wayevs

Hi.
I'm David and new to the forum.
II am seeking advice from people that have made the move or are currently in the process. First off I would like to make my dream become a reality and move my family from the UK over to Canada, preferably British Columbia.

I myself comes from a catering background and my wife is a banking manager we have 2 young children , upon doing the initial questions on CIC to check if you qualify for immigration, catering and hospitality appeared in the drop down menu of the list of jobs , so am I right to assume catering jobs are in demand in Canada? And what are the chances of my wife getting a job in the banking sector ? . also it looks as though we will need to do the ielts to get enough points to qualify for the express entry programme does anybody have any experience of this exam? What are the minimum amount of points needed.

I think I'll stop there , obviously there's plenty more questions to ask but as a starter I will see what response I get from this.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and any response is greatly received .

David

mikelincs

Welcome to BE,

can't really help with the questions, BUT you will have to contact admin,(see the contact us at the bottom of the page) and change your user name. email addys are not allowed as per site rules as the spam bots can easily get that and you may well be flooded with spam e mails that you do not want.

wayevs

Oops I didn't realise! Thanks for the advice I'll get on it immediately.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

As Mike has said, you need to contact Admin asap (use the 'contact us' link at the bottom of the page) to get your username changed - pls see Site Rule 11. This is because BE is a public forum, so it's to save you from it being picked up by every spambot and weirdo out there! Expect the 'Nigerian prince' emails to come flooding in shortly.

Lots of threads on the IELTS exam, if you do a search you should find people's experiences for info. With regards to the minimum number of points, you need to score at least 67 to be eligible as a Federal Skilled Worker, which is the first step. Six selection factors – Federal skilled workers

If you do, and you meet the other requirements i.e. got your IELTS/ECA, enough funds, no criminal record, etc, then you can apply and will be entered in to a pool of applicants, which CIC then choose the highest scorers from and invite them to apply for PR.

So you also need to work out what you score on the CRS, as you'll need above approx 450-480 to be in with a chance of being selected from the pool. You can work that out here if you've not done so already - Express Entry – Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) Criteria

HTH a bit, good luck.

wayevs

Thank you for all your advice, I have contated admin about my username to get that fixed. Just by checking my points it only looks like I've amounted 300 unless I have missed something. We will take the ielts and will have to see what score we get in that. I know this is going to be a long and arduous journey and I will be putting the effort in to make this happen. Just need to take a step at a time. I am making note of every bit of information I can for reference to aid me in this process.
Thanks .

christmasoompa

OK, so at 300 points unfortunately there's little point in applying as you just wouldn't have enough points to be selected.

Looks like you'll need to get your points up, a job offer perhaps? The Job Hunting section of the Wiki is full of useful info. You might want to hold off taking the IELTS until you've got a job offer/LMIA/PNP, the results are valid for 2 years but it could take you a year or so to find a job offer from an employer prepared to sponsor you (depending on how in demand your skills are - hopefully it will be quicker), so you might not want to spend the money on it just yet.

Best of luck.

wayevs

Thanks.
Yes a job offer would be marvellous, however I don't suppose there are many employers willing to put the time and effort in to sponsoring and waiting and understandably so. I will have to try and sell myself the best I can... also would getting myself and my wife's qualifications and certs converted into the Canadian equivalent help towards ranking points ? I suppose it would help towards apply for jobs in Canada.

christmasoompa

It will definitely help towards points, but I suspect not give you enough to make a difference tbh. But you could double check what you'd score if you had max IELTS points, counted your wife's qualifications etc. Have you double checked what her score is? If she's got more post-secondary education than you, then it might be worth seeing what she scores as the principal applicant, in case it's higher.

A lot of employers aren't prepared to spend the $1000 and go through the hassle and wait of a LMIA app, but it will depend on your skills and also how you can network. A trip to Canada job hunting might just mean you come back with that all important offer (see the Wiki for more info).

Best of luck.

wayevs

Quite possibly because I have a trade qualification and my wife has a university degree. I will check to see if indeed she does score higher .

Thanks

Aviator

To give yourself a chance of a job offer, look into challenging the Inter provincial trade exam in Canada. If your trade is Red Seal endorsed, you can take the exam in any province and can use it in any province. If it is not Red Seal endorsed, it is valid only in the province you pass the exam. To challenge the exam you need to be able to prove around 9000 hours work experience (depending on trade).

Resource Centre / Red Seal

A trade is more likely to get you in than a university degree without a demand occupation.

bc2015

Just out of curiosity, why is it your dream to move to Canada? Have you spent any time in BC?

wayevs

Hi .

Thanks for the question , I have been to Victoria just the once about 15 years ago. I enjoyed my time there also a couple of other contributing factors are its proximity to the west coast and its milder for Canada climate. It would be my first choice but if the right job came up in other state I would move there , the only place I would want to keep away from is Nova Scotia because of it location to large towns and cities.

christmasoompa

Provinces, not states.

It would be well worth planning another trip to Canada as it's been so long since you've been there - that way, you can check it out before spending £20k+ on moving your family there, but also job hunt whilst there so that hopefully you can find a job offer and get a visa.

Have a look at the Wiki, there's an article there about recce trips.

Good luck.

wayevs

Oops my bad. Provinces!
Funny you should say that , I was discussing this with the wife just this week and she feels a recce of the area would be worth doing first . just out of interest after the recent attacks in Paris what is the general feeling in Canada as they have a close affiliation with the French, I don't know why but I generally see Canada as a safer country from a terrorist attack than the UK, EUROPE and the US.

Howefamily

Your wife is right! Definately do one if you can. Ask yourself this - would you move to another area in the UK (lock stock and barrel) without visiting it at least once? Also - worth keeping in mind that moving costs within Canada can be expensive, like majorly so...