Are You Eligible For The Employment Insurance Program?

The federal government of Canada has plans for temporarily assisting those who are Canadian residents and are unemployed. They call this the employment insurance program, under which an eligible person may apply and may get the benefits.

Employment Insurance Program in Canada is going to be great boost for Canadian Job Searchers especially recent Immigrants settling in Canada

There is a program of the federal government of Canada, which offers employment insurance benefits to eligible members. To get these benefits, which mainly revolves around financial assistance, one must be a Canadian resident, and unemployed, and fulfill the required criteria to apply for the insurance and get approved for it. In Canada, more than half a million people receive insurance funds every month. If you want to know whether you are eligible to get it and how to apply, then you must be ready to abide by some obligations both before and after enrolling to the program.

What employment insurance in Canada has to offer?

Employment insurance is a program to partially replace your loss of income. The amount paid to you as per the program is taxable, which means while the amount is paid to you taxes gets deducted from it. Employment insurance can be claimed from the 14th week of unemployment to up to 45th week, and not beyond that. And the claims are made based on the area you live in, the numbers of days you stayed unpaid or jobless in the previous year, and the insurable hours piled up against your profile.

The basic benefits of employment insurance

The regular benefits of employment insurance are as follows:

• If you stayed employed in an insurable job and there you completed working those many hours which are needed for eligibility.
• You had to get off the job for none of your own faults
• You are consistently searching for a job, and through the process, you also need to record your job search efforts.

Even if you qualify for the job as per the above conditions, still you may not get employment insurance guaranteed, because there are other conditions too which may affect the situation.

When your application for employment insurance in Canada get rejected?

You claim for an insurance payment may get rejected if:

• If you have left the job on your own without any strong reason.
• If you misbehaved and were terminated because of that
• If you were a participant of a labor dispute, and are still unemployed because of its consequences.
• If you got jailed or punished.

What amount you may expect as a claim once you are Unemployed in Canada?

Employment insurance in most of the cases is calculated based on a general principle. Ideally, it should be 55% of the amount you would have earned in a week in an average. But this is just an ideal value, and in reality, you may get a maximum of $540 per week and not more than that.

Things to know as you apply for employment insurance in Canada

First, you need to check your eligibility for the program. For this, you can apply to Service Canada online. Completing the form and applying online would be a one hour process tentatively. While applying to keep a few details handy. They are your social insurance number, date of joining the job, the reason why you had to leave the job, and all such records over the last 52 weeks before applying. Along with this your basic details like name and address, contact information etc. would be required.

How to increase chances of getting claims of Employment Insurance paid in Canada

You can increase your chances of getting employment insurance if you apply for this as soon as you are out of your job. In fact, you may register for the insurance as soon as you are out of job, even before getting a record of employment from your employer. If you wait for more than 4 weeks to claim for the payment, then you may lose some of the insurance benefits.

A good tip is to apply for direct deposit to your bank account so that after the claim is processed the amount gets deposited in just 2 business days straight to your bank account. This way you get the amount faster.

Your responsibilities after you get insured for Employment Insurance and paid Claim against this employment Insurance

If you get insured under this program and start getting your payments then you have a few things to do and follow. You will have to search for jobs constantly. You will also have to keep proof of all your job search efforts and activities. Records of them may be asked for up to 6 years. In case you get a suitable job, you should join it. If you join a job, you will have to inform about the hours you are working there and the amount of earning you are getting there.

Other programs related to the employment insurance program in Canada

Besides being paid for the employment insurance, you may get paid for other programs as well if you qualify. If you are sick and need treatment, or if you have adopted a child and need to care for the child, or if you have to take care of a critically ill child, or if you are pregnant, then in all such cases you can get additional income from the government. Being a self-employed also you may apply for employment insurance.

Differences between employment insurance and unemployment support in Canada

Some people mistook employment insurance with unemployment support from the government. But they are different programs, and while unemployment support is to permanently provide financial assistance to the permanently or temporarily unemployed, this program of employment insurance is for only giving you financial assistance till you find another job.

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Raima Sen

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