I received a procedural fairness letter for CEC work experience! What can I do?
Article By : Acme Immigrations
A person who self-represented on an application under Express Entry in the Canadian experience class (CEC) has received a procedural fairness letter because the officer is taking issue with the fact that he worked full time on a work permit and also engaged in full time studies simultaneously.
If we go back to the regulations, we can see that working full time while engaged in full time studies is not permitted under the Canadian experience class. In IRPR section 87.1(3)(a), it clearly states:
Application
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2),
- (a) any period of employment during which the foreign national was engaged in full-time study shall not be included in calculating a period of work experience;
But how does IRCC measure “full time studies”? And what if the course was distance education or online, does the person need a valid study permit?
IRCC has issued instructions in policy (but not in the regulations) for what constitutes full time studies. Full time studies is defined as 15 hours per week under the Postgraduate Work Permit policy for obtaining a work permit upon completion of any program. As well, IRCC defers to the Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) in order to define what constitutes full time studies. If the DLI says that the course is delivered “full time” either in person or online, then the studies are considered full time studies and not part time studies.
In terms of obtaining status of “student” under the Act, and the requirement for a study permit, you typically do not need a study permit for distance education (delivered online) if you are studying from outside Canada or your program is six months or less inside Canada. However, if you are inside Canada and your program is six months or longer, you must have legal status (ie. visitor or worker) and a study permit is required for programs lasting longer than six months.
As the person who received the procedural fairness letter was studying full time online for longer than six months and claimed the education on the application, and also claimed full time work experience under the CEC, this has called into question the validity of his work experience. A possible remedy to the situation would be to have his Designated Learning Institution provide a letter to show that his online studies were only part time and not full time, if that is the case. Otherwise, the person is at risk for a refusal on their permanent residency application for not having proper status as a student if the course was longer than six months (even if it was delivered online) and he claimed full time work experience while studying full time. The applicant is at risk to lose both eligibility in the CEC program and points for work experience in the Comprehensive Ranking System of Express Entry for Canadian work experience.
It’s important to have the right status and follow the rules of any program under IRCC.
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