Canada Federal Skilled Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Question: What are the key stages for processing of permanent residence visa under Federal Skilled
Worker Program to Canada?
Answer:
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File complete in all respects including application fee, application forms and documents and as
per checklist is sent to Centralized intake office (CIO), Nova Scotia, Canada, for provisional
assessment.
Files which are incomplete or deficient by way of information or document in anyways are
returned to the applicant without processing. In such cases, the processing application fee is NOT
en-cashed and returned along with the file.
Files which are found complete in all respect are forwarded to nearest Canadian Consulate/high
commission for further processing. At this stage, CIO the application processing fee payment is encashed.
The Canadian Consulate will process the application for rest of the process including police and
document verification check, medical formalities and visa stamping. It will also request deposit of
application Right of landing Fee.
The overall application processing time differs from case to case and is also dependent on queue
at the processing Canadian consulate. Overall an applicant should be prepared for an application
processing time frame of 12-24 months. The Canadian government mentions the time standards
of around a year but in practice time taken is much more.
Interview is not taken except in cases where the assessing officer at the Canadian consulate is not
sure about authenticity of some of the mentioned information and / or accompanying document.

Question: Please describe the key selection factors which are considered by the assessing officer
under the Canada Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program?
Answer:
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A new occupation list, has been introduced and is applicable with effect from 1st May, 2014. To be
eligible to file an application, you or your spouse must meet some of the main duties of one of the
open occupations that appears in this list. As per the announcement, maximum of 1000
applications will be accepted under each of the open occupations with overall limit (for the entire
list of 50 open occupations) of 25,000 applications.
The principal applicant must meet the requirements of minimum 67 points as per FSW selection
criteria.
The principal applicant must get his credentials (read educational/trade and professional
qualifications) assessed from an authorized Canadian agency. This agency will confirm equivalence
of applicants current educational and professional qualifications vis--vis similar Canadian
qualifications. Points that the principal applicant can claim will be dependent on levels of
qualifications which are confirmed by this accredited agency.
The principal applicant must provide an IELTS (English language proficiency test) score to claim
points under language factor. The principal applicant must score a minimum of 6.0 in each of the
four English language testing skills to be eligible to make an application. For married applicants it
is not compulsory for the accompanying spouse to appear in IELTS test. However, it is highly
recommended that spouse also provides the IELTS score. Doing so and if spouse gets a score of 5.0
and above can entitle the PA to claim 5 additional bonus points.
The application under the claimed occupation should be logged in before the limit of 1000 per
occupation or overall limit of 25,000 applications, whichever is earlier, has been breached.
The principal applicant must perform some of the key duties of the claimed occupation as
described by NOC descriptions. To know about key duties expected to be performed by each of
the open occupations, please visit the details provided at www.abhinav.com.
Additional points under the selections factors are offered for Canadian Education, Canadian work
experience and Blood relation in Canada.

Question: What if CIO, Nova Scotia finds my application under FSW to be incomplete vis--vis a
missing document or some information?
Answer:
ALL documents and information as per official checklist and instructions should be provided, failing
which the applications will be returned without processing. You will then be required to resend it with
required information/document. In the process, you may miss out on quota for the current year and
wait again for fresh quota to be announced in future as also new occupation list which carries your
occupation. A seasoned and experienced immigration advisor will ensure that on best effort basis
that your file goes complete in all respects and with all information.

Question: What other documents, besides applications forms and credential assessment are key to
acceptance of my application for Canada FSW permanent residence visa program?
Answer:
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Police clearance certificates for self and if married, spouse and for children above 18 years. One
must obtain this certificate from each country where one has lived continuously for 6 months or
more. The PCC is NOT required to be provided with initial application and can be submitted at a
later stage, once it has received the provisional approval from Centralized intake office (CIO), Nova
Scotia and transferred to local/nearest Canadian high commission for rest of the process.
Original transcripts of all degrees and post senior secondary qualifications in a sealed envelope
issued by the institution. These documents are submitted to the assessing body which will carry
our credential assessment.
Passports copies of principal applicant, spouse and accompanying dependent children are
required for filing with CIO, Nova Scotia.
Travel history for all family members who form part of the application.
If applicable and claiming points for blood relation, you must get the supporting documents as
part of the application.
Marriage registration certificate
Employment reference letters

Question: Is extensive documentation requirement or limited occupation wise quota a deterrent for
starting the process under FSW application.
Answer:
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The documentation requirements and limited occupation wise quota restrictions are applicable to
everybody who is interested in and filing an application under FSW program for immigrating to
Canada. So do not let this factor scare you from starting the process immediately! Nobody knows
when the occupation or the annual quota would get over and therefore, you have as much
opportunity to get into queue as the other person. It is important to aim to get into the queue
ASAP.
At the most, your application would be returned if the quota gets over. Your application fee would
also be returned. You will always have a chance to wait for fresh quota to open up and new
occupation list to be announced in future. Next time your file is complete and ready for filing as
soon as the list opens. Or you can opt for another destination like Australia, if file is returned on
account of quota completion. So where is the risk?

Question: Why should I enter into a consultant-client relationship with ABHINAV immediately?
Answer:
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As simple as it looks, guidance is required for all the key documents. Immediate guidance means
time saving. So start the process immediately by signing the contract of engagement with
ABHINAV and paying the consulting fee.
From your perspective, you may have collected documents but they may not be in the required
format or may carry incomplete information as per guidelines. For instance, employment
reference letters may be required from few specific employers from your overall experience and
for a certain period only. Not only that the reference letter must confirm to specific duties and
responsibilities in line with the regulatory and operational manual guidelines. How will you
identify these key parameters while getting the reference letters made?
And what will you do, when official guidelines provide no clear instruction/information on an issue
specific to you? For example, different IELTS score is required for each specific case and under
different factors. How do you know what score is required for your application? You get struck
with procedural matters related to PCC and transcripts and cannot get them released. What action
from your side would enable in-time release of such documents?
From your perspective you get all documents and information and then come back to us only to
be told that all documents are still not in place or they do not follow the required format or the
information is still incomplete. THEN, you again back to the drawing board!
After you have handed over complete file, even we need at least 2-3 weeks to work on file and
that includes representation by Mr. Yvon Guerins as authorized representative. Remember, it
takes around 6-7 working days for file to reach Nova Scotia as well.
You should therefore start the process immediately with ABHINAV and take proper
documentation guidance to ensure timely preparation of file according to guidelines. In the
meantime, while you are getting key documents together, we get the file ready and indexed and
dispatch the application for filing as soon as last required document has come in. This is the right
way to plan filing of federal skilled worker application under new procedures.

With ABHINAV, you get in-time guidance to ensure fastest possible filing that can enable you to get into
the queue ASAP.
So kick-start the application process immediately and improve your chances of getting permanent
resident visa under federal skilled worker program.

Question: Why do I need the services of an Authorized Representative and what value addition can be
given by ABHINAV?
Answer:
Services of an authorized representative are critically important. There would be situations where
Citizenship and Immigration Canada might disagree with the submitted documents or information; they
may have queries related to application that require appropriate legal response. Only an authorized
representative is permitted to act on your behalf. Canadian Government will not deal with an
agent/representative who does not meet the definition of an "Authorized Representative". An
immigration agent who does not qualify to be an authorized representative is doing no value addition
but is instead typing application forms and filling in the relevant NOC. He/she is not qualified to
represent you in any manner.
There is another fraud being played by many immigration consultants. While there sites offer
information that they are providing services of an authorized representative for Canada, there is a
special fee in that case. For the NORMAL fee that they charge, these immigration consultants do NOT
provide services of an authorized representative. So you MUST confirm from the consultant that the fee
you are paying includes services of authorized representative. A sure way of knowing that will be
whether they are getting a IMM 5476E form signed from you or not and whose communication address
are they offering. If they are not getting the IMM 5476E form signed and they are giving YOUR home
communication address (postal and email) then they are not likely to be offering services of an
authorized representative.
Check our services and you will realize why you should be hiring ABHINAV as your consultant or simply
visit testimonials from our past clients to appreciate what makes our company the most preferred,
referred and trusted immigration consultant since 1994!
Note: The FAQs have been prepared by Ajay Sharma, Principal Consultant, ABHINAV, a premier
Immigration consulting company. No portions can be copied or used, without permission of ABHINAV,
for commercial use. All non-commercial reference and circulation is permitted amongst readers free of
charge. These FAQs are for information purposes only and does not entail any consultant-client
relationship or legal advice.

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