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The immigration process - UK to Canada

The immigration process - UK to Canada

Old Aug 4th 2022, 4:46 pm
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Default The immigration process - UK to Canada

Hi all, I’m Sam 👋

My husband and I are hoping to move from the UK to Canada in the near-ish future with our 2 young children and we’ve just started looking into the immigration process. I’m just hoping for a bit of help and advice from anyone who’s a bit more knowledgeable or someone that has been through it themselves.



For clarity and background, neither of us have ever worked in Canada and we have no relatives in Canada either. I’m 31, my husband is 34. Our children are 3 y/o and 4 m/o. Location-wise we’re initially interested in the Calgary area but we’re aware that may need to change depending on various factors. My husband is a bricklayer with an NVQ Level 2 and 10+ years experience. I’m a fitness instructor and personal trainer with an active IQ level 3 diploma (not sure if this will be recognised elsewhere) I only actually worked in the industry for roughly a year after qualifying before leaving to have my children. Before that time I worked in admin roles and high street banking.



So my understanding of the process is that to get the ball rolling you need to:
  • Find out which immigration program is suitable (for us it’s the federal skilled trades program)
  • Check eligibility using the test on the Canadian government website (it said we were eligible)
  • If eligible, check score using CRS (we scored 395, is that really rubbish?)


Thats about as far as I’ve got.


For the eligibility checker and the points system, we answered yes to the language test question as we’ll make sure we do that before we actually apply.

For the question regarding qualifications, it says “what is the highest level of education for which you have earned a Canadian degree, diploma or certificate or have had an Education Credential Assessment? We also answered that as if we had had the ERC, is that the correct thing to do as we haven’t yet but we will if we’re going to need it? Has anyone had an ERC? If you have, how long did that process take? Do we need to do that before submitting our application?



A couple of further questions below if anyone can shed any light.
  1. Do you need to have a job offer before your application is approved as I’ve read conflicting information so haven’t got a clue.
  2. Will my husband need to have an NVQ level 3 to be successful as he currently has level 2 and one website I’ve seen seems to indicate that you need to be level 3 but I haven’t seen that anywhere on the government site or any other website. He could complete the level 3 fairly quickly if needed I think for around £1000 but obviously we don’t want to do that if it’s not necessary and I don’t know if it would even help if it’s only a recent qualification.


For now, I think that’s all.

Any help or advice would be massively appreciated! 😀
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Old Aug 4th 2022, 4:51 pm
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Default Re: The immigration process - UK to Canada

Oh, and if you read all of that, thank you! ☺️
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Old Aug 4th 2022, 5:12 pm
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Default Re: The immigration process - UK to Canada

Hi, welcome to BE.

Sounds like you've got a pretty good grasp of things actually!

395 is a very good score for the FST program. An ECA isn't mandatory for FST applications, but your husband won't get given points for education without it, so personally I'd advise he gets one. Note it will only be given for academic qualifications, not vocational though.

Yes, he'll need a job offer, or provincial certification - one is required for him to be eligible for the FST program. If you're reading conflicting info then stick to the official website only - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ed-trades.html

I'm afraid I have no idea on the NVQ level, he'd need to see what is required for provincial certification in the province he wishes to move to, and see if a Level 2 will be acceptable.

HTH, best of luck.
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Old Aug 4th 2022, 6:02 pm
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Default Re: The immigration process - UK to Canada

Hey

Thank you, nice to know I’m on the right track.

Great to know our score is OK too.

With regards to the NVQ Level 2 or 3 thing, I’m thinking it would probably be more apparent on the government website if the level 3 was needed but I’ll delve a bit deeper into that now and take your advice and speak to someone from the province.

Thanks for your help 😀
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Old Aug 4th 2022, 6:46 pm
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Default Re: The immigration process - UK to Canada

Originally Posted by sampit27
Hey

Thank you, nice to know I’m on the right track.

Great to know our score is OK too.

With regards to the NVQ Level 2 or 3 thing, I’m thinking it would probably be more apparent on the government website if the level 3 was needed but I’ll delve a bit deeper into that now and take your advice and speak to someone from the province.

Thanks for your help 😀
Sorry, I should have clarified - there's no requirement for Level 3 from a visa point of view, but there might be from a provincial certification point of view (which of course, then impacts on the visa). For provincial certification, there is a requirement to prove competency which includes number of hours worked, and I would assume a certain level of training/education too.

For Alberta, I believe it's the Trade Secrets website that should give you the info you need. https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/trad.../profiles/001/

Also, one thing I should mention is that the EE criteria is going to change next year but nobody knows how yet! All we know is that it won't just be based on points, there will be other criteria too that will apply to invite, this could be something like certain occupations only, or a minimum level or eduction, or something else entirely. So if you definitely want to apply, best to get cracking just in case your husband finds himself ineligible in 2023.

HTH, good luck.
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Old Aug 4th 2022, 8:56 pm
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Default Re: The immigration process - UK to Canada

Ah ok, I see what you mean. Next step will be to contact the province then and ask them if it’ll pose a problem. I honestly don’t think it will so fingers crossed. Thanks for clarifying. It’s all just a bit nerve-wracking, once you start booking tests and paying fees it all becomes very real doesn’t it…….exciting but real.

Oh that’s interesting about the changes to the EE criteria and could be crucial for us if they introduce a higher bar to climb over. Thanks so much for letting me know. We’d better get our butts in gear!
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