PMM

Hi


Have you looked at the costs of visas for the UK?

PGWP £ 483
ICT £ 400
IEC £ 194
TWP £ 270

flo-bee

Another question about the police reports (sorry I would have sent a private message but I haven't made enough posts).
Should I use the FBI fingerprint form and take it to a police station in the UK? Or will they use their own? Looking at the FBI form it looks very confusing and I'm worried the UK police officer might not fill it in correctly. Anyone else lived in the USA previously and had difficulty receiving the police report?

Former Lancastrian

So basically Canadians are getting hosed if wanting to go to the UK then
And they have the cheek to criticize our fees.

BritishExpatriate

These types of visas are distinguishable in that somebody applying for one is not in the destination country yet and therefore full criminal and medical, etc. checks need to take place.
On the other hand, someone who's merely extending their stay has obviously already been cleared otherwise they'd not be in Canada!

Though just because the UK is overcharging doesn't make it right for other governments to do it either.

I agree with you though- those UK visa charges you've quoted look excessive as well!!!

Former Lancastrian

Just because a person has been previously cleared and provided a Police Certificate or not doesnt mean they are not inadmissible. They could be facing charges for a DUI in the States or went home to the UK and did the same after they submitted or were initially cleared. They may have very little money and therefore become financially inadmissible.

Cumbrian7

I would take the FBI form in, its not that complicated really and the FBI will be more comfortable dealing with it, here is the guide on what goes in each box: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/103665.pdf . The guy i used was able to guess pretty easily what was required in each one, i guess police forces all use a similar form. The most complicated part for me was figuring out how much i weighed in old money (lb's). The whole process literally took 5 minutes.
I definitely wouldn't just walk into a police station and ask them to do it, call their enquiries number/email them and ask for the contact details of their fingerprinting technicians (if you can't find these by just googling it), with Cumbria Police I emailed the generic enquiries@.... email and the response i got was from a fingerprinting tech.
Hope this helps!

BritishExpatriate

Difference being that the example above, like the vast majority of things we pay for in life, is subject to the free market economy allowing for the price to be driven down through competition. Whereas you may pay more for your cheese you'll pay less for other things such as electronic goods because of proximity to the USA...
Whereas when it comes to setting prices for visas, from a business perspective the government had an effective 100% monopoly and therefore customers are at their mercy in replying on them to charge a true reflection of the cost to their agency.

Canada is due to implement the new "Electronic Travel Authorisation" by 2015 on all visa exempt tourists entering the country and similarly to America's ESTA, those tourists will pay fee to cover the running of the system.

However, at the moment this service is free. (Entering Canada as a tourist from a visa exempt country) Therefore, is it not discriminatory to charge prospective Canadian tourists already in the country for a service that other tourists entering the country get for free?

I honestly do think they should pay a small fee, I think that is fair. I think it's questionable whether the Canadian state is making a profit from it though.
One thing's for sure though and that's that all fees, whether fair or not, should always be subject to criticism in order to ensure accountability. Like PMM mentioned, some visa prices recently came down, and without criticism from people like me you have to question whether that would have happened!

Former Lancastrian

Actually I mentioned fees had come down
Im not in total disagreement with you. What is the average shop hourly rate for fixing your vehicle ($75 +) but does it actually cost that?
Try calling a plumber at 2am in the morning and see what you get charged.
Its a fee at the end of the day and you either pay it or you dont regardless if you believe the fee to be appropriate. Hell lets not even discuss a top lawyers fees to get you off a murder charge

BritishExpatriate

Nono thanks ScarySquirrel, you're making plenty of sense! £450 I think sounds about what I would expect in Canada for a 1 bed. I'm not sure though... Apparently in Montreal you pay 1/3 less than in London or Toronto. But then I'm not sure what London prices are like relative to renting in Toronto if anyone knows???

But what seems clear is that rent prices in Canada appear considerably cheaper than in the UK. (Perhaps I'm a bit biased coming from London?)

I guess then it just depends on the relative salary levels- That's what worries me a little: On the one hand Canada's economy is supposed to be prosperous and more so than that of the UK at the moment. But then I heard that apparently a lot of the skilled jobs that they do have available in Canada at the moment are not paid that well, relative to the skills they require and relative to other 1st world countries.

I know that I haven't decided on the exact area I want to work in yet and that that will help to clarify likely prospective salaries I'd be looking at in Canada, and that one can only be so precise when talking about skilled labour generally, but it does concern me a little bit!
Anyone else got any view on the current state of the Canadian skilled jobs market?

Former Lancastrian

Try these links
http://www.clbc.ca/files/reports/imm...n_handbook.pdf
http://www.hrcouncil.ca/documents/cu...ate_report.pdf
http://www.cme-mec.ca/english/advoca...le-skills.html

BritishExpatriate

I do agree with you generally. And I think we can rely on the Canadian government to never charge us fees that are completely extortionate! Though I think at the same time it's just something to be aware of that even with lawyer fees and garage fees and all that, you really do always have a choice and can go to another dealer who's not going to overcharge you! Except sometimes market factors such as geographical location can make particular services and goods expensive to purchase irrespective of who you buy them from. In which case it's a case of whether the government should step in and subsidise of pay the full cost outright using taxpayer money. Which is of course exactly what the government does do in extreme circumstances such as when a person's been arrested and can't afford a lawyer. Or in the UK for example, the government recently stopped chartering helicopters to one of the islands of Scotland because it was considered too much of a burden on the taxpayer. Now the islanders there are left with no air transport period as there's no way under the free market a private helicopter company could make a profit out of providing such a service. I think in the case of cheese in Canada the government won't subsidise as it probably figures that ham or some other related product is cheaper in Canada and therefore you lot can make you cash back on that!
But saying that, yes. Maybe I shouldn't complain quite so much as I am fully aware of the good deal we get regarding Canadian immigration fees when compared with equivalent fees those wishing to move to Canada's southern neighbour are subjected to!

PMM

Hi



1. Federal Service fees in Canada are governed by the Financial Administration Act. They can't be higher than the cost of providing the services. There is actually a Class action suit about Immigration fees, certified in 2008 but hasn't really gone anywhere yet. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/departm...cy/lawsuit.asp

cbrown89

So with the "prospect" of a new visa potentially being release in January is it advisable to still get the ACRO Police Certificate as I don't want to get the certificate to find the criteria has been changed i.e. a new police certificate/type.

Or am I just over thinking this....

BritishExpatriate

Thanks PMM!

So there we go! If Canadian immigration agencies are charging more than they need to charge in order to provide the service, (including paying their staff salaries etc) then they are actually in breach of the law passed by Canadian electorate, in which case the agency is not just doing a dis-service to the immigrants who are overpaying but also to the Canadian citizens who democratically passed a law to prevent such reprehensible conduct!

BritishExpatriate

Thanks I'll give them a read!