I'd like to thank everyone (esp
@legalfalcon) for taking the time to respond. I believe it is the case that in ALL of the PNP scheme, nominees are required to disclose changes to their job including termination/layoff etc. This is non-negotiable for all provinces as far as I can see. And if in doubt, DO IT ANYWAY!
To add to this, I spoke with SINP and here's how it went.
In relation to questions 1 & 4 from my original post: The concern here isn't about what to disclose, but
when. If your employer tells you today (20 January 2023): "Hey buddy, I'm letting you go. I'll give you 30 days (let's say 20 February 2023) to finish up." - in this case, you would notify the province on 20 February that your job has been terminated. That's because it's legally the date your job is ending, so no need to give the province a head start on starting the "clock" if you find a new job.
Tip: Negotiate as hard with your employer as you can to extend this termination date, ask them to give you AS MANY days as possible, push it to 2, 3, 4 months if you can. Ask if you can go on unpaid leave for parts of it so you can work on finding a new job.
WHEN you notify the province, at least in the case of SK, you will get 45 days to find a new job. The GOOD news is your Federal PR application won't be "put on hold." IRCC will keep processing it, and it could be the case that with the time you've bought yourself, you get PR before you found a new job (especially if you're struggling).
It's if you DON'T DISCLOSE it you'll be in deep shit, because IRCC can ask you for paystubs/employment letter at any time. And at that stage if it is discovered you hid this from the province, you can be assured the province will terminate your certificate and ban you from their program, and your PR application and dreams to stay in Canada will become dust. And if you did disclose it and IRCC asks for your pay/letter, and you say you lost your job, IRCC will redirect to the province to check if you disclosed it and if they want to keep supporting the nomination.
In relation to question 2: SINP was very vague, other to say they'll first give you 45-days to find a new job. I mean, the last several jobs I had took 2-3 months to get, so I'm not sure how you get a skilled job in that amount of time. They said if you can't find in 45 days, you have to ask for an extension and then we enter a grey era. We don't know how much additional time they'll give, and how many extension requests they grant.
They also said they prefer if you found a job in the same NOC as what you had as "it's easier for us to process", but that's not to say you couldn't get a job in another NOC. How a case processing officer treats that... I don't know.
In relation to question 3: It appears to be the case that this stuff is very strict. Basically:
- If you lose your job despite getting AOR/PAL/MP, and you come across a situation where you lost a job and can't find a new one in time, the province (at least SK) will cancel your certificate. I think this is very harsh if the job market becomes difficult.
- If you lose your job AFTER getting portal (let's say you get fired straight away for something, but get portal, but not ECOPR) then..., agent tells me it's "complicated" but you still need to tell the province. Hence we always tell people to not leave jobs until ECOPR.
Note above is my best understanding from speaking to a phone agent, and whether it comes from an agent or an SINP email it cannot be 100% relied upon due to the complexities of immigration law.
As falcon said, all of this is a very grey zone and "it depends" is totally right.