Hi there,

I just had a quick query i wondered if you could help me with. Our reccie is planned for Ottawa this summer, and we were hoping to take in Gatineau as well whilst there. My engineering job is not on the PNP list for Ontario, however i have carried out a Quebec PNP assessment and passed, without the need for a pre-arranged job!

This leads to the the question, could i theoretically gain a Quebec PR visa through their nomination programme and live in Gatineau..... but work in Ottawa, where there is more likely to be more jobs? Would there be any particular reasons not to go down this route, if it is possible.

Thanks!

I can't see why you wouldn't be able to do that. Half the population of Gatineau work in Ottawa, including my wife and many of my neighbours.

excellent thanks, i'm sure there is not a problem once you are legally in the country but initially getting the visa may be the issue?! hence i wondered if there may be any restrictions in doing it this way.

for example, say i gained a permanent visa through the Ontario PNP, i would assume Ontario government would have to qualify the job. i also assume i would have to reside in Ontario.

so, if we are able to get a Quebec visa without a fixed offer of employment, this may be a fairly quick way compared to the CIC timescale, which would also allow me to work in Ottawa but reside in Gatineau?

hhmm the more i think about it, the more i can foresee possible issues. my girlfriend is a teacher, and i am an engineer, and we both require to be registered with regulation bodies for our jobs. once more, i wonder how living in quebec but working in ontario would effect our registration.

I really don't know the answers to the questions you have raised. We moved to Gatineau from the GTA four years after I arrived as an immigrant and Souvette is Quebecoise. It wasn't an issue for us.

I don't think you can enter Canada under the Quebec PNP programme and immediately work/live in another Province.

i certainly wouldnt think you would be allowed to live elsewhere. however if you are entitled to a visa without a fixed job offer, and not having to have a job approved by the Quebec government to get the visa, there may be a possibility it could be done once you are in the country?! i have now sent quebec immigration an email, although i'm not expecting a reply any time soon!

As far as I know to you sign a declaration of intent to live in Quebec. Not necessarily work there.

Does it make [financial] sense? AFAIK, the fiscal burden is greater in Quebec; why don't people just relocate across the river? (I suppose the same question could be asked about Lloydminster, although I don't think it's quite the same thing, fiscally speaking).