Q. I have a BA arts, but I have been working for 4+ years as a programmer / analyst. How would this affect my application for PR as a programmer / analyst? I do have reference letters from previous assignments as programmer / analyst. Appreciate any replies
Answer: Without relevant education or training in your current profession, there is a risk that you would be considered automatically inadmissible. If it were the case that your degree was unrelated, and you did not have other formal training, then strong documentation of your employability in the field would be required.
[Comment: Each occupation classified by the National Occupational Classification contains guidelines regarding the education and/or training that is considered necessary in order to be eligible to qualify in that occupation. Although these requirements are not necessarily absolute, exceptions are not common.
As the selection criteria is oriented towards selecting applicants who have a strong chance of locating employment in their respective fields, documentation of a job offer from a Canadian employer may be one way to overcome this requirement, although this would be subject to the discretion of the immigration officials.
A validated job offer would typically be a suitable substitute.]
See the following URL for additional information:
http://canadavisa.com/documents/factor5.html