Operational Bulletin 270 - February 4, 2011

New Overseas Temporary Resident Forms

Summary

Effective February 15, 2011, a new Application for a Work Permit form, Application for a Study Permit form and an updated Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada form will be made available to all clients.

Issue

The purpose of this Operational Bulletin (OB) is to advise of new application forms that will be available for visitors, temporary foreign workers and students applying to enter Canada from overseas.

Background

The introduction of the new Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form on October 14, 2010, was an initial step towards the vision of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for integrated application forms. Following the successful implementation of the Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) application form, the student and worker application forms will now follow.

New Forms

Effective February 15, 2011, the following application forms and supporting documentation will be made available to all applicants, and previous versions will no longer be available.

1. a new Application for a Work Permit [IMM 1295] form, the corresponding Instruction Guide [IMM 5487] and Document Checklist [IMM 5488];
2. a new Application for a Study Permit [IMM 1294] form, the corresponding Instruction Guide [IMM 5269] and Document Checklist [IMM 5483]; and
3. an updated version of the Application for Temporary Resident Visa Made Outside of Canada [IMM 5257] form, the corresponding Instruction Guide [IMM 5256] and Document Checklist [IMM 5484] following recent updates. Applicants should use the most recent version of the form, dated “01-2011” (indicated in the bottom left corner of the form).

All in-Canada and overseas offices must ensure that all stock of previous versions of the old IMM 1295B, IMM 1294B and corresponding documentation that were used when applying for study and work permits overseas are destroyed. Any specific local instructions or links to the above documents must be modified or removed by February 15, 2011. Local contacts should also be made aware of the new work and study permit application forms, corresponding Instruction Guides and supporting documentation. This may involve requesting the removal of paper forms which may be with honorary consuls, lawyers/consultants, host Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices, travel agencies, etc.

A review is currently underway to determine when the previous Application for a Work Permit [IMM 1295] and Application for a Study Permit [IMM 1294] will no longer be accepted by CIC. Once this review is complete, instructions will follow in a future OB.

Form details

The new Application for a Work Permit [IMM 1295] form and Application for a Study Permit [IMM 1294] form must now be accessed electronically. As with the TRV application form, applicants can save a partially completed application form and barcodes will only be generated when they complete their form electronically. Officers should encourage applicants to complete the new forms electronically (not by hand); they should not submit old application forms. Officers and applicants are encouraged to read the Instruction Guide as it contains further details regarding the completion of the new application forms.

The Application for a Work Permit [IMM 1295] form is similar to the TRV application form in content with two additional sections entitled “Details of Intended Work in Canada” and “Live-in Caregiver Program”.

The Application for a Study Permit [IMM 1294] form content is essentially consistent with the previous study permit application form, except the format is now similar to the TRV application form.

All three temporary resident application forms (worker, student and visitor) are now consistent both in format and in the language of the questions being asked. Both the Application for a Study Permit and Application for a Work Permit forms request additional information unique to each line of business.

All three temporary resident application forms (worker, student and visitor) have had modifications to the Education, Current Occupation and Background Information sections. The Education section now requires only the “highest level” of post-secondary education, not all levels of post-secondary education. The Current Occupation section has been renamed Employment. The Employment section now requires the last 10 years of employment, even if the applicant is retired. The Background Information section, question 4b) now requires applicants to indicate the dates of service and the countries in which they served instead of “full details.”

Communications regarding these new application forms will be provided to the CIC Call Centre and information will be made available on WebCART.