nissan2

Dear Experts,

I am absolutely stunned, since I was just informed that my application
has been denied under skilled worked category due to not passing the 67
pass mark. This is stunning considering I had 81 point at the point of
application, and have 85 points as of today. The officer choose to
completely ignore my employment in Canada (I have worked in Canada for
the past 1.5 years and had an indefinite offer extended to me prior to
that) or my experience in the field (I currently have 3-4 years, and
had 1-2 years at the point of application (experience is from US in one
of the top 5 companies int he field)). Moreover, I have Masters Degree
in Management Information Systems from US top 10 schools, and working
in the highly paid, and highly demanded position. This is obviously an
oversight by the immigration officer, and I can not find any
justification for it except for complete incompetence of the officer.
Now, asides from simple and probably understandable anger at the
moment, I was wondering what are my options. I was able to come up with
the following thus far:
1) I know that the appeal is one. Would anyone know how long appeal
takes and what is the process for it.
2) I am also aware that I can reapply for the status, but again, I am
paranoid of running into an officer who will think that one of the Top
10 Business Schools of United States doesn't cut it or something
similar. Also, will this process be faster because I applied before, or
would it actually be slower and require me to go through interviews or
other obstacles.
3) Is there any more direct way to request a review of the application
from the officer? As I said, this is obviously a mistake, so anyone
looking at the application and documents provided (work permit in
Canada, reference letter from employer, etc) can see that I am eligible
for the points for my work in Canada.
4) Is there any other way to influence the decision (e.g. though
complain letters to the government organization, representatives, or
anyone else)?
5) Finally, is there any way for me to send in a complaint about the
incompetence of the immigration officer? Does this even matter, or is
it similar to trying to complain about incorrectly issue traffic
ticket?

On the personal note, one of the reasons I applied to Canada vs. US (I
have H1B in US) was because I truly thought that Canada is more
acceptant to immigrants, which now I doubt was right. Either way, from
the sound of it, I am bound to spend another year waiting for the PR
status if I decide to cont. my interest in immigration to Canada. It
amazes me though that I have to wait for another year, because an
officer did not want to spend extra 5 minutes to review the
application.

Cochin

Hi there: I am EXTREMELY sorry to hear about your case. It is indeed horrifying to see how inept some of the officers are. I just got my CAIPS yesterday and noticed that they completely ignored 10 points for my arranged employment. 10 POINTS !!!!! Since I didn't make the pass mark, they asked me to do my IELTS which I did and barely made the pass mark. I should have got 81 points instead, I was first at 64 and with my IELTS it got bumped up to 71.

How the hell could they have forgotten 10 extra points of mine...especially for something as important as my HRSDC confirmation for Arranged Employment. It is unbelievable. Once I get my PR I am going to file an official complaint with Buffalo and with the Immigration Minister. Not sure how much good it will do but there's no harm in trying. This is people's lives they are playing with, not poker chips.

Sorry I cannot help you specifically with your case though Jim and Andrew will be more than willing to help you out. My best bet would be to re-apply but again not sure how appeals work. So sorry to hear about your fate. Hang in there and have faith! Hopefully you have not been waiting too long.

Craftybanshee

Sorry to hear about both your cases. We were rejected a fortnight ago, just 2 points short under Skilled Worker class. Before we originally applied more than 2 years ago we were told by a 'visa officer' at Sandown that we scored 70 points, so we went ahead. It's only when they began to assess our file they knocked off 5 points for my husbands education and wouldn't award me 3 points for my post-secondary education our hearts started to sink. They eventually awarded my 3 points, and hubby sat the French TEF but still no good What really peed me off is when I found out that the 'visa officer' we saw wasn't a visa officer. So please beware when you go to these emigration shows, all is not what it seems .............. I feel like we were misled to get our money. Not impressed!

OzRob

I think your best option will be to have a professional review the application that you submitted. You did keep a copy of what you submitted? Once they have had a look they will be able to advice you of the best way forward. I suspect that nobody will be able to give you any worthwhile advice without knowing what you submitted and how it was presented. I am sorry to hear of your rejection.

nissan2

Thank you all for your kind responses. I feel like if at least I would have been invited for the interview, I could simply point out an oversight. As for my application it was prepared by an experienced lawyer, and reviewed by me before the submission, so I assume it was correct. As I said before, it is truly hard for me to contribute this to anything but an incompetence of the reviewing officer. Even more so upsetting is to hear from you that this is common. Without even looking at the possible loss of talent Canada might have suffered from this, it is obviously increases the back log of applications. I guess some of that can be simply attributed to burocratic organization of immigration agencies in pretty much any countries, but the fact remains that in the business world such an obvious oversight gets person fired.

ghitchi2

A friend of mine is in a similar position. She spent 2 years studying in Canada to get a Masters Degree. The visa officer neither gave her the additional 5 points for an MA over a BA nor did he give her the 5 points for having spent 2 years studying in Canada. She got rejected as a result.

I personally haven't heard yet, but everyone else on this board who applied the same time I did has heard weeks ago, I know of at least 1 who already has their visa....stories such as yours make me panic a bit. Being at the total mercy of these people makes me thouroughly miserable - quite aside from questions of their own personal competence, its clear that the immigration department as a whole is woefully lacking in the resources it needs to do its job properly. Over a million people around the world are now stuck in this sinking ship. Whatever the end i know it won't be pretty for most of us.

Diabolo

Sorry to hear that. Oh Boy....
I have applied for my SW application too. I have no thoughts to offer.
I was just wondering at what stage was it rejected.
Did you get your AOR, IA etc ?

Everyone should get their CAIPS notes and verify , I guess...

ghitchi2

Good point. How do I go about getting those? I live in Ottawa...perhaps I can just take the forms to the immigration office personally.

Cochin

If you are in Canada use this website. i got my CAIPS in less than a week.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/departm...-personal.html

Make sure you send it to the address in your region. Select the "Access to Information and Personal Information Request form" and then mail it to the address on the "Appropriate Address" link. It's free

Tinpusher

I'm sorry to hear these stories of rejection of what seem to be good applications.

You may want to contact your MP in Canada. CHC is, I believe, legally required to give a response to an MP and this will hopefully be the quickest way to achieve a positive resolution. Contacting ours certainly seemed to reignite a stalled process.

Good luck.

nissan2

Thank you all again for your responses.

Diabolo, I never got IA letter. I got a request for additional information from the officer. He/she requested that I submit a detailed letter of employment since I switched the company (there was an accusation by another firm while I was waiting for my IA). I did so, and got another letter asking for a more detailed letter, which again was submitted and accepted by the officer. This is where the story gets even shadier: since the officer requested a letter from employer he/she obviously was aware that I am employed in Canada. As I said before, I am totally confused how in the world, after the paperwork was accepted by the officer and you have a copy of valid work permit until 2009, do you still ignore that I work in Canada.

Cochin: Thank you for the info. I am definitely requesting the notes, as I am really determined to get to the bottom of this.

Tinpusher: Thank you for the suggestion. I will definitely do that, although I am a bit afraid of reciprocation to be honest. As I said, I am a person who is determined to find justice over keeping quite about it, but I wonder if the MP will truly do something about it, considering I am not a “voter” yet.

Tinpusher

Apart from the outcome, your situation is similar to mine.

CHC requested more information (including letter from employer regarding indeterminate employment on receiving PR) in January of 2005 with a 90 day limit or "your application will be closed". I sent this almost immediately. Then I heard nothing for months.

Our MP contacted CHC and I almost immediately (less than 2 weeks) received a letter asking for the same information as they had not received anything from me. Why didn't they notify me that the 90 days had expired as it was now August? My MP mailed the information for me with a covering letter and a few weeks later medical requests were received. Coincidence? I think not.

Your MP can ask questions on your behalf and they must answer. Most MPs will be happy to do this. They don't want to be seen as "anti-immigrant" do they? Your MP isn't Mr Harper is it?

Good luck.

Dave

ear00jk

Sorry to hear the bad experiences of the applicants. I myself had the same experience. After 18 months of submission of application, I received a letter from CHC london to submit IELTS which I had submitted with application. After clarification the situation to CHC they responded " Thank you for bringing it in our attention. Your IELTS score has been located and the immigration officer has been requested to continue assessment". It is almost seven months now and I have heard nothing from them. It seems that the immigration officer makes a decision without looking at application and supporting documents.

nissan2

Not Mr. Harper unfortunately (I am in Toronto). However, I will take up your advice and contact my MP, as soon as I receive my CAIPS notes and review these. Although my lawyer said that MP won't care about skilled worker, as they mostly deal with family sponsorship and other applications, but I think it definitely doesn't hurt to give it a try. Just in general terms, what is the best way about contacting MP? In the mean time I will also send in an appeal and re-file for the application.

Tinpusher

Surely you mean fortunately!
Try Googling their name and you should get an address.
I just emailed him with a brief history of my case with my file number, their office called to say they had received my email and he did the rest.
You MP will care about you, they can't pick and choose different types of immigrant..