Hello all,

We are in process of going through immigration at the moment. The Immigration lawyer acting for the company my partner has a job offer with are asking for certification of a qualification he does not have. The qualification in question does exist in the UK but is not required for the postion he has here...although he has the experience and can provide proof from customers and employers.

My question is has anyone gone through similar themselves and how do we get around this, if we need to?

Thanks in advance

Yvette.

If he doesnt have it, and it doesnt exist, but he has experience, then just document those facts as best you can.

Ok, thanks for the reply, just panicking a little as we have our hearts set on this move and don't want to have any proverbial 'spanners in the works'!

But it does exist its just that he hasnt got it as he doesnt need it in the UK.
Perhaps its another one of those Canada things that pisses off many.
All he can do is show how he meets the qualifications and if it is actually needed as opposed to preferred to have.

What's the job and what is the visa route? Is the immigration lawyer asking for it for the visa application or just for the job?

Mmmm seems could be the case!

The job is for senior engineer and, (not 100% sure on your question) will be a permenant position but on a TWP initialy and I assume the lawyer is asking for this for immigration purposes as he already has a written job offer (subject to immigration)

Is the lawyer asking for proof of any one year post secondary education or just a qualification that would be specific to your husbands occupation?

The qualification is 'professional engineer' that is specific to the occupation.

What is frustrating is that he had a face to face interview in February and they have other UK citizens working for them and this was not mentioned at any time prior to the interview as he could have prepared documentation for them!!.

In broad terms PEng is the same as CEng in the UK.

If hes to sign off on designs etc here, then its a legal necessity, although there are ways around it. I dont have it, but in my case I am nominally supervised by someone that does. In my field its no big deal, but for structural or civil engineering for example it is.


Provincial engineering bodies here do have a few options though for fast tracking those with the necessary qualifications, and now mostly offer a probationary level for those arriving from overseas who would be qualified other then for the lack of "Canadian experience"

Immigration shouldn't necessarily care. My current boss oversaw 100+ Engineers for a large multinational, and also does not have PEng.

Okay thanks, that's a little reassuring, he's not going to be involved in any structural/civial it is more defense/surveillance. So hopefully this will not create any problems?...

It will create fewer problems if he can demonstrate he has an acceptable qualification, plus the necessary years of relevant experience so he could meet the PEng requirements, other than the Canadian experience and ethical / legal exam aspects of them.

Most British Engineering honours degrees would be considered acceptable under the "Washington Accord", via the british engineering council. There is a list somewhere on the interweb.

Yes he has the relevant British Degree qualifications so do not know why they are asking for PEng equivalent.

Has he already had the LMO granted? I'm wondering if perhaps they require it for the LMO application to show HRSDC that he's suitably qualified for the job and better than any Canadians that applied etc.

My guess would be its probably the "Senior" in the job title. It implies hes supervising other engineers, and PEng would be a normal expectation here as Canada is rather more anal about these things than the UK, and its something to do with the LMO application as C-O suggests.

Someone should point out to the lawyers handling this that he CANT get PEng until he has Canadian experience and has passed the Cdn law/ ethics exams, in Canada.
Does he have any equivalent UK qualification? IF he does he may qualify for a temporary license
http://www.peo.on.ca/registration/Temporary_Licence.htm

If not then provisional is the way to go is my guess, but that required passing the ethics & legal exams
http://www.peo.on.ca/registration/Pr...l_Licence.html

General reading for prospective immigrants can be found here;
http://www.peo.on.ca/registration/Immig.html


Note that links are for Ontario, each province has its own club, so check as appropriate, but the rules are all broadly similar.

Because we are not having any dealings with this at all, the company are doing everything themselves, I don't know about the LMO being granted or not. I would imagine that side of things are okay as it will be 9 months since we began the inital applications with the company and they did advertise to Canadians before bringing OH out for interview.

I'm sure however, that you are right that they are having to prove his 'worth'