International Experience Canada Work Permit Application Processing

Operational Bulletin 490-A – October 11, 2013

Summary

This Operational Bulletin updates operational instructions given in the original OB 490. These instructions guide the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on the:

• Application procedures for foreign nationals who,
• Apply for a Stage 2 work permit application of,
• The International Experience Canada (IEC) Program

The IEC Programs becomes a two-stage application process for 2014. The stages involved are:

• Stage 1: IEC participation eligibility assessment
• Stage 2: Submission of work permit applications using MyCIC (for applicants who clear the Stage 1 assessment with conditional acceptance)

Background

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) rolled out an online application system (Kompass). They sent this to all IEC countries in 2013-14. The CIC used this system to inform participants to submit their work permit application electronically. Henceforth, all participants who received conditional acceptance to participate in an IEC program needed to use MyCIC.

Work Permit Application Submission for 2014

Prospective IEC participants needed to provide separate submissions for their:

• 2014 IEC participation eligibility assessment and,
• Work permit application

This applies to all participants from the 32 IEC countries. It applies to the countries having in place a bilateral youth mobility agreement or arrangement. This is valid as of October 01, 2013.

Applicants must initiate their participation by:

• Using Kompass to submit their IEC participation eligibility assessment (Stage 1)
• Using MyCIC to submit their work permit application to the CIC (for applicants having conditional acceptance for participation conveyed by the Conditional Acceptance Letter)

Note:

• The Conditional Acceptance Letter has a validity period of three months
• Participants who do not submit their work permit application before the expiry of the Conditional Acceptance Letter will not be given a place in the:
• IEC country or
• Recognised Organisation quota
• Participants who submit their work permit application after the IEC Conditional Acceptance Letter expires, would not receive conditional acceptance from the CIC as they would be deemed as not meeting program requirements

Centralisation of Work Permit Applications, Promotion and Assignment Instructions

File Assignment

• The applicant submits the Work Permit application
• The Global Case Management System (GCMS) sets the Primary Office on creation of the prospective application
• The Query Response Centre (QRC) promotes all prospective e-Applications to real applications, leaving the Primary Office unchanged
• The GCMS will assign IEC applicants to Centralised Processing Region (CPR) based on citizenship (regardless of the applicant’s country of residence) for citizens of:
• Australia
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Japan
• New Zealand
• South Korea and,
• The United Kingdom
• Missions could contact the QRC directly regarding any IEC work permit application (Stage 2)
• The GCMS will automatically assign the Primary Office for applicants from other IEC countries based on the applicant’s country of residence (specified on the Application for Work Permit Made Outside of Canada (IMM 1295))
• This implies that IEC applications could appear in the inventory of any Visa Office
• When completing the IMM 1295, if clients mistakenly select one of the IEC categories, the GCMS would indicate this via an IEC special program code. In this case, the QRC would:
• Delete the IEC special program code (if the mistake is clearly identifiable) and,
• Transfer the application to the appropriate Visa Office for processing
• In cases with complex admissibility concerns, the QRC would refer the IEC application to the Visa Office  responsible for the applicant’s country of citizenship
• The QRC uses E-transfer to refer the applications to the concerned Visa Office
• E-transfer automatically establishes the Visa Office as the primary office

Communication

• All IEC work permit applicants could use e-mail id: Question@cic.ga.ca for their queries
• The e-mails received in this mailbox are directed to:
• The QRC for the eight centralised countries and,
• The International Region (IR) for the other 24 countries
• Visa offices receiving correspondence from applicants belonging to the eight centralised countries (regarding IEC work permit applications), must inform applicants to use the Question mailbox
• Similarly, visa offices must direct applicants from the other 24 IEC countries to send their queries via the Question mailbox if the receiving visa office is not processing the application
• The MyCIC would provide status updates automatically (as of November 30, 2013)
• Visa offices must only respond to case status requests  if:
• The requests are beyond the 6-week service standard or,
• The requests are outside the scope of what the MyCIC reports
• Visa offices must refer applicants having general IEC questions or questions regarding the IEC Participation Eligibility Assessment to the:
• Applicant’s Kompass account or,
• International Experience Canada Website

Service Standard

• According to the Service Level Standards documented within the User Fees Act:
• Offices must process IEC applications within a total duration of eight weeks
• The Participation Eligibility would usually account for two weeks
• This leaves a window of six weeks for processing IEC work permit applications
• The six-week period:
• Commences on the receipt of the work permit application and,
• Ends when the final decision is sent to the applicant
• Subsequent requests for further information or documentation would delay the process or “stop the clock”

Application and Documentation

• The IEC Conditional Acceptance Letter must accompany all IEC work permit applications (regardless of their category)
• Offices could refuse applications without requesting for further documentation if the applicants fail to upload the correct letter (in cases where applicants have been asked to upload the IEC Conditional Acceptance Letter as a required document)
• The Come to Canada Wizard generates a checklist of Personal Documents required for submission as per the Program requirements
• Visa offices need to ensure that all documents mentioned on the Personal Documents checklists have been submitted
• Visa offices must check Annex A while processing IEC work permit applications if a police certificate is needed for that particular citizenship
• As long as the Conditional Acceptance Letter is valid (i.e. for three months), applicants could apply for work permits again after submitting the required documents
• This is applicable even in cases where work permit applications were refused previously for eligibility requirements e.g. non-submission of documents or frequency of participation etc.
• Refunds of the IEC participation fee would only be given when:
• The participant withdraws the application or,
• The IEC letter expires
• The IEC participation eligibility team (Stage 1) processes the refunds
• Work permit applicants refused for admissibility requirements e.g. criminality, failure in medical exams etc. would not be able to use their Conditional Acceptance Letter again – even if the letter is still valid
• Unless the applicant has been found to have committed a fraud, the IEC participation eligibility team (Stage 1) would process the refund in this case
• A World Tracking Number (with the format WTN AAAA-BB-14-CCC-12345) would be assigned to each IEC letter
• The fourth element of the WTN of the three-character acronym indicates the IEC category or recognised organisation that the applicant obtained an acceptance for participation in
• Refer to Table 1 for the details about the acronyms used in the WTN

Medicals

• Applicants from six designated countries of the 32 IEC countries need to have a medical exam before entering Canada
• IEC applicants who have resided in these designated countries for six of the last 12 months must:
• Complete an upfront medical
• Attach the Upfront Medical Report (IMM 1017B) form OR the upfront information sheet printout and,
• Upload it into the “Proof of Medical” exam slot
• Citizens of the non-designated IEC countries need to take a medical exam if they wish to work in specific occupations in Canada like:
• Agricultural workers who have visited or lived in certain countries for more than six of the past 12 months
• Workers in the field of health sciences
• Workers in clinical laboratories
• Patient attendants in nursing or geriatric homes
• Medical students admitted to Canada for attending the university
• Medical electives and physicians on short-term locums
• Teachers (for small children or of the primary or secondary level)
• Domestics
• Workers providing in-home care to children, the elderly or the disabled
• Employees in day nurseries and,
• Other jobs that bring them into close contact with people
• IEC applicants who wish to work in the above-mentioned occupations must:
• Complete an upfront medical
• Attach the Upfront Medical Report (IMM 1017B) form OR the upfront information sheet printout and,
• Upload it into the “Proof of Medical” exam slot
• On receiving these medical forms, the processing office would ensure that a final decision would only be taken after receipt of the medical test results
• GCMS downloads medical information into the remarks section of the Field Operations Support System (FOSS)
• For reasons of best practice, officers must enter “Medical Passed Valid to: DATE” in the Case Notes section
• This annotation would alert Border Service Officers to enter remarks that restrict the occupations permitted to the work permit holder
• The validity on the Letter of Introduction for approved cases must be valid for the same length as the medical exam (for cases where a medical examination was completed)

Police Certificates

• Requiring countries mentioned in Annex A make it mandatory for the applicant to submit a police certificate for IEC (specified in the Personal Checklist)
• If an applicant has lived for more than six months in any country after attaining the age of 18, the applicant needs to provide police certificates for all such countries as a standard process (if required in Annex A)

IEC Coding and Reminders (with Table 1)

• FW1, Annex E International Experience Canada – C21 lists country specific guidelines for:
• Age eligibility
• Available categories
• Work permit types and,
• Validity periods
• The Labour Market Opinion Exemption (LMO) Code is C21 for all IEC countries and programs
• The Cost Recovery Exemption Code is E05
• Open work permits must use the NOC Code 9999 for the insertion of the appropriate remarks

Reminder for Letters of Introduction or Ports of Entry Introduction Letter (in GCMS)

• Letters of Introduction must only have a validity period of 12 months or the duration of the medical validity period (whichever is shorter)
• For applications having the results of a medical examination, the Letter of Introduction cannot be valid for longer than the medical result
• Officers must add appropriate case notes to alert the Ports of Entry (POE) for issuing the work permit for the correct duration (based on the applicant’s citizenship)

Guidelines and Reminders for Port of Entry (POE) Processing

• Officers issuing an open work permit to applicants who have not passed an immigration medical examination, must impose conditions that restrict the applicant’s choice of occupations
• Officers must only issue work permits to foreign nationals once they are satisfied that the applicants meet all requirements and are admissible (according to FW1, Annex E International Experience Canada – C21) – regardless of the case notes listed on the GCMS or FOSS

Miscellaneous Information and Guidelines

• For Spouses, Common-Law Partners and/or Dependents
• The CIC does not specify any policies that prohibit spouses and dependents of IEC participants from joining them in Canada
• Spouses and dependents of IEC participants however, must be admissible to Canada on their own merits
• Family members must answer the questions posed by the Come to Canada Wizard using their own MyCIC account
• The Come to Canada Wizard question flow after the IEC result does not permit the inclusion of family members
• Work Permits for Spouses of IEC Participants
• Spouses of foreign nationals cannot obtain an open work permit unless the principal foreign worker: (according to “Public policy, competitiveness and economy R205(c)(ii)” {Labour Market Opinion (LMO) exemption C41, Section 5.38 of FW1})
• Engages in work that falls within NOC Skill Levels 0, A or B
• Holds a work permit with a validity of at least six months
• Physically resides or plans to physically reside in Canada while working (also required of spouses of the principal foreign workers)

Note:

• The CIC would not issue open work permits to spouses of IEC participants in the Working Holiday Program, who only have a Letter of Introduction
• This is because the CIC would not be able to confirm whether the participant is employed in an NOC 0, A or B occupation
• Once the participants can prove that they are employed in an NOC 0, A or B occupation (through letters from the employer or pay stubs), their spouses could apply for work permits under the LMO exemption C41

Guidelines for Work Permit Application Reporting

• The Operational Performance Management Branch would prepare a weekly report for all IEC countries for 2014
• They would forward this report to the IEC participation processing team
• This would facilitate the cross referencing of the Conditionally Accepted IEC participants with work permit applicants more efficiently for:
• Statistical collection and,
• Refunds

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)