Fazakerleyite

Hi, I’m 35 from England with a wife and 2 children ages 4 and 6. We’ve been looking to apply to immigrate to Canada for a few years but get lost in all the scenarios that are given when applying and see blocks to certain routes and I give up for a few months and then start looking again. I’ve got an Uncle who is a Canadian Citizen based in Ontario and cousins who are Canadian citizens that are older than 40 who have said they would sponsor us too but from what I can see they wouldn’t be able to? I’ve currently got my own shoe repair business in England and would be initially looking to be employed in the field rather than setting up my own business in Canada. Looking at the points system, I do qualify for the initial points selection but does my wife have to do her own points score?

Thanks in advance for any advice

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

You're quite right, your Uncle and cousins are unfortunately unable to sponsor you.

When you say you qualify for the initial points selection, which points/visa route are you looking at? If you can clarify that would be helpful. Only you or your wife need to meet the visa criteria/points score, not both of you. Have you taken the eligibility test on the CIC website and if so, what did it say?

Fazakerleyite

Hi and thanks for the welcome and message. There was different criteria on the immigration website that I went through and I needed 64 points. I should have a lot more points than that based on the criteria it was given. I couldn’t actually see a test to take but will have a look now to see if I can find it. Will that give me the best visa to be applying for if I am eligible at the end of the test? I wasn’t sure on the type of visa I should be applying for with having family already there but I’m guessing it would be the working visa or express entry visa that I should be looking at?

Siouxie

Please only use the official website and tools - other non-official websites are often out of date or else biased to encourage you to use their services.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...te-canada.html

This is the official eligability test https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...nada-tool.html

If that says you may be eligible to apply to enter the Express Entry pool for PR, you can then see how many points you might get - you check your score for that on the next link - assume for the your responses that you have taken the IELTS English test and guess what marks you think you can achieve.. and that you have had your ECS assessment done. Do post back with your points breakdown : - https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigr...d/crs-tool.asp

christmasoompa

Your family isn’t relevant as they’re not close enough to make any difference, you’ll go through the same process as anybody without family in Canada. Express Entry would be preferable if you score enough, but check your points score to find out - unfortunately you’ll have lost some points over the past few years of thinking about it as once you hit 30 you start losing points due to age.

A work permit would be much tougher unless you gave specialist skills. For a work permit you need both a job offer, and a LMIA - this is something the employer has to apply (and pay) for, to prove they’ve advertised the job across Canada and been unable to find a candidate willing, or able, to do the job.

You’d also be tied to that employer, whereas with Express Entry you'd get PR, so be much more secure.

Fazakerleyite

I have took the express entry test posted above and even with the $20,000 stated on the website to support a family of 4 and having a 6343 job code and a job offer, it still says I don't qualify for the express entry. I took the other test a bit further down and the breakdown score came out at a grand total of 463 which doesn't seem a lot when it is out of 1200. The parts where i'm losing points is for the language which I do have a grade C at GCSE level French but would need to do the test to see what score I come out at. The other side is the working in Canada part as I've never been to Canada to work, only on holiday. I don't have the $20,000 or the job offer but put them in to see if it would be worth me saving that up and researching getting a job offer from a shoe repairer to apply when I do but it doesn't look like that is the case. When I have looked through other agencies which I would never do, they all seem confident I could apply even without a job offer as shoe repairers in canada are in high demand. Not sure what i'm doing to reflect the negativity in the scores. Thanks again for the replies, they are really helpful

christmasoompa

OK, so let's break this down. It will say you don't qualify for Express Entry if you put a wrong answer in, there are certain mandatory criteria and if you say no or put the wrong thing in, it will automatically say you're not eligible. For instance, you say you're putting $20k as your proof of funds amount, but that's not enough for a family of four - the exact figure required is $24,083. If you've put $20k in as the figure, that'll be an instant no. You also need to say you've taken the IELTS exam (even though you haven't), as that's mandatory for Federal Skilled Worker applicants.

So re-take the 'Come to Canada' test, but making sure you put $25k as your proof of funds and say yes to the English test (just assume maximum scores for now as a native speaker). Let us know if that says you're eligible once you've done that.

Then can you double check your CRS score, you say you're saying 'yes' to a job offer, but the idea of Express Entry is that you get PR without a job offer (if you need a job offer it'll be much tougher - the work permit process outlined above). So if you don't actually have a job offer, don't say yes to that, and re-take the test letting us know what it says without that.

Don't worry, we'll figure it out, but you just need to understand the criteria, and I think it's probably something simple that is making it say no at the moment.

christmasoompa

P.S. The agencies telling you you'd get in even without a job offer aren't telling you the whole story - it's purely points based, you're either eligible or you're not, whether the job is in demand or not makes no difference. If you got PR via EE then you wouldn't even need to do that job if you didn't want to! I'd also query the fact that they're telling you shoe repairers are in demand - upon searching Job Bank there are only 6 jobs in that NOC code in the whole of Canada! So chances of a job offer and sponsoring employer are next to nil tbh.

Fazakerleyite

Thanks for that, makes more sense to do EE looking at that without needing a job offer. Its frustrating as there is a position posted 9 days ago exactly where i'd be looking but I'm a good way off saving the money needed. I have changed those figures and I got a code to apply which is the best news i've had since i've started looking. I now have a figure to work towards and in the meantime get them tests done. Do you know if I only need that amount of money when entering Canada or does that need to stay in my account during my time there? Just to budget start up costs and whether I need to include that amount of money in them or I need to disregard that money as not being there. Thanks again for your help with that, glad i've now got a goal

christmasoompa

OK, but you could still apply and go over on a work permit if you got the job and the employer was prepared to sponsor you? Worth applying anyway I'd have though if you've found one, as I said above there aren't many! You can still apply for EE in the interim.

Perfect, knew it would be something simple! So now what is your CRS score? That's the vital bit, as being eligible to apply under EE is great, but that's only the first step - once you've applied and are in the pool of applicants, only those scoring the highest are selected and invited to apply for PR, so it's a two stage process. If you're scoring 463 then that's great assuming it's correct, but I didn't know if that included a job offer or not? Also bear in mind that you'll lose points when you turn 36, so best to apply before then if you can.

You need it both when you apply, and when you enter Canada to activate your PR. Once you've got PR you don't need the funds to be kept in your account. The proof of funds amount is considered by most to be much lower than the amount actually required to set up life in Canada, so best to save up more than that if you can, and add on a good chunk for all your other costs (medicals, visa fees, flights, shipping, insurances, police certs, etc etc).

HTH, best of luck.

Fazakerleyite

Yes that was including the job offer, 413 without that. If thats considered low, it would be worth me brushing up on my french and taking those tests too. I think id get some sort of score at least. The dilemma for me now to do it quicker would be to sell my current house and the house I rent out. My plan was to keep them both and the rent i'd get from them would be an income for us when we got there. I will start looking into where id be taxed whether it be here, Canada or both and if it would be worth me doing it that way or just selling them and using the money to get over there quicker. Thats been really helpful, thanks again

christmasoompa

Yep, too low unfortunately, no chance of an ITA at that level unless the points requirement drops considerably. You can see all of the draws here to get an idea of the level you'd need to be selected - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...-previous.html

What level of French do you have? You'd ideally need to be fluent or near to get the max points available for having the second language, you would get some points for basic level (which is about A Level standard), but not enough to make a difference without a lot of work.

So if EE isn't an option, then you'll need to look at other options. Have you checked your wife's score to see if she scores higher? Would she find it easier to get a job offer/sponsorship maybe, does she have skills more in demand? Any specific province you want to be in? Do you by any chance have Irish citizenship or any route to it? Personal question I know, but how old is your wife? And lastly, you say you want to be employed when you move over rather than carry on running your own business, but would you consider it if it gave you a visa route?

Where you're taxed will depend on various factors, but the tax level is about the same in Canada and the UK as a rough guide, so probably won't make much of a difference. Any tax related questions, put them in the main Canada forum and somebody will be happy to try and help.