Hello again!
I am applying under category 2 in the federal skilled workers application. I can't apply under Canadian experience quite yet, as I've been in school for a year and working for just over a year; so I haven't met the qualifications for that quite yet.
u mean FSW category 1 --> you have at least one year of continuous full time or equivalent paid work experience in the last ten years in at least one of the occupational categories identified in the Ministerial Instructions
But I do check out for federal skilled worker. When applying for that, they ask you:
"You must gather and submit to the CIO all the documents listed on both
the Document Checklist (IMM 5612) and the visa office specific document
checklist.
Yes
You will submit the documents from both checklists only once to
the CIO.
Yes
To determine what documents you will need to provide, consult the
Visa Office specific requirements (supporting documents) for your
country at:
cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/skilled-mission.asp"
Yes
From there, that link tells you how to choose the visa office appropriate to you:
Yes
"Consult the list of countries and visa offices to determine which Canadian visa office is responsible for:
the country in which you are residing, provided you have been lawfully admitted to that country for at least one year; or
your country of nationality."
With those specifications, I fall under two categories: Buffalo for living in Canada for over a year, and Sydney Australia for being an Australian national.
correct
And I'm not sure which to choose. But, thanks to you guys, it sounds like I should avoid buffalo! I didn't realize it was such a mess. But my worry is, if anyone's been through this process before, is there any reason you need to go to the visa office in person? Because a ticket to Sydney Australia could be rather expensive...
u r supposed to go to the visa office only if u r called for an interview.now,if u r going to choose Sydney Oz VO,u have to consider few things like
i) what if u r called for an interview,u have to go to Sydney VO
ii) when u get Passport Request,is it legal to mail ur passports from Canada to Oz? or u may have to fly to Oz
iii)Also looking at below thread,it looks case processing at Sydney VO is too slow similar to Buffalo VO
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/any-one-from-sydney-australia-t37733.0.html
considering the situations (i)&(ii), I would suggest u to choose Buffalo VO. situation (iii) doesnt make much difference,but as u fall under post june 26 category,things would speed up in ur case.
It doesn't say anything about an interview in the guide,
Regarding interview,there is this section in Application for Permanent Residence in Canada (IMM 0008‑Generic where u have to mention following things.
Preferred language
Correspondence: Check the box to indicate in which language, French and English, you prefer to receive correspondence.
Interview: Indicate which language you would prefer to use if you are invited for an interview.
so the word Interview says everything.I wish it will be waived for everyone 
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/EG74.asp.
but it does say they may request more information in the future. Is all that correspondence by mail?
yes,all correspondence thru mail or email.
