CIC Sydney

CIC Sydney opened for business on November 29, 2008. It is located in Canada. It has only one role at this time, but may get others later.

The role is to act as a Central Intake Office (CIO) for two categories of federal skilled worker immigration applications. The two categories are POL and AEO.

Any applicant wanting to apply in these categories must file in Sydney. If the client tries to file this type of application at his local Canadian visa office that office will send the file back unopened with a letter telling them how to file in Sydney.

Thus all Federal Skilled Worker applications must first be filed in Sydney, Nova Scotia (not Sydney, Australia).

For those who don't know, POL refers to the group that have 67 points AND at least one year of work experience in an occupation on the POL (Priority Occupations List) which is a list released every November showing which occupations are in high demand.

The role of CIC Sydney is that of gatekeeper. The Minister's Instructions (published November 29th) for now are harsh but clear. CIC Sydney will only accept applications that fit within the two categories. All other Federal Skilled Worker applications will be sent back to the applicant with a letter advising them that a new POL will be issued every November and perhaps they will be on the next one.

The POL can be found on this site and consists of 29 NOC occupations. These represent occupations in high demand in every region of Canada and, though not numerous, are varied, including jobs in health services, hospitality, IT and construction trades.

Cases accepted by CIC Sydney will be sent electronically to the visa office responsible for the client and that office will contact the client and tell them to submit their full application package and supporting documents.

The Minister went on record as promising a Selection Decision in six to twelve months to all Federal Skilled Worker applications which qualify under one of the two new categories (POL or AEO).

Needless to say by far the vast majority of skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada will not be on the POL list. They cannot immigrate at this time. They cannot even get an application lodged.

They have no alternative but to apply in the AEO category (or one of the other Canadian Immigration Classes) and for that they need to obtain an approved AEO job offer. Please visit other parts of this site to find out how to get an AEO job offer.