Readers will note that during the past few months, we have been providing ongoing commentary summarizing our objections conveyed to the Department, with respect to the issue of CCPE informal assessments: ENGINEERING INFORMAL ASSESSMENT - A MANDATORY REQUIREMENT?
We are pleased to advise that pursuant to a Departmental message recently distributed to the various missions abroad, visa officers are now being instructed that while "structured arrangements" between the Department and various professional/regulatory bodies provide a valuable role, informal occupational assessments cannot be made a mandatory part of the application process.
Readers should note however that the onus always remains with the applicant to prove that there is a reasonable expectation for employment in the intended occupation in Canada.
In the case of "one-step" processing centers, readers who are unable to receive a positive informal assessment from the Canadian Council Of Professional Engineers, or (who otherwise object to incurring an additional unnecessary expense to obtain a favorable informal assessment), are encouraged to provide the visa office with a clear indication of how this burden will be met.
This suggestion is especially important in light of our comments referenced in our recent posting: "ONE STEP FILING PROCEDURES: CONTINUING ANOMALIES".
