Good Morning all!

My new wife and I are looking into emigrating to Canada in the future, at the moment we're in the really early stages of planning this and would like some help/thoughts on how to go forward.

So far we've done some research and are looking into a variety of different avenues.

First of all - location - We'd love to go to BC, however we're both aware that it may not be possible and so could settle elsewhere (Ontario could be a winner too).

Visa - Would we be better going for a temporary visa and applying for PR or the skilled worker program? Our professions are listed below

Jobs - this is where I could do with a bit of help as from reading it looks like a chicken and egg - should we apply for visas before looking for jobs or look for jobs before going for visas?

I work in the IT sector with the NHS at the moment, mainly tech support but I'm trying to move into more project based roles and I have a background in Networking but do nto yet have my CCNA, however any help with regards to the IT sector would be welcome!

my wife is a solicitor in the U|K, but has no real interest in continuing in that sector, she is also very proficient in French and would love to maybe teach or tutor it, how is the market for that?

Money - From what I understand we have to prove that we have Can$14000+ in the bank before we can consider moving, does this take into account any loans or outstanding debts that we currently have or can we continue to pay these when/if we are successful?

We've seen 3 different jobs fairs in the UK and plan to attend all 3 of them in order to gain greater understanding of whyat the move entails and how we can best go about it.

Any help and opinion would be greatly welcomed!

Cheers,

Welcome to BE. Start by having a good read of the Wiki section. It's the fourth tab from the left on the blue bar above. It contains a mine of information and should answer most of your questions. When you have done that come back with some specific questions and someone will assist you. Good luck and good reading.

+1 to what Simon said. You need to start with the Wiki and get your head around the different work streams (There are over 50 ways to get PR) and see which ones you qualify for.

Whether it's visa first or job first depends on the stream you apply under, some streams require a job offer, others allow you to apply straight for PR.

Teaching - forget it. One of Canada's main problems is that there is a huge over-supply of teachers. If you find a route to go straight to PR then yes, teaching is an option, but it will be impossible for your wife to find a school board who will be successful in applying for an LMIA for her as there is no shortage of teachers in Canada.

So grab a cuppa and start reading through the wiki. Once you have some more specific questions you'll be able to get much better answers.

It can seem overwhelming at first, but stick through it, ask questions, and you'll be fine.

PS: Do a search on the forum for peoples' opinions of those job fairs, most tend to think they are a waste of time. One heads up if you do decide to attend: BEWARE of the immigration companies that go to those, one in particular whose name you will no doubt find if you do a search. They are quite salesy and pushy and make promises they can't keep, about getting you into Canada within months and then charging you ridiculous sums for the promises that they ultimately can't keep. Anything they can do you can do on your own - you'll find about 95% of people on here have done their own applications. When you start asking questions, if the experts on here think that your case is complicated or that you would benefit from an immigration consultant, then they won't hesitate to tell you to go find one. So if you do attend the fairs, do so with a clear head and your radar turned on.

Cheers folks,

I've had a glance through the Wiki's after posting this and will have a bit more of a look with the other half this weekend then and come back with a few more questions.

But based on what you've said so far, teaching french may not be the best route, would she be best retaining her solicitor quals and attempt to retrain for Canadian Law?

I have seen one Immigration firm, we'll keep our heads clear and see what the score is on that one!

Honestly I don't know enough about how law works in Canada to really say one way or the other. Not sure if there's a wiki article for solicitors or not, but that might be worth looking into. If solicitors are on any of the skilled lists then that might certainly be an option if your occupation is not. Part of your exercise will be determining your NOC codes to work out what skill level both your jobs are, as that will help narrow down the routes that would be open to you.

Good luck!

Cheers SchnookoLoloy, that's handy to know, seen the NOC code for solicitor for BC on the PNP program so worth a look!

With regards to the wiki, I've got the basic stuff, is there anywhere that would assist with the whole job/visa dilemma?

Unfortunately only you can answer that, as we don't know what NOC your job comes under. If you have an eligible NOC, you can apply for a visa without a job, but if not, you'd need a job offer first before you could apply for a visa.

So you need to figure out which comes first for you specifically, it's not a case of choosing it usually. It sounds to me as though one of you would need a job offer and LMIA to qualify for a visa, but do double check that.

As for money, you'd have to declare debts on the application form, but as long as you've got the required amount in your bank account, you'd qualify. Don't forget though that that is only the amount for setting up life in Canada (which is actually considered by most to be far too low), so you'd need to double or even triple it for the whole process.

And FWIW, I'd agree with the above about the job fairs, they're generally completely pointless unless you're in one of the occupations they're aimed at i.e. healthcare or engineering. If you'd need to spend money to get there or it's a long way away, don't bother.

HTH, good luck.

Thanks Christmasoompa, that gives clarity to the dilemma and I'll keep in mind what you've said about the NOC as well, I'll be honest, we're thinking in years and not months for the move so we're consolidating as much info as we can (while trying to avoid paralysis by analysis!)

Thanks for the money info too - so that's the bare minimum for life in Canada, that's really good to know and means that we won't aim for the the minimum but will aim higher with savings!

Thanks for the thoughts on the job fair too...I think that we're applying the same thinking to it as to when we got married, we went to the first wedding fair and were pretty overwhelmed but once we'd gotten through the first one we then had a clearer picture for the whole shebang!

Again, thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll be back in the future with many more questions but so far everyone has been really helpful and welcoming so cheers for that!