NeilnCat

Hi All,
I've got a job offer in BC. Is it better for me to emigrate from Scotland under BC's Provincial Nominee Program or just to go dowm the skilled workers route alone? My fiancee (getting married in 2 months) will be looking for work in the financial investments market in Vancouver as well.
From what I can gather it looks like the application is fast-tracked if applying under the PNP jointly with my prospective employer.
Any info to clarify this would be greatly appreciated.

nikki dreaming

Hi,

In view of the current process changes going through with the SW route, I believe if you have a job offer in the province that you are happy to move to the PNP route is certainly more favourable at the moment, in terms of speed and understanding the requirements etc.

Good luck with your plans

pinkmcfarquhar

Yup - if you qualify for PNP with your job offer it is a lot quicker. We came over on Newfoundland PNP, and the process took about 8 months from application to work permit, but i have a feeling that bc is quicker. there's a thread called pnp timeline somewhere, that should give you more information.

lof

if your job is eligible for bcpnp and your prospective employer is willing to sponsor you (some are afraid of the involved paperwork...) i would say the pnp route is the best way to go. bcpnp might run low of places though at this time of the year (provinces have only a certain number of nominations they can issue per year).
and fast tracking depends on the visa post. if you apply to london your file will probably be fast tracked whereas buffalo (the other choice for people who are already in canada) officially doesn't fasttrack at all.

i guess you are aware that pnp is a two step process and there are different ways to get to your destination? some are given from the stream you are applying in (semi-skilled workers need to legally work - in other words on a wp - for their employer for 9 months before they are eligible for bcpnp, whereas skilled workers can - but don't need to - stay abroad while their files are processed and land directly as pr...


if you haven't found it yet, on top of the canada sub-forum you find a blue bar with links to the wiki - a true mine of information and worth a good and thorough read. of special interest to you (although not the only interesting ones ):
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Quick_...an_Immigration
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Provin...Program-Canada

you find the official site of bcpnp here: http://www.ecdev.gov.bc.ca/ProgramsA.../PNP/index.htm

oh, and that is the pnp-timeline-thread pinkmcfarquhar mentioned - there are quite a few of us bcpnps in there.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465947

and last but not least: the search function here is quite good as well and turns out tons of related threads.


hopefully that covers most of your questions... good luck!

NeilnCat

Thanks lof, Looks like I've a load of reading ahead of me this weekend.

the_tones_guy

If you can, get an immigration consultant, they don't charge the Earth (if you pick a good one, PM me if you want a great contact) and they take ALL the pain out of the process and when they submit everything, you know it's done and correctly, cut's out endless reading and tying yourself in knots with Government speak.

PNP is V fast too and PinkMc said, you just have to tick a few boxes and you're in the system.

Additionally, employers really should not be scared of the paperwork they have to do, it's minimal, it really is. Just a process.

Mim_Pangers

We had PNP with Edmonton and it was quick. We didn't use a consultant. Just researched and did it ourselves.
Luckily no major problems.
Good luck!

lof

i personally think, if your personal circumstances are not complicated (complications could be past divorces - and children out of those previous marriages, criminal offence, having dated a terrorist and the like), if you are not afraid of filling in forms, and have some time at your hands to do it as perfect as possible, it is quite straightforward to apply for bcpnp and pr on diy. it's you who has to do the leg work (= getting a job offer in the first place and gathering all the required papers to proof your past - and that is the main pain for many people) anyway - and who knows your circumstances best?

i agree though that a really good consultant will spot small errors and contradictions in your application (you tend to overlook stuff like that if you wrote it yourself, proofreading is recommended in any case) and knows how to present the facts that your application process won't be delayed unnecessarily because of those small things. judging from his posts in this forum andrew miller, based in vancouver, would fall into this category of immigration professionals, imo.

otoh, there are cic-approved immigration consultants and cic-approved immigration consultants...
ask live-to-ski about presumably good immigration consultants helping with the whole bcpnp-process... her consultant was paid by the employer but messed up quite a bit, iirc - l2s ended up doing the whole thing herself...



i was merely pointing out that employers can be reluctant to go through the pnp process. thinking a bit more about that... they might have had bad experiences in the past or heard of a fellow businessmen who were taken for a ride by an immigrant? and reading through some of these canadian immigration forums: there are people out there who are just looking for an easy and fast way "in" and intend / are willing to "dump" their sponsoring employer as soon as there is another opportunity. the risk of getting a rotten egg is always existent, it's only a matter of the employer's willingness / ability to assess that risk realistically.

but getting back to my originally mentioned reason for reluctance:
some employer's fear of paperwork is reality, the_tones_guy. specially in small companies. it absolutely doesn't matter that that special paperwork isn't that much of a deal.
well, speaking of "big deal"... i don't know about other provinces but bcpnp expects quite a bit of information about the company, specially if it's the first application. information which you want to present in the best possible form, since you'd like to be successful, right? well, and for the average joe doing something as perfect as possible is not a two minute job ... the whole process is quite a bit easier if you want to sponsor another prospective employee as a nominee though.

i was the first pnp in our company (we have a total of 10 employees) and did need all my persistence to get my boss through the whole paperwork, even though i agree that my own share of "work" was quite a bit bigger then theirs. it wasn't that they were reluctant to keep me as an employee though . it seemed easier for my "successor", the new co-worker who came here as a bcpnp as well. not only in regard of our employer's willingness to go through a now familiar process but also because bcpnp has already a file about our company - and they only asked for updates and the employee related stuff, not the whole package again.
hm, might be a bit like being the oldest offspring in a family - sometimes you have to plow ways for your siblings...

i don't know about bigger companies, but i have heard stories about hr-departements insisting that they wouldn't sponsor prospective immigrants. no exemptions under whatever circumstances... you have to be pr by the time you sign at the x, bottom line.
not that i approve of this view but i'm sure this scenario exists as well.


as mentioned before, this is just my personal opinion.

the_tones_guy

Also as you mentioned, PNP's are probably different per province you apply. I guess that if you ask 10 people what they would do, you'll get 10 answers, I think you hit the nail on the head 'if you have time on your hands'.

Either way, just do get it done, I am happy to be here in Newfoundland, with minimal work and utilising my time doing the things I have emigrate for and I urge anyone thinking about it to actually do it, this is the best thing we ever done in our lives.

pinkmcfarquhar

I would have to say it just boils down to how comfortable you are with doing paperwork, etc. We did it all ourselves (well I did it!) and didn't find it too bad - just the gathering of all the information which is quite difficult - i.e. all your addresses since 18 and personal history since 18 including all jobs etc. It is time consuming. If you are not happy/comfortable with it, might be an idea just to have the support of a consultant. Also probably depends on the province - here in Newfoundland the PNP office are amazing and always willing to help when you phone up with stupid questions! also, because it is a relatively small office, they tend to know who you are.

One recommendation though - keep a folder with EVERYTHING in it, and keep COPIES of everything you send to CIC. We just got our medical requests in and along with it requests for updates on half our forms - if i didn't have copies of them all it would be back to square one and trying to remember all my addresses/jobs again