Mary2009 said:
Does it make a difference? (I'm asking I don't know).
But i guess, that both "unemployed" and/or self-employed are looked at as a potential red flag.
because a "bad apple" would always say that he/she was unemployed or working as a consultant/self-employed
to cover the long absence period where he wasn't even inside Canada!
At least on self employed you still can describe what you have been doing. Unemployed is like nothing else, blank.
Some of those bad apple, even have employer letter from companies inside Canada. You know, their lawyer set up some companies to cheat the system. They even have payslips, and actually paying their taxes. The best way to figure out a person was in Canada or not, is from the passport. You know, you can't travel without passport. Even some people have 2 or 3 passports, but still the name, dob, photo, can't be different.