Hello all,

I know of at least one couple, but I would like to ask if anyone else has moved over to Canada prior to getting their Visas. It is a high risk strategy granted, but I am sure some folks must have made the move before knowing their visas were on their way. I would like to hear any success/failure stories, and any additional issues with medical assistance etc. Any information gratefully received.

LL x

Hi there, we did that very same thing. We moved over on a TWP and yes VERY risky, but hey it worked out (thank goodness)
We bought a house really quickly too which made the whole situation even more risky it could have easily back fired and I'm sure for some people it did. There will be tons of people that wouldn't risk it, but we just thought what the hell lets go for it and it paid off.
Makes life a bit more interesting Good Luck

Did you have the TWP when you came over, or did you arrive as a visitor?

Yes we had our TWP

Thats not quite as risky as what Lady Locket is proposing, but its pretty brave to move a whole family over on.

I'm glad I was young free and single when my chance to come over on a temp permit came up, with a family to consider its all a bit more heart in mouth.

We relocated our family on a two year TWP, renewed it and have just got our passports with a nice shiny PR visa back and will take a quick trip south in a couple of weeks to land, we didn't think of the risk and just went for it

Yes but would you have moved without the TWP? This is the question of the OP

It's a huge risk. For some it works, and others it doesn't. All depends on your aversion to risk and how desperate you are. If you do go, make sure you have health insurance and mitigate your risk.

I think RICH went down the route the OP is asking about, and by all accounts quite successfully.

I believe that a poster in one of the Atlantic Provinces also did this (the one that had the oil spill on her property, I can`t remember her name but it was Chumley or something).

I suggest you would need bigger balls than me to do this though

Those are the two I can think of... Likewise!

I moved here as a tourist in Aug '05 (having submitted an application for a skilled worker PR visa a month or two prior to that).

I was issued a 3 year TWP in Dec '05 to run my own business (applied for while in Canada in Nov, then interviewed at immigration after flag-poling in Vancouver), which saw me through until PR was issued in June of '08.

Major risks:
1) Selling up in the UK (albeit at the height of housing prices, and favourable exchange rates) to buy property/business premises here before any guarantee of a visa.
2) Having 4 months of nail-biting unable to earn a living, and putting together an unusual application to gain a TWP.
3) Being tied to the business (under the terms of the TWP), with no other means of generating income if it failed.

My balls were bigger back then. Successive winters have had a withering effect.

The only documents I had when I arrived in Canada were a plane ticket and a Post-It note with the address of where I was to start work the next day.

When the Immigration Officer asked me for my TWP I didn't have a clue what he was on about.

Still got in though.

going over without a twp or any other visa is something we never even contemplated, oh will be going out on a twp with me, son and two hounds following a few months after, and that is risky enough i think, i know i certainly wont be able to relax properly until we get pnp at least but then i know i wont relax until we get pr,
oh is talkin buying property as soon as we get there an join him but i dont think i would be comfy doing that, id rather wait until i knew we were there permanently, maybe i should be riskier but thats me, if we didnt have our son then chances are we would think differently.

Yeah, even going over with a Work Permit is risky enough, since you can lose your job, it can run out before you get PR etc. I would never have come to Canada without some sort of visa that allowed me to actually live here.

That's what I did too.

Damn ass risky venture.

I'm in my mid-20's with no kids, no house and no real ties and personally I wouldn't even consider it. Just going over with a temporary visa seems scary enough.