Worried about losing my job - have PGWP, in EE pool - help! Any other options?!

[centralpork]

Hi all,

I'm an American living in Toronto, went to uni in Mtl (graduated in Dec 2013) and have a job (no LMIA, as I have a PGWP for the full length of time). My WP expires in March 2017 and I have about 1.2 years work experience in Canada. I was originally planning on going the Ontario nomination route under the Human Capital stream, but now that's not an option (I entered the EE pool in mid April; I'm eligible for CEC). I have 444 points. Additional info: perfect score on English language exam in all sections, no chance of getting an LMIA, will be common law with my Canadian boyfriend in four months, will reach two years work experience in December.

Do I have any other options, besides waiting to get pulled from EE (which I don't think will happen with my score)? I'm primarily concerned with keeping my job; any other work permit options? I know I can apply for the BOWP if I get an ITA but I fear I won't get that before March 2017. Would appreciate any input at all on this front.

 

[rajibsam]

Hi all,

I'm an American living in Toronto, went to uni in Mtl (graduated in Dec 2013) and have a job (no LMIA, as I have a PGWP for the full length of time). My WP expires in March 2017 and I have about 1.2 years work experience in Canada. I was originally planning on going the Ontario nomination route under the Human Capital stream, but now that's not an option (I entered the EE pool in mid April; I'm eligible for CEC). I have 444 points. Additional info: perfect score on English language exam in all sections, no chance of getting an LMIA, will be common law with my Canadian boyfriend in four months, will reach two years work experience in December.

Do I have any other options, besides waiting to get pulled from EE (which I don't think will happen with my score)? I'm primarily concerned with keeping my job; any other work permit options? I know I can apply for the BOWP if I get an ITA but I fear I won't get that before March 2017. Would appreciate any input at all on this front.

As american, you may be eligible for "International Experience Canada – travel and work in Canada"
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/index.asp

 

[dks2323]

As an American, You can go for TN visa (or whatever is the TN visa equivalent for americans) when your PGWP is about to expire....In case your job falls in the TN visa guidelines....

 

[centralpork]

Thanks all. Unfortunately, I don't believe the US qualifies for IEC and my job does not qualify for TN (I help provide advisory services and resources for startup companies). Appreciate any other suggestions you may have!

 

[dks2323]

Thanks all. Unfortunately, I don't believe the US qualifies for IEC and my job does not qualify for TN (I help provide advisory services and resources for startup companies). Appreciate any other suggestions you may have!

hhmmmm.....It seems that you'll complete your 2 years of Canadian Experience right before your PGWP expires...you'll get additional points once that happens....if you get enough points (to get the ITA) after that but you think that you wont be having enough time to get the ITA....then apply for BOWP regardless you have ITA or not to buy some time for you (not a correct way to apply for BOWP)......not so sure if there could be any negative impact of doing this....

Moreover there are speculations that the score would come down in September/October this year....so you can wait for that to happen...

Another speculation is that there would some additional points (or some other positive thing) for Canadian students in Express Entry but no-one knows about when that's gonna happen....

You may try to find job and move to other Province if nothing seems to be working to get Provincial nomination of that provinces...

That's all I could think of at the moment....

 

[centralpork]

hhmmmm.....It seems that you'll complete your 2 years of Canadian Experience right before your PGWP expires...you'll get additional points once that happens....if you get enough points (to get the ITA) after that but you think that you wont be having enough time to get the ITA....then apply for BOWP regardless you have ITA or not to buy some time for you (not a correct way to apply for BOWP)......not so sure if there could be any negative impact of doing this....

Moreover there are speculations that the score would come down in September/October this year....so you can wait for that to happen...

Another speculation is that there would some additional points (or some other positive thing) for Canadian students in Express Entry but no-one knows about when that's gonna happen....

You may try to find job and move to other Province if nothing seems to be working to get Provincial nomination of that provinces...

That's all I could think of at the moment....

Bingo, I will indeed hit my two years as soon as my PGWP expires. Even then, my points will go up by a bit but it would likely be a few rounds before receiving an ITA, so I think I should just apply for the BOWP in case.

I've heard about the additional points for Canadian grads, but nothing concrete, just rumors. May I ask, what are the speculations around lower scores in Sept/Oct based on? I was playing with the CRS calculator and I was thinking that since my boyfriend (Canadian, same uni and also working) and I will be common law in a few months, we could get more points this way - however, it seems to go down when I make this adjustment! So odd.

 

[BA2LAMAZ]

I think DKS has said it all. There's really nothing you can do except to wait and hope that:

1. Scores drop and you get a direct ITA this year
2. OINP will open sooner than later (Oct/Nov)
3. International students get additional points for our Canadian degree


The good thing is that even if you run out of your work permit, you would have already acquired 2 years work experience by March. Tell your boss to 'fire' you for maybe a month pending an ITA a draw or two later. Go South and be back before you realize it

 

[scylla]

Once you're common law, have your boyfriend sponsor you through family class using the outland process (make sure you don't use inland - this is a horrible way to go for Americans).

 

[dks2323]

May I ask, what are the speculations around lower scores in Sept/Oct based on?

I think it is from the CIC officials....but its just their guess or lets say what they expect....cant find the link at the moment but read it somewhere on this forum only.....

I was playing with the CRS calculator and I was thinking that since my boyfriend (Canadian, same uni and also working) and I will be common law in a few months, we could get more points this way - however, it seems to go down when I make this adjustment! So odd.

This might be because once you select common law instead of single, the points gained for few of the categories come down because you are no more single....but you can gain extra points for your partner's education, experience and language.....at least this is how it works if you are married (so am expecting this is same common law too)

 

[centralpork]

Once you're common law, have your boyfriend sponsor you through family class using the outland process (make sure you don't use inland - this is a horrible way to go for Americans).

Thanks! I was reading that the process for sponsorship (regardless of inland/outland) takes over a year, and since my primary concern is keeping my job, I'm not sure if this route makes sense for me.

 

[centralpork]

Once you're common law, have your boyfriend sponsor you through family class using the outland process (make sure you don't use inland - this is a horrible way to go for Americans).

What the heck?! I just did some research and found that outland can take significantly less time than inland! We'll be common law in just a few weeks so this may actually be an option! We've been in a relationship for 5 years so I don't think we'll have an issue proving this, my only concern is that my last apartment (late June - Nov) was not on a lease (sketchy cash payment situation) but hopefully I can scrounge up some other forms of proof. Thank you so much for putting this on my radar, I completely discounted it after seeing the processing times.