The Canuck EI Thread

[Texanadian 10]

I'm a K-1 but applied for EI after the 90 days had passed. They approved me. But said I couldn't collect until the EAD came. Unfortunately since they count your ROE hours based on 1 year back from the day you applied, I lost some weeks. But I was still approved.

A K-3 would still have to wait until their EAD came to start collecting. But they should apply for it immediately after crossing the border. That way your 1 year of hours worked would be at it's highest amount. Getting you the most amount of weeks of EI.

So a K3 who enters the US on April 1st 2009 and applies on April 2nd would be eligible for whatever their ROE says. If they get their EAD on Sept 1st, they would start collecting from Sept 1st. But if they waited until September to apply for EI, then EI would calculate the number of hours worked from Sept 1st 2008 to Sept 1st 2009. But you wouldn't have been working from April to September. So you'd have lost 5 months worth of hours on your ROE. This could knock about 800-900 hours off your ROE. Significantly shortening down the amount of EI weeks eligible. For some it could mean the difference between getting a short claim vs getting no claim.

In my case, my ROE said 2200 hours, but I was approved for something like 1400 hours. So even though I had more than enough to qualify for the maximum 36 week claim, I only was approved for 27 weeks.

As for the 52 weeks, that's the amount of time you have to use up your EI claim. So for the above example, somebody who applied on April 2nd would have from April 2nd 2009 to April 2nd 2010 to use up how many weeks of EI they're approved for. For most people this is a non issue.

Edited March 21, 2009 by Texanadian

[Texanadian 10]

The "must be work authorized" in terms of EI is a bit tricky in wording. You have to be work authorized to collect EI. You don't have to be work authorized to apply for EI.

The ROE hours are only accurate if you apply immediately. If you wait, they go down.

[♥Stiggy♥ 0]

So I dont get it, I thought K1s have to apply for EAD just the same as K3s? SO why can K1s get EI and not K3s?

[Galateia 1]

The "must be work authorized" in terms of EI is a bit tricky in wording. You have to be work authorized to collect EI. You don't have to be work authorized to apply for EI.

The ROE hours are only accurate if you apply immediately. If you wait, they go down.

You're right, this wording makes all the difference.

Since I only collected EI when I was in 1-94 'authorized to work by class of admission' as a K-1 and then got a job when I received my EAD, I hadn't thought of people who would be using their EAD to get EI instead of getting a job. I also 'settled' for a job in the pink ghetto, as it's what I could get immediately after getting my EAD, because being employed was more important than being picky. Seeing as the economy tanked more or less immediately after I finished training and started working, and the trickle of applicants turned into a flood, I was very lucky.

Stiggy, K-1s are authorized to work by class of admission (see my previous post) as soon as they enter the US. K-3s are not. Both K-1s and K-3s have to apply for EAD, but the difference is that K-1s don't have to wait until they get their EAD to work/collect EI. The distinction that Texanadian is making is that both K-1s and K-3s can apply for EI when they enter the US, but only K-1s can collect EI right away, the K-3s must wait until they get their EAD.

Hope that helps!

[MrsCat 6]

Not sure if anyone else noticed but the # of weeks of benefits payable for EI have just increased. I guess the government decided to give people a few weeks longer on EI.

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/info..._duration.shtml

[Texanadian 10]

^^^ Ahhh, but that's only for people in Canada. The maximum in the US looks to still be 36 weeks.

[MrsCat 6]

^^^ Ahhh, but that's only for people in Canada. The maximum in the US looks to still be 36 weeks.

I dunno, when I sign into My EI, the max weeks is now 41 from 36.

[Texanadian 10]

Cool. They must not have updated their site yet.

[coldwatersurf 5]

when i went to my consulate interview and medical exam, there were others I met that were already on EI b/c they got laid off. Just wondering........ if they were to continue collecting EI but didnt tell EI that they were moving to US, what would happen? would EI find out you've moved b/c you've notified (lets say) - your medical, no Canadian address, etc?

B/C a couple of years ago... my ex was dismissed from employment, he collected EI. But, he went to work for a cruise ship for 6 months. EI didnt find out about it, and he just made his phone calls and collected direct deposits.

[JillA 2]

when i went to my consulate interview and medical exam, there were others I met that were already on EI b/c they got laid off. Just wondering........ if they were to continue collecting EI but didnt tell EI that they were moving to US, what would happen? would EI find out you've moved b/c you've notified (lets say) - your medical, no Canadian address, etc?

B/C a couple of years ago... my ex was dismissed from employment, he collected EI. But, he went to work for a cruise ship for 6 months. EI didnt find out about it, and he just made his phone calls and collected direct deposits.

Who knows if they'd find out, I'm sure they have their ways.... but the point is, IF they did you'd have to pay it all back. When you sign the cards you're declaring everything you state is the truth, and IF they found out they could garnish the money back as you lied. I don't think it's worth the risk getting caught, plus it's wrong to lie too and collect $$ you're not exactly entitled to.

[coldwatersurf 5]

of course its wrong to lie. They thought they had to cancel their whole EI and that's the end of it. I told them, if anything, they can stop the collection and then start their claim again when they get their SSN and have authorization to work as their claim is good for 1 year. They can collect the remaining of the EI. Isnt that how it works? or somewhere along that line

[Texanadian 10]

Yes, that's how it works. You get 1 year to use up the amount of weeks they've given you. Where the confusion would settle in is

• Collecting EI in Canada (max 45 weeks)
• Collecting EI in USA (max 36 weeks)

(I know the maximum amount of weeks went up recently. But I'm not sure how much on each side. So I'm just using the old max week numbers)

Let's say you collected EI for 1 month before you crossed into the US. Then when you get to the US side, you "probably" would be starting a new EI claim based on being in the US. And unfortunately since you would have zero hours of work in the last month, you'd only get 11 months of ROI hours on your sheet. This may reduce the amount of weeks they qualify you for in the US.

On the other hand, it may be as simple as re-activating the Cdn claim in the US. Although I suspect they would reduce the weeks since ROI hours = ___ amount of weeks is different in Canada than it is in the US. And being a K-3 person, you'd have to wait until you got your EAD in the US before you could collect. This reduces your 1 year time frame which may or may not effect the possibility of you using up your EI weeks.

Regardless, you're using a different branch in the USA. That being the inter-state claims office from Ontario. If I had collected in BC, I'd have gone to the BC branch and started a claim there.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Ok so first off, wow. Canadians living in the US can collect EI? If I wasn't an individual who could potentially benefit from this, I would be angry about it...

I seriously doubt I have enough working hours to collect, but It doesn't hurt to try. Based on the link in Canada's Wiki page, it says you need a minimum of 420-489 hours of work in the last 52 weeks to get the minimum time interval of benefits (10 weeks). Is this a correct interpretation? I'm a full time student and work part time. That is anything between 8-24 hours a week. In the summer (May-September) I usually work 24-40 hours. I never thought about looking at this thread because I assumed I wouldn't qualify, no way. But, i'm almost certain I have over 420 hours... Is there anyway to find this out for sure without just guessing? I really don't want to talk to my employer about this, she doesn't even know I'm leaving yet (yikes, I know... I just know she'll be really mad and cut my hours to nothing for my last 2 months in Canada). So what do you think? Should I try to apply and just see what I get, or should I not even bother?

Edited April 18, 2009 by Hugglebuggles

[coldwatersurf 5]

I would still try huggle. Any money coming in is good money. lol. especially if you cant work for a couple of weeks. Make sure your employer puts the reason that you're moving to US to join spouse as reason for quitting.

[Texanadian 10]

420 hours is an average of 8 hours a week x 52 weeks. Go for it.

They pay 55% of your old Canadian wage. And they'll take 25% non-resident tax off before you get the money. But it's still better than a boot in the....