This article by Andrew Carvajal is part of the Immigration Education Alliance (IMEDA) weekly column titled "Learning Moments". Hello fellow practitioners. Today’s column deals with claiming Express Entry points for arranged employment after working for one’s own company under a C11 work permit. Reader’s question A person was issued a 2-year work permit that is LMIA exempt under the C11 category of the International Mobility Program. The person’s company, which he owns 50% of, is specified in the work permit as his employer. Will this person be given an additional 200 points for Arranged Employment under Express Entry after he has worked for his company 12 months (provided he otherwise qualif

Canadian Visa Application Centres (VACs) around the world experienced shutdowns in response to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The government of Canada has announced that some of them are re-opening for certain services, having implemented new health and safety protocols. As of June 24, 2020, the list of VACs 'open with limited services' is the following: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Accra, Ghana Athens, Greece Auckland, New Zealand Bangkok, Thailand Beijing, China Belgrade, Serbia Berlin, Germany Bridgetown, Barbados Bucharest, Romania Chengdu, China Chongqing, China Colombo, Sri Lanka Dubai, United Arab Emirates Düsseldorf, Germany Erbil, Iraq Guangzhou, China Hangzhou, Chi

A question that is often asked by clients and immigration colleagues is how to prove self-employed work experience in an economic class application. The animated short below describes what I do to document my clients’ self employment. Demonstrating self-employed work is not easy and will require a number of documents that may be or many not be available depending on the individual case of a client. Some clients are highly organized or have been involved with businesses that maintain an extensive paper record. Others may have not kept the same number of financial records, invoices, contracts and other supporting evidence of their business, as is often the case of sole proprietors or tradespeo

Effective June 10, 2020 and until further notice, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is prioritizing certain occupations which are considered essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some occupations are being exempt from minimum recruitment requirements and receiving priority processing, while others are being prioritized but they must still follow recruitment requirements. The list of occupations currently eligible (which updates the March 20, 2020 list) is reproduced below. Priority Processing for All Provinces Except Quebec The TFWP is prioritizing and waiving minimum recruitment requirements for the following occupations: 6331-Butchers, meat cutters and fishmongers-retail and wh

This article by Andrew Carvajal is part of the Immigration Education Alliance (IMEDA) weekly column titled "Learning Moments". Hello fellow practitioners. Today’s column deals with the eligibility of Quebec work experience under federal economic applications for permanent residence. Reader’s question I have one question regarding Express Entry and applications under CEC and FSW. A potential client graduated from a Quebec university and then worked in Quebec for almost 3 years. He received a refusal letter from IRCC in his application for Express Entry – Canadian Experience Class – because of not having an intention to reside in a province other than the province of Quebec. His post-graduate

This article by Andrew Carvajal is part of the Immigration Education Alliance (IMEDA) weekly column titled "Learning Moments". Hello fellow practitioners. Today’s column deals with the required work experience under the Federal Skilled Worker program. Reader’s question I have a question about the Federal Skilled Worker program and my client’s eligibility. He has multiple short term work experiences within a single year - from India. While the work is continuous and he has changed from one job immediately to the next, he has worked under various occupations: NOC 5227 – 4 months NOC 6311 – 3 months NOC 6211 – 5 months Can all of this be added to make up for one year and meet the program requir

This article by Andrew Carvajal is part of the Immigration Education Alliance (IMEDA) weekly column titled "Learning Moments". Hello fellow practitioners. Today’s column deals with proving a client’s work experience in permanent residence applications. Reader’s question I have a client who is working as a “Scheduler” at a Home Support Services Department in British Columbia, where she has been working for about 8 months. Her work permit expires in a little over 2 years. We are looking at her work experience as a Scheduler to prepare to apply for her permanent residence under Express Entry as a Canadian Experience Class applicant. We carefully looked at her job duties as a Scheduler in her em

Note: see important update regarding this post below. On June 8, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that the processing of Temporary Resident Visas (TRVs) and electronic Travel Authorizations (eTAs) will resume on June 9. This will take place once the "Ministerial Instructions 39 (MI39): Ministerial Instructions with respect to the processing of certain new and existing applications for temporary residence" expire on that same day. It appears from the government announcement that the Ministerial Instructions and its accompanying temporary suspension on the processing of non-essential visitor applications will not be renewed again. Prior to the announcement, the Min

On June 8, the Canadian government announced modifications to the travel restrictions put in place to prevent the propagation of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). These changes, which have been highly anticipated, touch on the rights of direct family members to visit Canadian citizens and permanent residents during the period of border shutdown. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that as of June 8, 2020 23:59 EST, foreign nationals who are immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and who do not have COVID-19 or exhibit any signs or symptoms of COVID-19, or who do not have reason to believe that they have COVID-19, will be exempt from the prohib

On June 5, the Canadian government announced further measures to accelerate the issuance of certain work permits overseas, in order to safeguard the continuity of Canada’s food supply and health services. This is part of the measures taken by the government to battle the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The new policy provides that certain workers will be temporarily exempt from having to give their biometric data (photo and fingerprints) before coming to Canada, if the biometrics collection site closest to them is closed. Biometrics collection is required for most foreign nationals who are applying for temporary or permanent residence (including those applying for work permits). Some workers