEC category and will count all the hours although they will consider up to 3 weeks of vacation per year as part of work (in addition to all the state or company holidays you get). The maximum they will count is 40 hours per week and your employer should state that in the letter/salary slip.

Your remote work of 9 weeks will now be part of your foreign work experience not Canadian.

 

[dh627]

@punter123 Thank you. I'm not clear on what you mean by up to 3 weeks in addition to company holidays that we get - is the 3 weeks you mention not the same as company holidays that you've mentioned in brackets? So I have 15 days/3 weeks of official paid time off (in my contract) and then we got an extra paid week off at Christmas - could I count all 4 of these weeks towards my 52 weeks?

If I can count it, then I wonder if they would be ok with it because it'll look like this in my application:

- Middle 2 weeks of December working for a Canadian company but remotely (foreign experience)

- 1 week off at Christmas for a Canadian company. I was abroad from Canada at this time but I would count this week towards my 52 weeks. (Canadian experience, despite not being in the country)

- 5 weeks after this week off working for a Canadian company but remotely (foreign experience)

I feel like they might not count that week off at Christmas since it's sandwiched in between weeks of working remotely - I don't know, it just may look at bit odd that I'd just been working remotely either side of this 1 week off.

Thanks!