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Contents 1 Relatively quick entry to Canada 2 The rest of us need a job 3 Where are your skills needed? 4 Securing employment 5 Feasible immigration routes 6 Points and Self-Assessment Test 7 Political background 8 Update 9 Risk Management 10 Related Information

[edit] Relatively quick entry to Canada

• First, ask yourself if you would be able to get into Canada by:
  • Claiming Canadian citizenship (through a Canadian parent, for example);
  • Getting your Canadian spouse or adult child to sponsor you;
  • Getting an intra-company transfer;
  • Starting a business that will employ Canadians;
  • Being a British citizen who is between the ages of 18 and 30 and who can get into Canada on a 12-month working holiday visa through BUNAC; or
  • Having a relative in Alberta who could sponsor you through the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program's Family Stream.

[edit] The rest of us need a job

• If you don't belong to one of the above mentioned categories, almost your only hope of getting into Canada within the next quarter of a century is to secure pre-arranged employment.
  • Essentially you need to find a job in Canada before you apply for entry to Canada.
  • Not just any job offer will do.
  • It has to be a job that no qualified Canadian resident wants.
  • The rough definition of a job that no qualified Canadian resident wants is a job that has been advertised across Canada for three months and for which no qualified Canadian resident has applied.

[edit] Where are your skills needed?

• To find out which occupations are in demand in Canada, and the regions in which they are in demand, read the BE Wiki article called Labour Shortages.

[edit] Securing employment

• Since a job offer is so critical to your entry to Canada, it is strongly recommended that, when you have finished reading this article on immigration, you read the BE Wiki article entitled Quick Job Hunting Instructions-Canada.
• It is to be hoped that that article will convince you that, when it comes to Canada, the job hunting process is different.
• It would be in your interests to tailor your approach accordingly.
• Update as of October 26, 2008: Although the Canadian economy has not yet been hit as hard as the economies of some other countries following the recent stock market crash, real estate prices in Canada have softened, and job prospects are looking less rosy. Under the circumstances, it is crucial that you adapt your job hunting strategy to the Canadian employment market. It is strongly recommended that you take on board what the Wiki articles say about job hunting in Canada. This information was important while many regions of Canada were booming. Now that we're facing a potential recession, learning the ropes is a make-or-break issue.

[edit] Feasible immigration routes

• Once you've secured a job offer, the two most feasible ways to proceed are:
  • Apply for a temporary work permit, which you later can upgrade to a permanent residence visa if you get a permanent job offer, OR
  • Apply to one of the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), a process that culminates in a permanent residence visa.

• A work-around that some applicants use is for one partner to enter Canada on a study permit and for the other partner to avail him/herself of a spousal open work permit.

• A path to Canada that is not dependent on a job offer, and that may suit some applicants, is the Nova Scotia Community Identified Stream.

• A new application category, called the [Canadian Experience Class], was introduced in September 2008.

[edit] Points and Self-Assessment Test

• New posters on the Canada forum frequently mention the points they've scored on Citizenship and Immigration Canada's self-assessment test.
• In fact points have limited application.
• They are relevant only when you apply for a permanent residence visa via the skilled worker route.
• Besides that, points matter only when you are short of them. If you don't meet the 67-point threshhold, that's a problem.
• But meeting the points requirement, on its own, is not enough.
• With rare exceptions, you need pre-arranged employment in order to gain entry to Canada.

[edit] Political background

• During 2006 and 2007, the waiting times for skilled worker visas without pre-arranged employment had grown to 5 - 8 years (depending on the visa posts to which applications had been submitted).
• The Canadian government addressed this unwieldy situation by passing new legislation on June 18th, 2008.
• The gist of the legislation is that much greater emphasis will be placed on the applicant's occupation and how much demand there is for people in that occupation.
• It is expected that applicants who do not have pre-arranged employment but who are in high demand occupations will have their applications processed more quickly than before -- say in about a year.
• On the other hand, applications from people who do not have pre-arranged employment and who are in low demand occupations will be rejected out of hand.
  • So, even if you hypothetically have enough points for education, age, fluency in one or both of Canada's official languages, etc., if you are in an occupation for which there is little demand in Canada and if you don't have pre-arranged employment, those facts alone will override everything else, and your skilled worker application will be rejected.
• Another important element of the new system is that the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration will set annual quotas for each high-demand occupation.
  • As a result, many applicants who belong to occupations in high demand may not make the cut for the year in which they apply, especially if they apply late in the year.
  • In such cases, applications from people who are in high demand occupations may be retained until the following year or years, while other applications will be returned almost immediately.

[edit] Update

• At the time of this update (September 24th, 2008), the situation is as follows:
  • The Minister has not yet published her list of high-demand occupations.
  • While her Department awaits her instructions, permanent residence applications that have been submitted via the skilled worker route after February 27th, 2008 and that have not been backed up by pre-arranged employment are languishing in a giant in box.
  • Until Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has received instructions from the Minister regarding the high-demand occupations list, nothing will be done with permanent residence / skilled worker applications that have been received post-February 27th and that are not backed up by pre-arranged employment
  • CIC has stated that the high-demand occupations list will be published in the fall (autumn) of 2008.

[edit] Risk Management

• Your success in Canada does not depend only on finding employment in Canada and getting into Canada (although those are important elements of most expats' planning, to be sure).
• You also need to remain viable once you're in Canada.
• To find out about the safeguards that it would be prudent to put into place, it is recommended that you read the Wiki article called Risk-Canada.

[edit] Related Information

• There is a lot more information in the Canada section of the BE Wiki.