LewisC

Hi guys,

I'm new here so apologies if there are any mistakes in the thread or I've left out any glaringly obvious information!

My partner and I are UK citizens from Newcastle upon Tyne and want to move to Toronto, Ontario where I have an aunt and uncle who migrated 10 years ago starting their own carpentry business. We've visited several times now, with our next visit coming up over Christmas to get one final feel for that cold Canadian winter, and love the way of life. We're both in the final 12 months of our education which I will describe more below, and have little work experience. With this in mind I was hoping someone could advise the best means by which we could go about immigrating?

For more background on us both:

I'm 24, have a 3 yr BSc hons in Biology and Forensics and I'm currently in the final year of my microbiology PhD study which I will complete next October all going well. I have worked part time in non-skilled jobs throughout my study and have assets in the form of an owned home which I would sell prior to moving.

My partner is 22, in the final year of her 4 year fashion design degree and works part time as a designer for a world renowned fashion brand, where she has 5 months full time experience also from earlier this year and could potentially stay on to gain longer full time experience upon the completion of her BA hons in June next year.

Neither of us have any full time experience of studying or working in Canada. We both wish to work in skilled jobs, myself in academic research (A) And herself in fashion design (B).

There are lots of institutes/companies we could work for in and around Toronto.

Despite reading all of the information on the government website I'm stuck for our best option.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also huge thanks if you've taken the time to read this long post!!

christmasoompa

Nice and easy, IEC visa is your best bet by a mile IMO.

HTH and welcome to BE.

LewisC

Thanks for the welcome and response!

I've read about that program, however after reading a link on the wiki about implied status:

/wiki/Implied_Status_after_an_IEC_Work_Permit_ends

I understand that you cannot extend your stay under any condition, and so would have to quit any job role, and return to the UK after 2 years?

Engineer_abroad

not necessarily, you cannot extend your stay under IEC but you can move to another stream. For example if you can get a skilled job for a year then you may qualify for CEC which can provide a route to PR.

Novocastrian

There are ways to extend the stay by getting a job offer and applying for PR skilled worker through Express Entry during the IEC 2-years, but with your qualifications you likely could get a post-ddc position at one of the three universities in Toronto. Let the administration sort out the details.

As it happens () I'm also from Newcastle, also an academic scientist and held a professorship in Toronto for 22 years before retiring back to Newcastle in 2015.

You need 3 posts to get access to Personal Messaging (PM) but after you post again, drop me a line by PM and maybe we can set up a chat over a pint or three.

suzeandmatt

Hi!
I thought you may find this helpful: My husband and I moved to Calgary in January this year having never stepped foot in Canada before- he had finished his PhD a few months before hand in the September (as in, Viva was all completed then- paper wise was all finished in April.)

Anyway- point is- in December 2015 he was sent a link to a post-doc position at Calgary Uni. It was exactly what he’d been doing for his PhD. So he applied- in late Jan 2016 they asked if they could do a Skype interview. That happened in March. Days later they offered him the position for a years worth of funding. This was knowing he hadn’t quite finished his PhD. They were happy to wait as funding can be fairly flexible.
Post-docs are LMIA exempt too. So once Sept came around & he contacted them to say he’d passed; UofC filled out their paperwork for the LMIA exemption and emailed it across. And it turns out they’d given him 2 years rather than 1. So it was even better!
We couldn’t leave till the very beginning of Jan as we were waiting for the final Cert to come through from the uni which was a pain but it meant for a nice Christmas with family.
So we basically flew over, went to immigration in the airport- showed them the LMIA exception form, his PhD certificate, a letter from the uni here outlining his job contract start & end date & his salary- and our marriage certificate. They issued 2 temp work permits & that was it.
And his funding has been extended again so we’re here longer now & are going to apply for PR next year!

So- if you can utilise your PhD- I’d definitely do that. It may be harder if you have a specific area in mind- we didn’t at all- all we knew was that we wanted to leave England. But definitely worth looking at uni’s and things and making the most of the networking you’ll be doing through your PhD- it certainly pays off.

We found being married made life 100% easier. All they wanted to see was a marriage cert & I automatically got a spouse open temp work permit which means I can do most jobs.
Though you and your partner don’t have to be married for the SOWP- if you can prove you’re in a common law relationship & have been for over a year- they’d still get the SOWP.
But doing it that way means it can be extended for however long. (Unlike the IEC route) My husband works with people from all over the world who’ve been on TWP’s for a decade or so as there’s no limit that way.

Oh- and we’re from Tynemouth by the way! Haha small world.

Good luck to you both!- hope you don’t mind the long reply.

christmasoompa

You've understood, but that's only on the IEC visa - once you've got work experience on the IEC (and Canadian work experience at that, so worth even more points), I think you'd be eligible to apply for PR.

So get the IEC, work for a year in Canada, and then apply for PR so that you have it before your 2nd year on the IEC expires (and even if you don't, you could apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit as long as your PR app is underway).

Much cheaper and easier than any other visa route IMO, no requirement for a job offer first etc, although if you've not lived together for a year or more you'll have to both get an IEC in your own right, which may be slightly tricker. But I'd still apply asap, then you can job hunt etc in the meantime in case you don't both get lucky.

HTH, good luck.

Curlew

Just to add my own two-penneth, both myself and my common-law partner came over work in Canada after completing my PhD (another scientist here - *waves!*), with no postdoctoral experience in the UK (actually had been trying - to no avail - to get something in New Zealand, where we were at the time as a post-viva treat). I had been applying globally for a postdoc position; then one in Windsor, Ontario, came up in a field in which I was interested. Applied, got offered the job, and got a TWP at point-of-entry in Vancouver Airport, before connecting to Toronto and then Windsor.

We've been here almost four years now and have just applied for PR in the Canadian Experience Class. Moved from Windsor last year, settled in Guelph (hour southwest of Toronto) and have co-founded a company. Living the dream, as it were.

Excited to get PR - hopefully. Can't believe how lucky it feels to be living here, in a country that is spectacularly beautiful, hugely progressive (mostly), and full of opportunities. I bore family back home constantly, but they get free Canadian vacations as a result.

As for the OP - a working holiday visa is the most straight-forward way to work in Canada (but these are like hotcakes), and as others have said, you can apply on another stream should you find work that will continue on. TWP are pretty easy to attain given a LMIA (or if they are exempt like postdocs). And now, I think they have done away with the four year limit on TWPs, but don't quote me on that!

Good luck.