Leafy Glade

Dear all

My first post - please forgive any unintended transgressions.

I have read numerous threads and checked through the excellent resources on britishexpats.com. Few things I couldn't quite find answers to and would appreciate thine help with:

1. This forum stresses the need to have a job lined up before trying to immigrate to Canada. Is that really the case, much better though one's chances would be? Specifically, the Quebec immigration site merely asks for the correct points to be obtained.

2. If one were to apply for Quebec and be successful, could one land there, get the PR, and simply go to another Canada destination, or would one need to demonstrate that one tried for a reasonable period (a month?) to find a job in Quebec first?

3. What do you think are the chances for a 41 year old management consultant, ex-Big 4 employee, last few years contracting, top school MBA?

Moochoss grassy ass for votre assistance.

Leafy

BTJ

Provided you had intended to stay in Quebec when you landed then you could look to other provinces if it didn't work out, else you'd be committing fraud.

nerdherd

Have you had a look at the official Quebec immigration website? Sure you don't need a job to 'get in', however there are other criteria, such as education, age, language ability. Have a look at this: http://www.immigration-quebec.gouv.q...ers/index.html

Then you can try the online evaluation: http://www.immigration-quebec.gouv.q...rkers/epi.html

Why Quebec in particular? Have you been there, and do you speak any French? Although many people do live in Montreal and do not speak it, it would make your life easier if you have the basics, or at least are willing to learn.

Good luck

cinelight

1: don't know

2: yes; Canadian charter of rights, applies to citizens and landed immigrants

3: You'll need to get 'Canadian experience' (in my opinion doing things 3 time slower than in the U.K and with 1990's technology and work processes)

Leafy Glade

Thank you all for your replies - very helpful.

Why Quebec? Canadian govt. has suspended all points-based (federal skilled worker) applications until March 2013. Quebec hasn't.

Also, I have indeed checked the Quebec immigration website pages. I have the points and I meet their extra requirements (particular degrees and work experience). Canadian experience is not a requirement.

Any other comments welcome. Thanks again.

Leafy

JAJ

If you are Quebec-selected then you will probably need to sign (as part of your federal Canadian application) a declaration of intent to live in Quebec.

Also, it would be reasonable for Quebec to expect its selected migrants to have a demonstrated willingness and ability to settle in Quebec.

nerdherd

Yes, you sign a declaration that you understand the values of Quebec and that you intend to live there. This happens at QCS level though, not federal.

JAJ

You have to sign a federal declaration too. Schedule 5.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigra...pplication.asp

nerdherd

Fair enough - apologies, I'd forgotten about this one! You end up signing so many forms, it's all a bit of a blur once it's all done and dusted...

Leafy Glade

Thank you all again.

The declaration states:
"I declare that my family members and I intend to live in the Province of Quebec".

So, you could land in Quebec and make a concerted effort to find a job. Let's say a month goes by, or two months, and you still have no job. Would it not be reasonable at that point to move to another part of Canada where your chances of getting a job are better? You would be able to satisfy anyone that you intended to to live in Quebec but that it didn't work out, and so you moved to another location. N'est-ce pas?

When you first land in Quebec, you are given Permanent Residency and this enables you to live anywhere in Canada.

Please correct me if you think I'm wrong - I often am!

Leafy

BritishExpatriate

Oui, c'est exactement ca! Nobody is going to accuse you of mis-representation in my opinion, if you spent at least 3 months post-landing, properly looking for a job in Quebec but then failed.

But be aware that the Quebec immigration rules are constantly subject to change. For example, before June of this year, as long as you had enough points for Quebec you could apply, but now in addition to this requirement you need to fall under certain categories if you're applying in the Skilled worker class before March 31, 2013. These new requirements that each require you to in some way have an affiliation with Quebec, )E.g. by having a degree from Quebec or being on a working holiday in Quebec when you apply) simply did not exist before June.

Therefore, if it seems too good to be true, the answer is it's not and you really can apply if you have the intention of living in Quebec, and still retain the back-up option of going outside Quebec to find work if you can't find it in Quebec after a reasonable time spent trying to find work in Quebec. However, who's to know what the rules for applying after March 31st 2013 will be? I'm asking myself that very question.....

Although for me Quebec is the only place I'd want to live in in Canada and therefore I think I'd take a lower paid job or whatever and stay in Quebec rather than leave, if I couldn't find my ideal job there.....

Leafy Glade

Thank you.

Yes, on that link there is one criterion which is a hornet's nest of a paragraph, but it does allow for non-Quebec experience/education (last sentence):

You or your accompanying spouse hold a diploma awarded by a teaching institution in an area of training allowing you to get 6 (see list, in French, 38 kb), 12 or 16 points under the area of training criterion of the selection grid for skilled workers (see list, in French, 35 kb). The number of years of study required to obtain your diploma must be at least equal to the number of years required to obtain that diploma in Québec. This diploma was obtained less than five years before the date of your application. Failing that, you must have practised, on a full-time basis and for at least one year out of the five years preceding the date of your application, a profession or trade in an area related to that diploma.

I do take the point, however, that the rules can change at any time.

Thanks.

BritishExpatriate

Hi, yes you're correct in pointing out that not all of the new circumstances, one of which one needs to be in, in order to submit an application, require your to have an affiliation to Quebec as such.

Though I wasn't suggesting that you wouldn't be eligible to apply. Rather I was suggesting that the recent addition of these new requirements could be an indication that Quebec is trying to clamp down on people using the Quebec route to permanent residency who have no intention of settling in Quebec. (Of course, I'm not suggesting you have no intention of settling in Quebec, but it's just that the rules may change such that people who don't completely want to live in Quebec would lose the option of moving to another province between PR and citizenship.) As others have pointed out, there is a right contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, allowing those with permanent resident status to change provinces freely. Because this is human right under Canadian law, it presents a difficulty to the Quebec government who would otherwise no doubt pass a law whereby if you become a PR in Quebec then you have to stay in Quebec until you're a Canadian citizen. I don't think the Quebec government stands much of a chance of imposing this condition to PR in Quebec as it would be very difficult for them to legally bypass or change the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, kind of in the same way that American laws can not breach the US Constitution and it extremely difficult for them to change the Constitution.
What's happening to the federal PR route may cause an influx of application to Quebec this year. Therefore, my only advice would be that if you intend to apply for PR through Quebec and are eligible, it's a good idea to do it now while you're eligible as they are hot on the case of people who may in the future decide to live in a province other than the one their PR route took them through, as this operational bulletin illustrates. (A Quebec skilled worker applicant is still considered a to be a provincial nominee, it's just that because the Quebec system is so popular it is often informally put in it's own category aside from the other provincial nominee programs)

Good luck!

britsnake

Quebec is a special case as it is more than just a provincial nomination. Quebec has the right to select it's own immigrants and is in a class of it's own, though it is often informally considered as a provincial nomination program.

Quebec is a distinct society within canada, it has many unique values the first and most important of which is that you must be able to speak french.

You could have points in every other area, but if your french is not good enough they can choose to turn you down.

BritishExpatriate

I do stand corrected!

They can but I think it is still possible to be accepted with no French whatsoever if you have a particularly high number of points elsewhere / are performing a high demand profession.

Though generally speaking, French is definitely advantageous when applying through the Quebec system!