Moving to Nova Scotia
 

Hi, my first time here so not sure how its work.

I am off out to Nova Scotia on thursday (staying at clementsport) and wondered what the main things I would need to do to apply for residency there. I have income from the UK and may setup a business in Nova Scotia (currently waiting for the entrepreneur nominee program to start). I am looking to buy a house in the next month and wondered if anyone else is in a similar situation? I am going to visit the immigration office in Halifax and see what they say.

many thanks

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

Nova Scotia immigration are really helpful and friendly - be sure to ask them about the Community Identified stream - I'm not sure you need to wait. It sounds like you will fit the bill perfectly especially if you going to buy a house. It took us 9 months from application to Residency with community connections before, overall 15 months. If you need to know about it just send me a private message by clicking on my username.

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

Many thanks for that, I have looked here http://www.novascotiaimmigration.com/en-page1095.aspx
and will deifinately ask about this on friday.

I seem to fit the rest of the requirements but not these two:

• have a Letter of Identification from a mandated community organization
• have long established connections in the specific community which provided the Letter of Identification

Any ideas and are ou based in NS?

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

Once you get involved in community life you need to get references from neighbours, clubs, groups etc then have an interview with your local regional development agency (RDA) - they were very helpful and friendly. They then send the Letter of Identification approving your application - then its plain sailing so long as security, health and funds are ok.

Our "long established connections" was 9 months by which time we had joined in community life naturally - clubs, groups etc then heard about this scheme. At that time we were on the Federal route and switched. I do not know if it can be less time - I read a post that someone got references from the UK but I'm not sure how that would work.

It is worth speaking to someone at an RDA office when you are here - which will depend where you plan to live (which county). I know of CORDA for Colchester County, and we used CREDA http://www.creda.net/community/immigration.html in Cumberland County where we live. The contact there, who was extremely helpful, was Paul Hopper.

We got our Residency through this route last Summer (applied December) and live on the North Shore in Malagash near Tatamagouche. The drawback is that you cannot work here until you get Residency and you cannot get involved with the community unless you live here, so it is a financial question too. I would thoroughly recommend it - the have just lifted quotas and it is free to apply too.

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

Yep.

it seems the sequence is this:

1. get involved in community.
2. get letters from community to Regional Development Agency (RDA)*
3a. get RDA to write letter of identification to Halifax AND
3b. send NSPNP (Sommunity Identified) pack also to Halifax
4. Get letter of Nomination from Halifax (4-8 weeks it seems)
5. Apply to CIC with letter of Nomination and full CIC pack (4-8 weeks?)
6. CIC hum and har; ask for police and medical reports all that stuff (2-4 months?)
7. Get reports and send; CIC hum and har a bit as you'd expect (2-4 month?)
8. Get PR

(I am waiting for stage 4)

I have read of folks on here taking as little as 10 weeks from application to getting PR, but I think I must have missed something. Police reports alone are 40+ days for the UK.
Some folks take much longer.
The average seems to be 6 months after nomination with the variation down to how organised/motivated folks are.

RDA examples
Cumberland Country (CreDA) - Paul Hopper
Kings County - MaDonna MacDonald
(etc - Googe for NS RDA or look in the NSPNP immigration packs)

Good luck
wbx

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

many thanks for the replys and it looks like this is the way I will be going :)

One other question - can children go to school there whilst on a 6 month holiday (awaiting residency)?

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

under 5's can go to pop-ups for free. 5+ you have to pay for, or home school. They start a year younger here so UK children are comparively more advanced and may go into a higher grade.

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

Thats not completely true - the difference is that the cut-off dates between ages are different to the UK so it all depends on when your childrens birthdays are. In the UK the cut-off date is the beginning of September whereas in NS its the beginning of October. So if your child turns 5 after september 1st but before October 1st they would start school a year earlier in NS. Otherwise it doesnt make much difference.

Re: Moving to Nova Scotia
 

There's a couple of things to be aware of with regard to this Community Identified stream. It seems as though where you are planning to settle will have an impact on its applicability. The strict wording of the criteria is as you mentioned above: "long established connections in the specific community which provided the Letter of Identification". In Halifax for example you really do need to have these connections. And long-established really means more than a few months. Some rural areas however, like the one mentioned above, are so desperate for immigrants (many rural areas have a big problem with net out-migration to places like Alberta and with shrinking as well as aging populations) that they will be a bit more loose in their interpretation.

There was a poster who was moving to the Annapolis Valley under this scheme (was it Rach_Woz something?) to start a business and I'm fairly sure she didnt have to move over and live without working in order to establish these "connections" - if I remember correctly she got a letter of identification on the back of presenting a business plan for the new venture to the local Development Agency. So I'm not sure that you really do have to buy property or go through a long period without working if you are planning to start a business to qualify. Your best bet is to speak to the NS Immigration Office and find out for sure.

Also, I believe its possible to get a work permit to start a business to, in which case you can work in the business straight away (until your Perm Residency comes through). I think the BE member RICH did this?