New Policy for International Students - April 12th, 2021

[ahm756]

Thank you, this explains a lot! I've been calling around to see if I can get an earlier medical and will know later this week. If the results are usually available later anyways, maybe IRCC will be a bit lenient, especially with the healthcare sector under such strain.

Where are you located? I was able to book one for tomorrow in North York, Ontario. I can give you the location if you live nearby.

 

[ahm756]

Any ideas on whether the photography must be taken by a commercial photographer or can be DIY? For temporary permits I've always taken my own picture (graphic designer here, hehe) and haven't had any issues, but in the application guide for PR applications it says two identical pictures and one of them needs to have the details from the photo studio that took it in the back (got asked for this with PNP paper-based)...while EE guide just says the same specs as TRV, which means it can be DIY

Just to be safe, I recommend you take it from a professional (as stated in the page linked below) and include their details in the back. Now that you mentioned this, we can write those details ourselves or the photographer has to stamp it or something?

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...grants/pr-card/apply-renew-replace/photo.html

 

[hhzara]

Where are you located? I was able to book one for tomorrow in North York, Ontario. I can give you the location if you live nearby.

Thank you for the offer! I'm at least two hours away so I don't think I'll be able to make it, plus I won't be able to get a day off so quickly. Thank you anyway!

 

[hhzara]

Any ideas on whether the photography must be taken by a commercial photographer or can be DIY? For temporary permits I've always taken my own picture (graphic designer here, hehe) and haven't had any issues, but in the application guide for PR applications it says two identical pictures and one of them needs to have the details from the photo studio that took it in the back (got asked for this with PNP paper-based)...while EE guide just says the same specs as TRV, which means it can be DIY

I got my pictures from Shoppers Drug Mart (they are essential) and they stamped the back. I think it was around $68 for the three of us.

 

[kloppity]

Considering we know that applicants wont be able to apply for BOWP, do we expect IRCC to be upfront about the processing times? Apparently some CEC applications are taking as little as 4 months currently, would processing this eat into that processing capacity? If not, where are the extra processing officers going to get pulled from?

Also, It is ironic how the IRCC have not released specifications for this program but the social media team has given away very important details from people asking questions. I wonder why they wont just update the policy so the SM team can deal with providing interpretations of the rules to people as needed.

 

[ahm756]

I got my pictures from Shoppers Drug Mart (they are essential) and they stamped the back. I think it was around $68 for the three of us.

Does the stamp require any specific details?

 

[rambag98]

Any ideas on whether the photography must be taken by a commercial photographer or can be DIY? For temporary permits I've always taken my own picture (graphic designer here, hehe) and haven't had any issues, but in the application guide for PR applications it says two identical pictures and one of them needs to have the details from the photo studio that took it in the back (got asked for this with PNP paper-based)...while EE guide just says the same specs as TRV, which means it can be DIY

That's for paper applications, electronic applications would require digital photos, so either like the TRV ones or a digital with PR size specifications

 

[rambag98]

Just to be safe, I recommend you take it from a professional (as stated in the page linked below) and include their details in the back. Now that you mentioned this, we can write those details ourselves or the photographer has to stamp it or something?

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...grants/pr-card/apply-renew-replace/photo.html

Why would you get hard copies? Uploading and scanning them isn't the way digital photos work..

 

[hhzara]

Does the stamp require any specific details?

I just saw that they stamped it, they were unable to give me digital copies because they ran out of USBs. Maybe the stamp doesn't matter per the comment below yours.

 

[ahm756]

Why would you get hard copies? Uploading and scanning them isn't the way digital photos work..

That's the way I've done for my past applications and there were no issues.

 

[hhzara]

That's the way I've done for my past applications and there were no issues.

I've done both, used scanned copies and digital copies and both worked. The Shoppers I went to didn't have USBs so I had to take the hard copy.

 

[StefanoTO]

I was able to book a medical for the 10th of May, does anyone know if I can upload the results later? Is an upfront medical even necessary?

See below CICnews FAQ for this program (https://www.cicnews.com/2021/04/faq...nt-graduates-in-canada-0417879.html#gs.z6neb3).

Are medicals required upfront with the application system?
IRCC is currently trying to extend medicals as much as possible during COVID-19 for those in Canada.

For this group, they will be dividing people into two groups: people who have never done medical and people who have done medical. Those who have done medical should provide proof. It is not yet known how old the medical can be. If you can access an Upfront Medical, you may wish to do so nonetheless.

 

[rambag98]

I just saw that they stamped it, they were unable to give me digital copies because they ran out of USBs. Maybe the stamp doesn't matter per the comment below yours.

Digital photos are what you need for electronic applications. This isn't paper based. They want a JPG or JPEG format.


Check this site out, it does it well.

https://visafoto.com/

 

[kloppity]

What does the last part of this even mean?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1386748442651807748

At least we know this

https://twitter.com/x/status/1386748257557221377

 

[Frisk]

Considering we know that applicants wont be able to apply for BOWP, do we expect IRCC to be upfront about the processing times? Apparently some CEC applications are taking as little as 4 months currently, would processing this eat into that processing capacity? If not, where are the extra processing officers going to get pulled from?

Also, It is ironic how the IRCC have not released specifications for this program but the social media team has given away very important details from people asking questions. I wonder why they wont just update the policy so the SM team can deal with providing interpretations of the rules to people as needed.

Here's my theory (I'M JUST SPECULATING, TAKE THIS WITH A SPOON OF SALT): other similar programs such as PNP or the AIPP let you either apply for a BOWP or give you a work permit support letter which allows you to continue working for your current employer until you get PR. If this program doesn't, that means either that they're going to leave thousands of applicants in an immigration limbo, on their own or that they expect short processing times.

It's sounds unlike IRCC to leave people stranded, especially after having helped quite a bit during covid with the PGWP extensions and the visitor to work permit policies. It just doesn't add up. CEC processing times are around 8 months right now because for some reason, at the beginning of the pandemic they "stopped" processing applications and when they resumed processing normally the newer applications and backlogged ones mixed.

So if you stop by the CEC forum you'll see January/February 2021 applicants with simple applications that got COPR in 3-4 months and people from January 2020 still waiting. Current applicants with simple applications have shorter processing times than applicants from 2020.

For this stream, rumours say around 6 months but the requirements are so ridiculous I can't see eligibility section lasting more than 1 or 2 weeks.