Catjemmy

Hi I'm starting the process at the moment for our family to hopefully move to Canada. We're going for PR with myself as the main applicant. I'd be under as FSW. Hopefully we'll get it through the EE system. I'm going to get my ECA started this week and try to book my IELTS. Also the small matter of telling my boss...!!

My main question is - my 3 year old son has an Irish passport, I have British at the moment but I was planning on applying for Irish next (my passport runs out in June) and my fiancé will be applying for Irish next which is in 2017 sometime. Does it change my chances if I change to an Irish passport seeing as I'm a British by birth but my dad is Irish and that's how I'm entitled to an Irish passport.

Thanks!!

christmasoompa

Makes no difference at all.

What do you score on the CRS? Unless you are sure you will get an ITA, I personally wouldn't tell your boss until you've actually got a visa in hand btw, not worth risking in case you don't get PR and then find yourself without a job!

Best of luck.

Souvy

My gut feeling would be that now is not the best time to be fiddling around with your "nationality". It just raises a red flag.

Catjemmy

Ooh I'm sure I've checked my score - I can't remember. I'll do it again and see. We've decided not to go through an agency and just do it all ourselves but an agency guy I was talking to said I need to tell my boss straight away because I need work references at the very beginning of the process...is this not the case?
Thanks for the help!

Catjemmy

OK so would you say stick with British passport or make sure all 3 of us have the same passports? Which would be Irish? We got questioned in Turkey (i know a completely different country and situation) in July because myself and fiancé held British passports and our son has an Irish one!

christmasoompa

Nope, it's a load of rubbish - and one of the reasons we often say to not bother with 'agencies'. If you really feel you need help, then use a proper immi lawyer.

You won't need work references until you actually receive an ITA - that may be straight away if your score is high enough, or it may not happen until you're in Canada working on a TWP if it's not! At the 'very beginning' you just need your IELTS, your ECA, and info. Other documents aren't requested until the ITA is sent.

HTH.

Catjemmy

It's a bit of a guessing game actually because there's a few questions on there I'm not sure what I would score...plus I haven't done my IELTS exam yet. Is there any way i can find out for sure what i'd score? I'd be intrigued to find out if I need work references immediately and then I know whether I need to tell my boss immediately too!

Thanks

christmasoompa

You definitely don't need employment refs to start with.

You just have to guess as best as you can, assume for language that you'll score the max for IELTS as a native English speaker.

HTH.

Catjemmy

OK brilliant thank you! I think I'll have to tell him before going for the red seal exam in Canada as I'm presuming that will be quite soon and I'll need the time off for it! Have you any idea how many points are required for the CRS?

christmasoompa

Why not just tell him you're going for a holiday? Up to you, and very dependant on the kind of relationship you've got with him of course though.

And about 450-480 as a minimum.

HTH.

Catjemmy

I think I'm sitting about 443...I'm not sure if all of the questions apply to me - foreign work experience, Canadian work experience - I don't know if they are classed as different or the same? The agent I spoke to at first said we'd be a sure thing. When do u find out your actual points? Is it once you apply through the cic website?

Gozit

I don't think its really a problem. We were questioned in Munich as I was the only one travelling on an EU passport whereas the rest of the family were on Canadian ones. Just explained that I was a dual citizen and wanted to use the EU passport in Europe, but my mum chose to use Canadian, and the other three aren't actually dual citizens yet (still waiting for it to be granted). There was no problem once it was explained. I think the officer was more peeved that I had placed my EU passport at the top of the pile and cut the non-EU nationals queue and took us all through the EU nationals queue, making it look like we were all travelling as EUs. Why not keep both British and Irish current for all 3 of you? As oompa said it will make no difference which nationality you apply with, but once you apply, if you declare yourself as British or Irish, you have to use that nationality for the entire process AFAIK. Obviously you are still a dual citizen but just need to choose one for the purposes of Canadian immigration. Only exception as far as I know is dual British/Irish citizens who use both nationalities for IECs.

Shirtback

The different passports are really not going to be an issue. Do whatever is most convenient for you.

When I applied, a long time ago, there was actually a question somewhere in the forms about other nationalities/passports. Dont know if there still is. My dual citizen children's landing papers, & eventually PR cards, reference French as citizenship, while they travelled/travel on British passports. It's not been a problem.

KuroKuro

Foreign work experience in this context is any work experience that you have in a country that isn't Canada (so will definitely apply to you)!

Catjemmy

Thank you. So my work experience in Canada will count and my foreign work experience will be working here at home and in the uk?