Andrew Miller

It is based on numbers provided in the past by CIC to the public as well as to our Parliament's Standing Committee on Immigration on various occassions.

For some time now (since things went out of control) CIC stopped publishing data about number of cases in the queue. But the numbers that were published in various media and reports presented to Parliament showed more than 400,000 backlog cases prior to implementation of IRPA, with no slowdown in submission of applications until Sep 2003 when pass mark was lowered. Shortly after CIC disclosed having about 700,000+ pending cases and submission numbers have increased dramatically due to extremely low pass mark.

1 million number showed up sometimes at the end of 2005 or beginning of 2006 (don't remember, sorry) in one of the statements given by CIC official to the press. And of course backlog numbers are going up as number of new applications being submitted each year is few times higher than annual visa quota.

IMHO if it is 700,000 or 1,500,000 cases in the queue doesn't make much difference as it will take several years of quota to complete them all anyway, while new cases are submitted daily.

bodgerx

Went to the York Emigrate show today. Attended the Canada 'Meet the decision makers' presentation and question & answer session. The presentation was given by one of the main visa processing officers (Canadian government employee). At the end of the session, the floor was opened to questions. At which point I weighed in with the classic:

"I've just submitted my Skilled Worker application (AOR August 29th '07) I have calculated 67 points. If the points requirements goes up in future - do we get rejected?"

The answer came back without hesitation: "No, you don't. We'll process it under the requirements at the time you submitted it."

So I immediately asked for the microphone back, and countered with Andrew Miller's assertion that there was no basis for this in law, and you had to meet the new requirements at the time of visa issue.

He came back with:

"No, we won't penalize you for future changes in regulation. We will honor the application as the regulations were when you applied.".

You have to meet the regulation in terms of age, etc. at the time of Visa issue - but those at the time in which you applied.

He then went onto comment about the simplified process and the fact that this was designed for this kind of situation.

Make of this what you will.

daft batty

I make of it that Andrew Miller isnt always right.

Andrew Miller

I'm sorry, but it is just what one officer told the audience, nothing more. And it is not a government's policy, at least such hasn't been stated anywhere yet. At the end the officer will have to do what Ottawa tells him to do, regardless what he stated during the show.

deanjp32

We went to the emigrate show at Sandown earlier in the year and asked the exact same question. The answer came back the same as Bodgerx's answer. So it seems as though the CHC is saying the same thing to people time and again. Andrew is right though as he pointed out when i came on here after going to Sandown the law does state that you have to meet the criteria at time of application and when it is processed. No getting away from that i'm affraid but i would guess they would not apply the law since the government was taken to court last time they tried a similar trick but who knows?

mrmcgoo

I got caught by this exact situation in 2002 and they did apply retrospectively back 6 months. Apparently I missed out on the cut off date by about 12 days :curse:.

Maybe the fallout from that is making them be a little more reasonable now ... but if they want to, they can apply retrospectively as Andrew Miller said that's what is in the regulations.

Cheers
Chris

bodgerx

12 days - that is rough. So those applications past that 6 months continued through the process then?

Yeah, it is good to have heard it from (close to) the horses mouth, but given what Andrew and others have said here (not to mention the 4+ year wait) I'm aiming for a job offer and a work permit etc. This is basically a gamble with $1000+ Canadian, and a slot in a waiting list...

mrmcgoo

Yeah, I got my application in on 12th January, the points changed on 28th June and I got my rejection letter around the 28th December! They applied it retrospectively to any applications received that year. Apparently, if I'd looked hard enough I could have found that this change was coming. Using a good consultant would probably have avoided this!

If you really want to get out there, take a longish holiday there, network with recruitment agents in your line of work especially ones that deal specifically with foreigners.

Cheers
Chris

simon876

I can second Chris on this (hey, I'm a poet, etc...). We tried for months to get work and the most progress / greatest success was through networking. There really is no substitute for getting out there and making a nusiance of yourself.

Simon

bodgerx

Although I notice you guys are not on work permits, and I assume without job offers?

mrmcgoo

Exactly! So we know trying to find work from the UK alone doesn't work

And as a slight aside, now I have a Canadian address on my monster.ca resume, I've been getting a small but steady stream of interest ever since.
Where as with a UK address I got loads of interest from UK and Europe but not a dicky bird from Canada for 2 years.

Chris

bodgerx

What line of work are you in (if you don't mind me asking)?

mrmcgoo

Databases, Reporting Software.

I'm contracting and will carry on working for the UK company for a while once I move to Canada.

Cheers

Chris