I heard about EE at a friend’s party and promptly set the cogs in motion. Today I have my IELTS in hand and my WES ECA evaluation with a EE profile saved and ready to be submitted, but a lot of missing knowledge gaps which are holding me back from signing the application and submitting it.
My profile – Undergrad in India in Computer Engg, Masters in NY (Comp Sci), been working in NYC as a Technical Architect since 2016, with prior 6 month work ex in India. IELTS maxed out. Age 28.
Can any of you answer any of the following questions please. I realize they are a lot, so feel free to answer only those that you are easily able to and skip the rest.
Timeline – I am not ready to move just yet (currently filing i140 with employer), but I do intend to move in the next 2-3 years. I am guessing I have enough CRS points to get an ITA in the next draw, but if I don’t want to move rightaway, what are my options? Should I wait to submit application or can I do a “soft landing” meaning visit Canada for a few weeks to confirm GC acceptance and then come back to the US to finish my green card application? Thereafter, move there after 2 years.
Boyfriend situation – I have a boyfriend with similar credentials who will have his IELTS results in the next month. He intends to move to Canada with me. We are not looking to get married in the next few months, but possibly might in a year’s time. Is the best option to create separate EE profiles today and do ITA separately? He should most likely qualify on his own accord but there’s a small possibility that he accidentally goofs up his IELTS, submits later, and will get ITA at a later date. Since we want to move together, should I wait to submit my profile? Also, if we create a single profile now, and then get married at some step before landing in Canada, will we have issues with updating our EE profile marital status?
Work Ex – My last 4 years of employment was with the same company and since that maxes out my CRS points requirement, should I skip reporting my previous work 6-month ex to save on paperwork?
Education – Since Master’s does not require showing of other degrees, do I need to report my Bachelor’s degree anywhere in the application? I didn’t get WES done for it. Getting those transcripts from my university will be painful so I would prefer to skip it if not needed.
NOC – By my best analysis, my job fits the NOC of (2173 - Software engineers and designers) – in case I am wrong or another NOC is in demand which my job may also fit, can I change it later? Also, do you know if any of the Comp Sci NOCs are in demand right now?
Provinces – 4 years of work ex + masters + max IELTS + max on age gives me 481 CRS points. If this will qualify me for the standard route of FSW in EE, do I still need to look into provincial nominations or PNP programs? Is there any province beside Quebec that I cannot work in with EE? Or is PNP only for those who can’t make it through EE?
Errors in EE Submission – If I accidentally make any errors in my profile, will I be able to correct it after submission? I don’t want to kiss this dream goodbye due to a silly error or insufficient operating knowledge. In that case, I will rather pay to get a lawyer review done.
I know these are a ton of questions, but I don’t have a lot of counsel for immigration process. In case anybody is able to directly connect with me instead of writing out these many answers, that would be great too. Thanks a lot for reading.
Timeline – I am not ready to move just yet (currently filing i140 with employer), but I do intend to move in the next 2-3 years. I am guessing I have enough CRS points to get an ITA in the next draw, but if I don’t want to move rightaway, what are my options? Should I wait to submit application or can I do a “soft landing” meaning visit Canada for a few weeks to confirm GC acceptance and then come back to the US to finish my green card application? Thereafter, move there after 2 years.
Yes. I think you should go for this now. Getting the PR from the day you apply will take between 6 months to a year. Then you’ll have another 3 years (although I recommend moving at 2 year mark after your soft landing) to move to keep your PR.
Boyfriend situation – I have a boyfriend with similar credentials who will have his IELTS results in the next month. He intends to move to Canada with me. We are not looking to get married in the next few months, but possibly might in a year’s time. Is the best option to create separate EE profiles today and do ITA separately? He should most likely qualify on his own accord but there’s a small possibility that he accidentally goofs up his IELTS, submits later, and will get ITA at a later date. Since we want to move together, should I wait to submit my profile? Also, if we create a single profile now, and then get married at some step before landing in Canada, will we have issues with updating our EE profile marital status?
I am not sure you can create a profile now, unless you claim common law partnership. Hopefully someone else can comment on this.
Work Ex – My last 4 years of employment was with the same company and since that maxes out my CRS points requirement, should I skip reporting my previous work 6-month ex to save on paperwork?
skipping some should be okay if you are not claiming that for your work experience.
Education – Since Master’s does not require showing of other degrees, do I need to report my Bachelor’s degree anywhere in the application? I didn’t get WES done for it. Getting those transcripts from my university will be painful so I would prefer to skip it if not needed.
yes. You just need to get WES for your highest degree. That’s what I did, but check if there is conflicting information about this.
NOC – By my best analysis, my job fits the NOC of (2173 - Software engineers and designers) – in case I am wrong or another NOC is in demand which my job may also fit, can I change it later? Also, do you know if any of the Comp Sci NOCs are in demand right now?
no idea
Provinces – 4 years of work ex + masters + max IELTS + max on age gives me 481 CRS points. If this will qualify me for the standard route of FSW in EE, do I still need to look into provincial nominations or PNP programs? Is there any province beside Quebec that I cannot work in with EE? Or is PNP only for those who can’t make it through EE?
i think you don’t need PNP. But hoping others can chime in.
Errors in EE Submission – If I accidentally make any errors in my profile, will I be able to correct it after submission? I don’t want to kiss this dream goodbye due to a silly error or insufficient operating knowledge. In that case, I will rather pay to get a lawyer review done
Don’t waste money on lawyers. You can fix errors. I did it myself and many of my friends too.
Apply as soon as you can; takes about a year for the full process to get the PR, thereafter you have 2-2.5 years to decide and make your move.
You have both the options, having two separate applications might be easier and quicker for both of you. If you are not yet married and you want to apply together you need to show that he is your common-law partner. If you get married during the process, you need to update profile or let IRCC know so they can update the secondary applicant (your points can potentially get updated).
Once your landing is completed and you are a PR and if you get married later, either he has to submit a new EE application or you need to sponsor him (you can only do that when you are living in Canada).
While submitting EE profile only 3 years’ worth of experience is considered so no need to add anything extra (you need to be sure you can get the experience letter for that job or at least a reasonable explanation as to why you cannot get one). While submitting final application you need to add all your work, travel history etc. but this does not affect your points and proof is not required unless they ask for it.
DO NOT add bachelors degree for EE if you have Masters; this way you need not submit ECA for anything other than Masters. If you add Bachelors during EE profile you have to submit the relevant ECA as well.
There’s no in demand NOC; there are certain categories of NOC that qualify for EE and if you are in that they are all the same. Having one NOC or another does not affect your points.
Not needed.
Yes you can edit it online or by submitting a web form to IRCC.
Hello, I didn’t get a chance to reply, but thank you so much for your detailed response to my questions. I am happy to report that both of us got married last year and completed our soft landing earlier this year and were able to individually receive our PR cards 2 weeks ago. We maintained separate applications in the process from application as single individuals to being married. We simply asked them to append our marital status without adding each other to our applications and they were able to oblige us. We are now in the process of figuring out the logistics of our final move. Thx everyone!!