What is Happening to AINP applying under H1B visa from 2011-2012?

[panamio2000]

Re: What is Happening to AINP applying under H1B visa from 2010-2012?

@ Dell,
Yes Dell...having a job is wonderful in this economic times, the problem is when you have a job that is tied to a nonrenewable expiration date...It to see your life crumble every year as your time in your visa gets consumed. The problem with my brother in law is precisely that year he would have to spend out of the country (especially with young children) and moreover, with nobody giving you a job offer to get a new visa. Most employers are not offering visas, even if they might be in desperate need for skills your have... It is just a gambling and life is too precious to gamble it. But I understand what you mean by Job Vs PR; definitely, nobody immigrates with that in mind, but rather a better job, a better life. I strongly believe that our better days are still ahead.

 

[dell]

SOME COMMENTS:

1. The officers in Alberta are smart, I have to say. They take the guys with h1b in the USA and believe they are true contributors for Alberta economy. I think they are 100% right. All of these guys have got experience, skills, and expertise in their fields in the US, which are deadly needed by Alberta. Second, these guys have no any problem to adapt to Canada immediately as soon as they immigrate to Canada, no language barrier, no culture barrier, no nothing; Third, most of these guys have already got US education and diploma. And most importantly, they have got professional licenses to perform their jobs. For instance, I have got a license in the US, which only 5000 people in the world have it to perform medical practice in the US. We are ready to serve Canada. What we need is that CIO does what they should do, speed up the process. The sooner, the better. We are ready, CIO, are you ready?

Although this appears to be the right choice , but most of the time Governments aren't really known to do things properly. They let in lot of unskilled/ semi-skilled workers in the past with no language abilities. Not sure, how they expected them to be useful if they cannot speak English or French and are not able / have too much pride to learn the official languages of Canada.

They also accept many refugees on compassionate grounds and lots and lots of family and extended family who really dont have skills to hit the ground running. I believe, there was some one who told me one of his distant family member migrated to Canada in the early 80's and bought in more than 50 people from his hometown on family category. This is just one person. The family category is like a cycle, a few family come in and they bring in some more of their family and then they bring in even more. It is similar to USA, once you become US citizen you can bring in half a dozen people almost immediately but graduates of Harvard and Stanford Universities cannot work because they have no visa available to them. It is kind of like the rich, the rich keep getting richer and people with money just want to keep things in the family and let the others stay out of it.

Canadian rules are becoming similar to US rules in the last 2-3 years just a little less stringent. They have shipped many skilled people home who studied in major universities in Canada, because they didnt have enough experience to qualify for permanent residencies and who have lived/ stayed in Canada for 4 years or more. Canada isn't perfect but seems like they are little better than USA in handling their immigrants.

 

[panamio2000]

Re: What is Happening to AINP applying under H1B visa from 2010-2012?

@ Dell,
Well said.

 

[dell]

All,

The number i have for direct contact to Canada's Immigration is 613-944-4000. It appears that we cannot call them from outside of Canada, do you know of a different number to contact them directly ?

The email I received from CIC asked me to contact them if I do not hear from them in 120 days, and I have passed that time.

 

[panamio2000]

@ Dell,
Sorry, I don't have a contact number for CIO. Have you e-mail them??

 

[dell]

I did but they send me a generic response which I have pasted down below:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Due to the high volume of correspondence received, we are unable to provide a status update to you. The officer responsible for your file will contact you if any action is required from you. Please note the standard processing times for applications for permanent residence within the category in which you have applied are available on our website at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm-ec.asp . In the meantime, please ensure your information is kept up-to-date, particularly if there is a change in your marital status or in the event of a birth or death in your family. You must also advise this office of any change to your contact information, such as a change in your residential or e-mail address.

Regards,

I have also written to the detroit embassy and received no response from them.

 

[bkd1969]

All,

The number i have for direct contact to Canada's Immigration is 613-944-4000. It appears that we cannot call them from outside of Canada, do you know of a different number to contact them directly ?

The email I received from CIC asked me to contact them if I do not hear from them in 120 days, and I have passed that time.

Dell,

this is the tricky and murky part: how you count 120 days: from the date you submitted your application (Jan 2012), or the date you received AOR/MR (April 2012) from CIC. It is almost three months difference.

 

[dell]

It is 120 days from your Medical Request (MR) / Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR). It states clearly in the email to contact them 120 days from date of email not the date you submitted the application.

 

[bkd1969]

It is 120 days from your Medical Request (MR) / Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR). It states clearly in the email to contact them 120 days from date of email not the date you submitted the application.

So that means you have not passed 120 days yet if you received AOR/MR in April, 2012

 

[dell]

you are right ! It has not been 120 days but I am just trying to get some kind of update that things are going well ! Does asking for Medicals mean things are good ?

 

[bkd1969]

you are right ! It has not been 120 days but I am just trying to get some kind of update that things are going well ! Does asking for Medicals mean things are good ?

I am not sure what you mean "Does asking for Medicals mean things are good ?" CIC asked you about your medical? If yes, that means you need to do more tests. I do not know what you mean. Your medical was received as shown in your ECAS already, right? If that so, your medical is passed.

 

[dell]

Apologize, I was a little confusing. What i am trying to ask is if the Govt ask for medicals, does that mean they have made a decision on the application already and will approve it ?

 

[koolkarmaguy]

Folks,

You can find my timeline on my signature. Currently my medicals are done on June 29 th and Ottawa received them today. Thought it's not yet updated in Ecas.
Currently, I work for worlds largest heavy equipment manufacturer based in Illinois and on a H1B visa. It's been close to 5 years and working my ass off just like everyone of you.
My H1B is close to expire pretty soon in 2014. My team has been blocking my cross functional moves citing my US Permanent residency process. I already have my MS from
a reputed US university and working towards completing my MBA at Univ of ill- urbana chamapaign. (Graduating next may). I am glad that my company was generous enough to sponsor me with my education. (USD 65,000)
With so much of qualifications, experience and great performance ratings ..I don't see any ray of hope with my career progression mainly due to my immigration situation. My market test failed 3 times so far with US green card. It failed 2 times and 3 rd time our paralegals made a nasty error. Some of you might already know how red tape prevails in these big corporations... WITH THIS BEING SAID...

My canadian immigration Journey:
I applied to AINP in 2009 and was rejected due to including my OPT experience with H1B Experience. Reapplied in early 2010, received nomination in December 2011. Currently, got done with my medicals for me and my wife. Hopefully we receive ppr's by the end of the year and have something ready by early next year. Our plan is to move to canada about early/mid part of next year. My wife is a physical therapist and she is in the process of getting license here in US.
I have been applying for various leadership positions in the mechanical engineering/Manufacturing engineering areas in Calgary and Edmonton Cities. Some of the companies that I am looking at are.. Honeywell, Shell, CNRL, Cummins. My job search is not hitting the mark..as I mentioned in my resume my immigration situation. Permanent residency (Expected approval September 2012).I am guessing..companies have a tendency to recruit people that are already in the area or already in the country to avoid the hassle of jumping immigration hoops or my candidacy might not have sounded too extraordinary for them to venture out in to the process. Also, I might have been little bit overgreedy with the positions that I applied for....pampered by Uncle sam ...lol But one thing is for sure..If I am in the area...my job hunt game would entirely be different and if nothing US has taught me how to market myself well.

Currently, I am in a wait and watch mode. Following forums, applying for jobs and keeping sufficient documentation to show to the visa officer if they ask me to prove my intent to move to canada or alberta. I've been hearing a lot of people receiving these kind of queries. I also advice everyone over here to start documenting all your activities related to your potential move to canada. Edmontonbound also suggested that applying to APEGGA for credential evaluation to receive equivalent of PE licenses for engineering professions is also a good idea. Alternatively, I am emailing and faxing different real estate companies regarding apartments and or housing if I have to buy one. (Need some venture to stash my 401k cash..lol). Also, i might take a snapshot of this post as well to show my genuine foresight and planning for immigrating to canada.Members..please feel free to add any other activities which will help us to prove our intent if we get a query. (God forbid..hope we don't..) I know 2 friends of mine in AINP-H1B Category who received queries and both of them got rejected due to a insufficient response. Not trying to scare you all but throwing some light into potential grey area..we might run into.

Friends, especially most of us in the H1B Category might have some sort of US Degree and/or substantial experience working in US. We probably went through similar difficulties as students when we came on f1 and similar immigration hassles. Hence, we should probably help out each other job search, housing, settlement plans and other logistics. we can start as a regular group and extend out. If possible we should do a group chat session or google hangout thing where multiple people can join a conference. I am willling to coordinate a webex conference and can create a hotline for everyone to dial into. Also, let us all put some effort into hardcore networking and information exchange. We can collectively benefit. Interested members..please PM me.

Concluding my brief essay.. I am greatly indebted to AINP program for giving me and my wife this opportunity to reinvent our career and lives and a chance to compete fairly for both career and personal advancement.

 

[dell]

Folks,

Currently, I am in a wait and watch mode. Following forums, applying for jobs and keeping sufficient documentation to show to the visa officer if they ask me to prove my intent to move to canada or alberta. I've been hearing a lot of people receiving these kind of queries. I also advice everyone over here to start documenting all your activities related to your potential move to canada. Edmontonbound also suggested that applying to APEGGA for credential evaluation to receive equivalent of PE licenses for engineering professions is also a good idea. Alternatively, I am emailing and faxing different real estate companies regarding apartments and or housing if I have to buy one. (Need some venture to stash my 401k cash..lol). Also, i might take a snapshot of this post as well to show my genuine foresight and planning for immigrating to canada.Members..please feel free to add any other activities which will help us to prove our intent if we get a query. (God forbid..hope we don't..) I know 2 friends of mine in AINP-H1B Category who received queries and both of them got rejected due to a insufficient response. Not trying to scare you all but throwing some light into potential grey area..we might run into.

Not too long ago, I was talking to an immigration attorney asking him why does it take so long to process PR applications. The answer he gave me was that they do not have enough staff to process thousands of applications they receive everyday. Although posting on this forum and networking are good ideas, I dont think they are going to have time to read everything we write.

 

[koolkarmaguy]

The point is..We have to document and provide substantial proof about our intent to immigrate to canada. It goes without saying that the officers don't have time to read these posts or whatever. Atleast they need to review our documentation and we all need to come up collectively with what sort of documentation one has to present in order to prove their intent. There is nothing set in stone..that's why we need the discussion and everybody's input.