AndyAndJoInEngland

Hello, and thank you for reading.
My wife and I with our 3 boys (12, 10, 5) are considering emigrating from the UK to Canada, near Montreal.
We are at the early stages and there is clearly a lot to consider.

Please can you advise of any gotchas that you have experienced that we need to be aware of.

Thank you

Andy

dbd33

Do you have an offer of a job from a company prepared to argue with the government that they must have you? (To go through the LMIA procedure in immigration speak).

Do you speak French?

Former Lancastrian

Read this Wiki link as it will answer most of your questions

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spous...sorship-Canada

This link is set out in a FAQ format

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spous...hip-Canada/FAQ

This is the official IRCC website link

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...-children.html

AndyAndJoInEngland

Thank you for responding. Firstly, no, we don't speak French, we are all fluent in English.I am an IT contractor with a UK based LTD company so would be able to accept contracts in both Canada and the UK.

dbd33

The question about French derives from your mention of Montreal. If you are moving to Quebec the children will, very likely, be educated in French. That's not an obvious choice of location for an anglophone family.

I don't think you can qualify to immigrate as a contractor, I was in that business for a while and we made contractors into employees for a couple of years so as to meet the rules for the LMIA. Do you have some means of qualifying for the move besides employment; is one of you Canadian?

Former Lancastrian

Ignore post # 3 as it was posted in error.

AndyAndJoInEngland

Thank you,
I didnt realise that area was French speaking. What parts are English speaking? Would we need to look towards the West coast instead?

I appreciate your responses, thank you

dbd33

Only Quebec and parts of New Brunswick are actually French speaking, There's no need to speak French anywhere else.

christmasoompa

Just to be clear, you'd need a visa allowing you to work in Canada, you can't just rock up and start working. So that needs to be your first step really, research visas and see if you may qualify for any.

Good luck.

AndyAndJoInEngland

Thank you, and yes, that makes sense.

I did partially run through a process with a company called Canada CIS which suggested I would be eligible. Software development was on a fast track list, and thats all I've done for the last 15 years.

What this company doesn't tell you is the detail, such as Quebec being a mainly French speaking area. This is where forums such as this are priceless.

Thanks again,

Andy

christmasoompa

That company also didn’t tell you that there isn’t such a thing as a ‘fast track list’. It concerns me that they’ve suggested Quebec immigration, as that implies they don’t think you’re eligible for any Federal route.

Take the official test yourself and go from there - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...nada-tool.html

Good luck.

AndyAndJoInEngland

Very much appreciated. I suspect companies like this are just sausage factories focusing on getting money rather than actually helping!

christmasoompa

I’d certainly steer clear of that particular company. Just had a quick look and can’t find anything on their website to say they’re actually licensed consultants (by law they’re supposed to give membership details on their website). They’ve also got a lot of incorrect or out of date info on their website.

Bottom line is that unless you have complicated circumstances (criminal record/medical issues etc) then it’s easy enough to do yourself.

AndyAndJoInEngland

I looked at the link you posted. Other than finding out how I can organise and English test, it seemed straight forward.

Thanks again for the time taken to respond here.

Andy

christmasoompa

You'd need to book an IELTS test (make sure it's a General test, not Academic). https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...e-testing.html

But do double check your CRS scores first, as you'll need to be scoring enough to be in with a chance of being selected and invited to apply for PR, no point in paying for IELTS exams if you wouldn't get a visa anyway. You can just assume max points for English as native speakers now, fill in the point score test as if you've taken the exam already, it's only to give you an idea of your score - https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigr...d/crs-tool.asp

And you can see all the recent draws here to give you an idea of what you'd need to be scoring to be selected - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ry-rounds.html

Good luck.