I found this article I received for a continued education for immigration practitioners is very interesting as it gives a glance on how to increase chances for professionals who decided to immigrate to Canada. I remember in the past, before new rules came into effect, an applicant could ask an immigration official to assess him/her under two or more occupations (if it was the case) within one file and no additional fee had to be paid. Now, when we have limited numbers of the applications which could be submitted for this year, it is a good idea to launch two separate applications for one professional, if he/she has two occupations under which they can immigrate to Canada. Here is what specialists say in the article:
“One way for an applicant to increase his or her chances of being accepted for review by the FSW program is to submit multiple applications. Not all applicants are eligible to submit multiple applications, as each new submission must be under a separate occupation. However, for those who are able to do so, submitting multiple applications may increase their likelihood of having an application accepted before program caps are filled.
Submitting an Application under Multiple NOCs
The Government of Canada allows applicants to submit multiple permanent residency applications at the same time. However, separate government processing fees must be paid for each application.
The FSW program requires applicants to have worked in an eligible occupation for at least one continuous year within the last ten years. With this in mind, there are several scenarios where an individual could be in a position to submit more than one application to the FSW program. A few examples are:
- An applicant worked in one eligible NOC and then, after changing career paths, worked in a completely different NOC. Assuming other eligibility requirements are met, he or she may be able to submit applications under both separate NOCs.
- An applicant worked in one eligible NOC (such as financial auditors and accountants) and was then promoted to a similar eligible NOC (such as financial managers or senior managers in financial services). Any and all of these NOCs could be eligible for the FSW program.
- An applicant worked in a position where his or her job duties overlap with another NOC. For instance, a computer programmer may also perform duties that are attributed to a software developer. If a substantial amount of duties, including all of the essential duties, can be met for both NOCs, it may be possible to apply under both.
- Both the applicant and his or her spouse/common law partner are eligible to apply under one or more NOCs.
The current eligible occupations cover a variety of professional fields, including information technology, health care, engineering and financial services.
Strategic recommendations for Applicants
The time it takes for intake caps to fill will vary greatly depending on the popularity of a given occupation. In the past, some occupations have met their caps in a matter of days or weeks, while others fill up more slowly. At this time, the Government of Canada has not yet released information on the number of applications it has received since May 1, 2014.
As for the additional government processing fees, it is important to note that any application returned due to the cap being filled will have their government processing fees returned as well. Because of this, there is a high likelihood that applicants who submit multiple applications will get some of their money back”