apardhamija said:
I agree, to become a permanent resident we have to compete with highly skilled people and then we are eligible, it should not be given to some priest, In what way is priest helping country grow or is helping its economy, if they give permanent residency to priests then there are millions of priests in India, they will all get here. Moreover if a temple has invited someone to Canada to do duties of a priest it must be a contract at the end of which you go back to where you came from.
So basically you are saying that since it was hard for you, it will make your life better if it is hard for everybody...
Do you see the problem in that thought process, with that, you wouldn't be allowed to immigrate in Canada, because, you kind of come to steal jobs from Canadians!
I am not a religious person and i can be quite intolerant towards them when they are intolerant with others or try to impose their views onto others, but for all I know, this priest, is not trying to impose his religion on me or others (he may but i have no evidence of that) and he can be beneficial to those who have the same faith as his, he serves a purpose for a portion of the population, do I impact more people with my profession? maybe, maybe not, do I improve the canadian society more with my profession than he does? hard to really guess.
His win does not mean your loss, you lose nothing if he gets his PR as a priest, so don't be rude and offensive.
Now to answer the original question:
Your NOC code is A therefore it qualifies. You still need to meet the other criteria though. You need 12 month full time or the equivalent part time.
Your pay stub need to reflect that, i am not sure based on your compensation that it can be argued that you work full time as a priest but those are fairly specific and only a lawyer or your temple's accountant could answer this really. Your compensation if full time cannot be below the minimum wage (that would put your temple in trouble) and 6,000 dollars, even adding the boarding doesn't seem to cut it for me but again, you need to check with a lawyer. The good news is that 30hours per week is already considered full time for CRA so as long as you can justify that you should be ok on that point.
For your taxes, it is quite complicated, and here your temple's accountant (if the temple doesn't have one well, you need one...) needs to provide you with info, but I hope you have realized that like anybody else, you need to pay taxes. The boarding and lodging are taxable benefits and CRA (if your accountant doesn't do it) will estimate the value of it (if you are in Toronto for example, it can be quite valuable as the value is determined by the cost of renting a similar place). If they provide you with food, again, it is a taxable benefit, therefore CRA will increase our income by a reasonable amount to pay for food for each meals every day.
All this can add up pretty fast and in your situation, you will have a hard time if you don't do it honestly and properly: for your PR you need to show that it is reasonable to claim that you worked full time, for CRA you will need to claim enough income for it to be reasonable (just the lodging in toronto can add up pretty fast to easily more than 10,000 dollars.
You will have to pay taxes on that income (I hope you either got some deducted from your $500.00 or that you set some aside everymonth). On your income, your employer should also have deducted CPP, EI, RPP, maybe also some health insurance premiums. If it wasn't done, you are also responsible for that (along with your employer), and the health benefit is another taxable benefit if not claimed...
If your income is only around 20,000, you'll owe close to 2,000 easily...
For your PR application, you'll need your tax affairs in order. It is way too complicated to be explained on a forum and you only have 14 more days to get it in order or else you'll face penalties and interest on top of the amount of tax owing.
I strongly recommend to discuss all this with your employer and have him get in touch with an accountant.