Can someone help please.
I am 45 yrs old and have a apprenticeship in engineering.
I have many years general management experience and for the last 7 years have worked within the Compressed Air industry Service Industry for a large World name in the field of work ( Ingersoll Rand ). My plans are to move to Ontario ( Kingston Area ) when my daughter finishes University in 3-4 years.
Both my wife & i have always wanted to live in Canada and we have visited numerous times.My wife is unskilled but has had stable employment within the finance dept of a college for the last 6-7 yrs.

My questions are ...where do i start !!!
Should i apply for a work permit first
Should i apply for residence / citizenship now
Should i go over on a short 'busmans' to meet potential employers
Is there a age limit for applicants to be accepted

When i visited the CIC website i thought 'blimey' what a lot of stuff to read.

Can anyone guide me with my first steps

Much appreciated

Unigy

Hi

First thing myself and my husband did is work out if we had enough points to apply for a permanent residents visa. The CIC website has an area that asks you lots of questions then lets you know how many points you have. If you were to apply today, I think the waiting time is 42 months. Once you get to the age of 49 you start to loose points, which may have an impact depending on when/if you decide to apply.

Getting a work visa can be difficult although lots of people do it. Its a bit of a catch 22 situation. You can't get a work visa without a job and its difficult to get a job without a visa. If you were to find an area of Canada with a shortage and demand for your skills you may be lucky in finding employment.

Hope this helps. There are lots of people on this website that will help with questions you have. The search function is also really useful as it allows you to see previous postings.

Rgilbert

Hi Unigy,
Are you planning on taking your daughter with you?
For immigration purposes I beleive that if you want to consider her as a "dependant child" on your application she would have to be under the age of 22 and in full time education at the time of applying (there's a bit more to it than that, but that is the basics as I know it)
If she falls outside these conditions but still want her to move with you then she would have to apply on her own independantly.
I'm sure other posters will tell me if I'm wrong or misled.

The CIC website is quite a good information tool, it does look like a minefield when you first look at it, but if you break it down bit by bit its quite easy to grasp (but still a lot to digest!)

Hi there, the first thing I would do after confirming that I have enough points to qualify is apply for Permanent Residency via the Skilled Worker route. This route is taking 4 years to complete anyway so would be within your timescales. Because of the age factor don't delay your decision too long as the points fall away rapidly when you hit 49.
4 years is a long time so if things changed and you wanted out there sooner you could investigate getting a firm job offer. Once a job is secured the employer can get it confirmed via Human Resources and Social Development Canada (see HRSDC website for info) and this opens up other possibilities regarding accelerated PR via the Arranged Employment Opinion (AEO) or getting out there quickly via a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). Here is a link to HRSDC foreign workers page;
http://www.sdc.gc.ca/en/gateways/topics/hxe-gxr.shtml
There certainly is lots to think about but with your daughter at uni you have some thinking time
Stuarty

I believe the age factor is locked in when you apply ie if you apply when you are 48 then even if it takes 4 years to be looked at, you would still get all the points. So as long as you get the application in before 49 then it will be fine.

I didn't think that was the case. I thought that your application is judged on the data relevant at the time your case is being assessed.
Therefore if you were 48 at the time of applying and your case isn't reviewed until 4 years later (when you are 52) then you would then lose points on the assessement (only 4 points for aged 52 instead of the full 10 points for aged 21-49)

The thought the same applies to the fact that if the pass mark rose from 67 points to say 75, those of us who have applied under the 67 point criteria would then be assessed under the new criteria if our applications hadn't been completed by then.

Is that right, or am I completely off target?!?

Most data is judged on the time the case is reviewed. Age is one of the few areas where this is not the case. You can see in the manual

http://www.cic.gc.ca/manuals-guides/...h/op/op06e.pdf

if you check clause 10.13 on page 23, you will see it says "Pursuant to R81, up to 10 points are awarded to an applicant who is at least 21 and less than 50 years of age at the time the application is made."

You are right about the pass mark though. We are asssessed on whatever that is when they (finally) look at the application - not what it was when we applied. Seemingly unfair but hey - that's the way CIC work!

Kaz x

Kaz-x is right about this. Age is locked at the time of application. That has been told a lot of times by the experts in this forum also.

regs

Good to know, you learn something new every day!!
Cheers