jumbo1160

Hi all,

I hear rumours that the pass mark will go up from 67 anytime now.
does anyone have any idea about it?

jb

Tangram

No-one does except CIC.

Andrew Miller

It is well overdue (about 2+ years late already) and it may happen any day, although now with highest priority given to applications with arranged employment and letting applicants without AE to just pay the fee and file simplified form (that won't be looked at for half a decade or well longer) the concept of pass mark changed it's meaning as arranged employment gives so many extra points that almost everyone who can get acceptable AE will qualify. Thus, in order to use pass mark as program management tool as originally designed it would have to go way up, not just few points.

kevinm

Does this affect you if you have already handed your application in ?

Tangram

Potentially yes as it would be back dated to all apps yet to be assessed.

Andrew Miller

Paul is correct - current law makes any change in pass mark to be applied retroactively to all still pending applications:

http://www.canlii.org/ca/regu/sor2002-227/sec77.html

It was already legally challenged quite few times and every time courts upheld this rule.

kevinm

Thats not good news at all as we only get 67 points.

bazzz

Might be time to start learning some French then to try and get a few extra points...

kevinm

If they go up quite abit though I think I will need more than just French, maybe a 2 year diploma with new parents living in Canada
Seriously though, I think its pretty unfair to wait for 4 years then be told sorry the points have gone up.

hejhej

Andrew, I had my medicals back in March and am just waiting for my security checks to complete and then get the PPR. Surely my points have already been assessed for the medicals to have been requested. Do they re-assess the points total after the security checks and before the PPR? I have exactly 67 points - if the points change before I recieve my PPR would I then fail?
Thanks
Harvey

Arris

Would it be likely to change back to 70 points - which was the required amount before it was changed to 67?

Tangram

Could have sworn it used to be 75 not 70.

Andrew Miller

It is not a news - it exists in the law since 2002. And since 2002 pass mark was 75 points and CIC was receiving enough qualified applicants to meet Canadian immigration targets - but then, in September 2003, the previous government in an attempt to get more votes and remain in power among other things reduced pass mark to current, totally absurd 67 points, creating 1.5 million backlog impossible to manage as with 67 points pass mark more people qualify to apply than it was under previous law blamed for 400K backlog.

And this is why for years now I always recommend to everyone - get arranged employment no matter what. And if you have less than 75 points then finding arranged employment is a must.

Why would anyone not try to get arranged employment anyway? Government is not waiting at the border to hand out jobs to new immigrants. If every new immigrant won't get job pre-arranged then we'll read more stories about PhD's delivering pizzas.

Get a job in Canada and stop worrying about pass mark.

Arris

Might have been, I referred to my 'Living & Working in Canada - A Survival Handbook' - book by Janet MacDonald (reprinted 2001).

Perhaps somebody could verify please

Andrew Miller

Legally CIC has all the right to to reject your application if pass mark goes above what you have before your visa is to be issued. But it is highly unlikely to happen in cases that are already assessed and received positive selection decision.