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[edit] Abbreviations and Acronyms

3/21/07 - March 21st, 2007 (note MM/DD/YY convention)

AB - Alberta

AEO - Arranged Employment Offer (in connection with PR application). Note that this is sometimes used to mean Arranged Employment Opinion; meaning an Opinion from HRSDC (see below). However CIC says the official meaning of the ancronym is for Arranged Employment Offer

AIP - Approval in Principle (of PR application, subject to favourable medical exam, etc.)

AIT - Apprenticeship and Industry Training (Alberta)

AOR - Acknowledgment of Receipt (of PR application)

BC - British Columbia

BMO - Bank of Montreal

BUNAC - British Universities North America Club (organization that arranges 1-year working holiday visas for people aged 18 to 30 in countries like the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand)

CAIPS - Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System (used by CIC to process overseas visa applications)

CBSA - Canada Border Services Agency (customs)

CEC - Canadian Experience Class

CHC - Canadian High Commission (often in reference to London, UK)

CIBC - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

CIC - Citizenship and Immigration Canada - the federal government department that handles citizenship and immigration

COPR - Confirmation of Permanent Residence, which CIC grants when it approves your PNP application

COU - Centre of the Universe (pejorative reference to Toronto)

CPC - Case Processing Centre

CPP - Canada Pension Plan

CRA - Canada Revenue Agency (the tax collector)

CRC - Criminal Record Check

CSQ - Certificat de selection du Québec (the hoop you have to jump through if you want to land in Quebec upon immigrating to Canada)

DMP - Designated Medical Practitioner (authorized to perform immigration medical exam)

DR - Driver's Licence

EI - Employment Insurance

e-CAS - Electronic Client Application Status - A part of the CIC website on which you can check the status of your application. Or at least you can delude yourself that you're checking on the status of your application. BE forum members often have found that the information e-CAS has given them has lagged behind the reality on the ground.

ECAS - See e-CAS, above.

E-LMO - Expedited Labour Market Opinion Pilot Project for Alberta and British Columbia

ESL - English as a second language

GST - Goods & Services Tax (Federal)

GTA - Greater Toronto Area (refers to the metropolitan area of Toronto, i.e., the City of Toronto and the surrounding municipalities that are contiguous with it and that, together, are home to about 5.6 million people)

GVA - Greater Vancouver Area (the metropolitan area of Vancouver, that is, the City of Vancouver plus the municipalities that are contiguous with it)

GVRD - Greater Vancouver Regional District

HBP - Home Buyers Plan....government scheme allowing you to take money tax free from your RRSP for a first home downpayment

HRDSC - Human Resources and Social Development Canada

HST - Harmonized Sales Tax (a blended GST / PST that exists in some provinces)

IB - International Baccalaureate - See Canada-UK School Comparison and GCSE and A-level Students-Canada.

IA - Initial Assessment (of PR application)

IELTS - International English Language Testing System (requirement for PR applicants who claim fluency in English but are not native English speakers)

IO - Immigration Officer

IRPA - Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

LI - Landed Immigrant (obsolete term replaced by PR)

LICO - Low Income Cut-Off (for eligibility to sponsor family members)

LMO - [http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Labour_Market_Opinion-Canada Labour Market Opinion - HRDSC's acknowledgement that your employer has been unable to find a qualified Canadian resident to do the job he or she would like to offer you. This, in turn, allows you to apply for a temporary work permit.

MB - Manitoba

NB - New Brunswick

NL - Newfoundland and Labrador

NOC - National Occupation Classification (classification system for jobs in the Canadian economy)

NS - Nova Scotia

NT - Northwest Territories

NU - Nunavut

NWT - Northwest Territories

OCWP - Off Campus Work Permit

OHIP - Ontario Health Insurance Plan

ON - Ontario

OP - Original poster. This expression is used in a forum discussion. It refers to the person who started a discussion thread. The abbreviation is used on Internet discussion forums, and is not unique to Canada.

PE - Prince Edward Island (official post office abbreviation)

PEI - Prince Edward Island (popular abbreviation)

PGWP - Post Graduate Work Permit

PM - private message - Once you have posted three messages on the BE forum, you are allowed to send private messages to other forum members. The easiest way to do this is to click on a member's User Name in the top left hand corner of a message that he/she has posted. This will take you to his/her Public Profile, where there is a screen that you can use to send him/her a PM.

PNP - Provincial Nominee Program

POE - port of entry

PPR - Passport Request (when they're ready to issue your PR visa)

PQ - Province Quebec (popular abbreviation)

PR - Permanent Residence or Permanent Resident

PRN - Provincial Residence Nomination

PST - Provincial Sales Tax

QC - Quebec (official post office abbreviation)

QST - Quebec Sales Tax

RBC - Royal Bank of Canada

ROC - Rest of Canada - The meaning depends on context, that is, whether the speaker is located in Quebec, the Greater Toronto Area, Coastal British Columbia, etc. The expression most commonly is used in reference to Canada outside of Quebec.

ROLF/RORLF - Right of Landing Fees/Right of Resident Landing Fees (properly RPRF)

RPRF - Right of Permanent Residence Fee (a "landing fee" that a PR has to pay to the Government of Canada upon arrival in Canada)

RRSP - Registered Retirement Savings Plan (a retirement savings plan that is exempt from tax for the time that funds remain in the plan)

SC - Service Canada

SIN - Social Insurance Number (client account number in the reporting of taxes, the Canada Pension Plan and various (un)employment insurance programs)

SK - Saskatchewan

SOWP - spousal open work permit

SW - Skilled Worker - Someone whose occupation belongs to Skill Level 0, A or B on the National Occupational Classification Matrix and who therefore is eligible to apply for a permanent residence visa via the skilled worker route.

TEF - Test d'Evaluation de Francais (requirement for PR applicants who claim fluency in French but are not native French speakers)

TPQ - Provincial Sales Tax (What you will encounter in Quebec on sales receipts)

TPS - Federal Sales Tax (What you will encounter in Quebec on sales receipts)

TWP - temporary work permit

UI - Unemployment Insurance (obsolete term replaced by Employment Insurance)

VI - Vancouver Island

WP - Work Permit - temporary (same thing as TWP)

YEG - Edmonton International Airport

YHZ - Halifax International Airport

YOW - Ottawa International Airport

YQR - Regina Airport

YT - Yukon Territory

YUL - Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (previously Dorval Airport)

YVR - Vancouver International Airport

YWG - Winnipeg Airport

YYC - Calgary International Airport

YYZ - Lester B. Pearson International Airport (Toronto)