Hello and advice required :-)
 

Hi all I have just joined the forum and thought it would be best to say hello and fill you in on my situation in the hope that some of the more knowledgeable users will look it over and give advice and guidance that may be of use.

Myself, my wife and two children are looking at emigrating to Canada from the UK and by the end of the week we will have employed the services of an immigration company to help us. We have been in communication with them for a while and they tell us we stand a good chance of getting a permanent federal skilled worker visa. I have also been in contact with an employer in the Brooks region of Alberta and he is keen to take me on the trouble is he would like me to start in two weeks but we have a house to sell and many other hurdles to jump through. The whole process is obviously somewhat daunting hence the representation we will be using. The employer would be willing to get a LMO and my first question is could that be used to get a temporary work Visa and be used for a permanent job offer for my federal skilled worker visa ?

Second question is what is Brooks like I have done the usual research and have read both good and bad so other opinions are more than welcome.

Third is my medical history I have tablet controlled Crohns disease and although I have done all I can to assess if this will stop me getting my visa any further advice or anyone with experience of this that can advise me will be much appreciated. Also my children age 6 and 7 have Albanism which doesn't really affect them badly but it does mean they have to have hospital eye tests regularly and I am unsure what effect if any this may have on our application.

Many thanks in advance for any advice you all can give me.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

For starters, two weeks is not going to happen. If your prospective employer will try for an LMO they will have to advertise the job first and try and hire a Canadian or PR first, then if this is unsuccessful, apply for a LMO. Once and if this is approved you can get a WP at immigration on arrival in Canada.

Medical stuff generally won't affect this process, it may however affect PR application. End of the day you may end up being refused if the medicals show conditions that could be deemed excessive demand, currently in the region of $6000 a year cost to the medical system.

Before signing up with an immigration consultant, I would check all the threads on here on the topic. It has been gone over so many times. Many immigrants, myself included did our own including some less straightforward situations.

In my view, anyone who is organized and can follow directions in the guide could do it themselves.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

How does your employer expect you to start in two weeks?
You are not yet cleared to work in Canada!

As Aviator says, the employer will need to satisfy the requirements of the LMO and achieve a positive result before you can start work.
Here is the link;

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplace.../lmi_tfw.shtml

Your employer can read the advertising requirements and can get the forms online here;
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplace...rs/index.shtml

You do not say when you are going to apply to be Permanent Residents but that will take some months at least (17 months for us FSW CAT 2) and until you have PR you will be at the mercy of that single employer.
If that job fails, you would have to go home.

When the positive LMO arrives (:fingerscrossed:) if I was you I would get yourself across there, get your TWP at Port of Entry and start work asap.
That is what my OH did.

You have no idea how long the TWP will be issued for - it might only be for one year.

Leave the family in the UK in your house until you are sure that you are secure and happy with the job and the location.

Do not burn bridges (such as selling your house) in the UK initially - what would happen if your job fell through after a few months?

Searching on this forum will reveal several stories of people who have uprooted their families and sold everything in the UK, come to Canada on a TWP and just expected it to work - it hasn't.

We were cautious (see above) and although it was hard to be apart it was the much safer way and today we officially became Permanent Residents.

Good Luck:fingerscrossed:

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

Really ??

Hummm No Kidding !!

I am keen to get you started on Tuesday if you can make it.............

Sorry - Not too much of this appears anywhere near close to how it's going to happen

But all the very best in your move if you make it happen be sure to come back and stick a finger or two up LoL :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

ok may be some confusion here. The employer said two weeks because he had previously employed am immigrant on a twp and apparently it only took two weeks . The job has been advertised for more than two weeks so he would have to get a lmo before anything else happened there . I will be getting things moving on the skilled worker visa and should have it submitted by the end of this month with a bit of luck . Sadly we cannot afford to pay the mortgage here and pay for me to live in canada so we will have to burn a few bridges but intend to leave a fair amount of equity from our house sale in sterling for use in buying property in canada later or to re purchase in the uk if things dont work out . Once our application is under way we intend to put the house on the market and if it sells quickly we will have to either rent in the uk or apply for twp and come over on that . Thanks for replies so far.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

Congrats on getting your PR.

Sorry but I have to disagree with a lot of this...

Leaving family in the UK is not an option for some people... us included. There is no-way I would want to be apart from my husband for that long - and my son would be devastated to be apart from his daddy. For us it's worth the gamble that it might not work out. Yes he could lose his job but in theory if you take enough savings it may be possible to get another LMO in the months it would take if you have the back up of finances. Obviously a lot of people won't have this back up. If the worse came to the worst I can carry us on a SOWP for a while - I can't earn as much as him but it would keep the money coming in.

Yes there are several stories of people who it didn't work out for but there are also many stories of people it did work out for. It's a lot of hassle for an employer to go through - I am sure a lot of them are good employers. I am not niave enough to think they all are. A poster on here last week TJ ended up going home but there was loads of suggestions thrown her way that could have kept them there until the work picked up or she could have worked.

Its such a personal decision of whether its worth the gamble. We wanted to sell our house but couldn't get what we wanted for it - it would have been nice to take all of the equity with us but we can't - we are having to rent it out. Not ideal but we will sell when the market picks up.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

nice to hear your thoughts as that is pretty much our situation it would be much harder making the move alone and there is still no certainty that the wife and kids would like it even if i went early and got settled . We will be much in a much stronger position if we are all together and have each other for support . As mentioned we hope to sell our house before moving but we have also looked into buy to let on our property and could free up some cash that way if the house doesn't sell . Many of these decisions are deeply personal ones but hearing other peoples stories and decisions helps let us know we are not alone :-) . I think when all is said and done it will be the biggest adventure of our lives whether it works out or not and hopefully the kids are young enough that it will be easier on them than it will be on us .

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

Maybe when he last applied for a LMO they were quicker, but recent timescales have lengthened and you're now looking at around 8-12 weeks. So absolutely no chance of you starting before March at the earliest.

Also, how would be you applying as a FSW - with or without a job offer?

Whichever consultant you are thinking of using, just chuck their name in to the search box for the forum, so you can see if they've been recommended in the past, or quite the opposite.

Good luck and welcome.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

Nope you are not on your own - we are in exactly the same boat. Even if it doesn't work out or if we get there and stick it for 12 months and decide it's not right - like you say it's the biggest adventure of your life.

Like you our son is young enough to cope with the adventure - whatever happens - it's not as if he's a teenager and doesn't want to go! :)

I kind of think as long as you are all together and you all have your health whatever happens you can cope with ya know? :thumbup::thumbsup:

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

Seems like we have much the same opinions on the whole thing :)

Good luck to you and your family I'm sure we will bump into each other on the forum over the coming months and hopefully years :fingerscrossed:

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

We didn't want to be apart - we just made a decision to be more prudent in our move and sacrifice a little while together for the sake of a more stable future when we eventually did get back together.

We also loved our life in the UK - for us Canada had to be better than that to be worth making it permanent, so we wanted to be sure that was actually the case before committing everything.

LMO is no hassle at all for employers - the forms are simple and short, the application doesn't cost anything and they have everything to gain as they cannot fill the post from within Canada.
Where's the hassle there?:confused:

As you say, it is a very personal decision but there is a lot of risk involved and I think it is always good to minimise this if you have children.

Their lives matter as well and so often they just get carted across the world on the whim of their parents and if it all goes t**s up they get carted back again.
I wouldn't want that sort of disruption for any child of mine and wouldn't put them through it unless I had some certainty about the situation.

I put forward our choices so that the OP can see that there are ways to minimise the risk and make the settling in a bit easier if they want to.

It is up to each individual to decide what risks they are prepared to take and how bad it would be if things went wrong.
In any case, it is a costly mistake in terms of time, money and emotional upset if things go wrong and considering that is quite important IMHO.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

norwich to brooks ; jeez

agree with people who have said keep the options open back in blighty

have to admit have only passed through the place, but only a certain type of animal would make that leap and make it work

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

Brooks smells funny... there is a meat packing plant in the area

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

@ hellcat12 thanks for your opinions and advice, I want to hear all sides and appreciate you taking the time to reply as I said we couldn't afford to do it that way and I wouldn't want to be apart from the wife and kids for an extended period even if they disagree with that :-).

@ beaverquest why jeez can you explain your reasoning.

@ david_oz thanks I had heard that but then I come from the countryside and it often smells also I understand it is not constant and is worse one side of the city than the other, any other comments or is that all brooks has to offer.

Re: Hello and advice required :-)
 

You make some fair points. However I am sure any decent parent doesn't up-route their child on a "whim" :frown:

Like I said earlier my opinion is that if we are all together and healthy then that's a much better option for us than my husband living across and ocean away from his young son. I think separating them would be far more harmful to him than us returning if it doesn't work out or we decide that Canada isn't for us. It's just one big adventure for young children. If he is with us he is happy and can cope with new situations. Simples.