Federal Skilled Worker Program Research Methods
In the interest of new immigrants wanting to come to Canada, I cannot overemphasize the importance of doing your research. While a great business and career awaits you in Canada, how you prepare before you come will make all the difference to you and your family. Mistakes are common on applications, which is what leads to the enormous backlog currently at Citizenship & Immigration Canada as files are essentially “stalled” and left in the queue because applicants didn’t do their homework. And so the Visa Officer has no choice but to put a “hold” on your case and come back to it sometime in the future (whenever he or she can) as there are lots of other people waiting to be assessed. To help expedite this process, you need to know what to do to ensure that your application is thoroughly checked and crossed checked.
When you assess the Federal Skilled Worker Program as a potential way for you to come to Canada and start a new life, there are basically three components that we need to consider:
- Ministerial Instructions. Does the applicant meet one of the criteria in order to proceed with an application?
- Selection Criteria. Can the applicant secure a minimum of 67 points on assessment in order to meet this criteria?
- Admissibility: Are there any issues that could bar the application from success?
*Note that we are currently using the NOC 2011 but certain sections of the NOC 2006 still apply depending on the occupation that you work in. It is important to note well your specific NOC code, along with matching Lead Statements, Main duties, all Essential duties as well in order to be successful in your application. Your application will simply be rejected if this isn’t done properly on your submission.
The following is a more in-depth overview of these three components and the factors that we need to consider.
Before you can start, you need to know where to look for the answers that you need to acquire; thus familiarizing yourself with the resources is vital before you can even begin and assessment:
RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:
CIC website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp
Instruction Guide IMM EG7000: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/EG7TOC.asp
OP6 Federal Skilled Worker Manual (see section 3 for the list of the related parts of the IRPA and IRPR) http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/index.asp
Tip: Section 3 of each of the manuals lists all applicable sections of the Act and Regulation specific to this category (ie. Regulations that pertain to particular sections of Immigration Law).
ENF1 Inadmissibility and ENF2 Evaluating Inadmissibility (see section 3 for the associated parts of the Act and Regs) http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/enf/index.asp
NOC Matrix specific to NOC 0 (Management), A (professional) and B (skilled trades) 2006 version: http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2006/Welcome.aspx
2011 version: http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/noc/english/noc/2011/Welcome.aspx
Operational Bulletins may also provide updated policies and processes which may not yet have become part of the manuals or which are just interim measures to deal with special circumstances. As Immigration legislation is always changing, so are the policies in place at CIC. One day, your application could be ok, and the next day, another Operational Bulletin can be released publicly (in the Gazette), making your application incomplete because it did not reflect the change in the new bulletins.
Note: the Guides and overviews as posted on the CIC website are not the legal documents. They are good general guides, but you need to know the legislation and thus the Act, the Regulations and the Manuals will become your most vital research tools.
Good luck!
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