Biiiiink

Quick Guide to Canadian Immigration

First, ask yourself if you would be able to get into Canada by:

• Claiming Canadian citizenship (through a Canadian parent, for example);
• Getting your Canadian spouse or adult child to sponsor you;
• Starting a business that will employ Canadians; or
• Being a British citizen who is between the ages of 18 and 30 and who can get into Canada on a 12-month working holiday visa through BUNAC.

If you don't belong to one of the above mentioned categories, almost your only hope of getting into Canada within the next quarter of a century is to secure pre-arranged employment.

• Not just any job offer will do.
• It has to be a job that no qualified Canadian resident wants.
• The rough definition of a job that no qualified Canadian resident wants is a job that has been advertised across Canada for three months and for which no qualified Canadian resident has applied.

To find out which occupations are in demand in Canada, and the regions in which they are in demand, read the BE Wiki article called Labour Shortages.


Once you've secured a job offer, the two most feasible ways to proceed are:

• Apply for a temporary work permit, which you later can upgrade to a permanent residence visa if you get a permanent job offer.
• Apply to one of the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), a process that culminates in a permanent residence visa.

Because securing a job offer is so critical to your chances of entering Canada, it is highly recommended that you read all the articles in the BE Wiki section called Job Hunting in Canada.


One path to Canada that is not dependent on a job offer, and that may suit some applicants, is the Nova Scotia Community Identified Stream.


A new application category, called the Canadian Experience Class, is going to be introduced in the autumn of 2008.


There frequently are new threads on the Canada forum in which new posters ask questions about the points they've scored on Citizenship and Immigration Canada's self-assessment test.

• There was a time when points counted for something.
• For all practical purposes, that time has come and gone.
• Points are relevant only when you apply for a permanent residence visa via the skilled worker route.
• During 2006 and 2007, the waiting times for skilled worker visas without pre-arranged employment had grown to 5 - 8 years (depending on the visa posts to which applications had been submitted).
• As the result of legislation tabled on March 14, 2008, it is anticipated that processing times for skilled worker visa applications without pre-arranged employment will grow even longer.
• Estimates are that a skilled worker application without pre-arranged employment no longer will be a practical route to Canada.

There is a lot more information in the Canada section of the BE Wiki.


--
Thanks to Judy in Calgary for this guide.

LookingGlass

This is a GREAT article. Thanks. I had actually been thinking Canada was an "open" country, not like China or Russia, and a realistic prospect for living in! Your article has sure saved me a lot of work!! However, your article should be titled: "Canada closed to immigration". FIVE YEARS for an application when it is YOUR OWN PARENTS who want you to live with them!!! Let's hope no one gets a call from an incapacitated parent. If so be prepared to your some quick goodbyes, drop off some cash and leave them to get on with it. TEN YEARS UNDERWRITTEN GUARANTEE OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT. That's just taking the p***s. I vote Europe should ban Canadian citizens from entry unless they either have a nett worth of over $10 million, pay 50% entry tax on it, or are over 60 and accompanied by both grandparents! I guess they let you out if you want???

bazzz

Thanks for that. Doesn't really add to the purpose of this sticky thread though does it? Perhaps Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink could split this off to its own thread.

LookingGlass

I thought "Ooops! He's right, I must apologise", but then . . . actually my post does add to it! IF it is "correct" then it starkly summarises the article if NOT then clarification is in order. I added that (if the article is correct) the Canadian Government (through it's websites and generally) is really taking the p***s!! And I am serious, I thought Britain (and therefore the EC) has a "special" reciprocal relationship with Commonwealth countries regarding migration. If so then that should be re-considered in the case of Canada. Of course it won't be because nations and citizens have as much in common as cleaners and Sodhexo! Apologies for the casual and irritable tone of all this but as I say I had thought immigration to Canada was an option. (Also and BTW apologies for the "Quick Reply" thingy including ALL the original article - all I can say is I couldn't see it coming and when I posted last night it wasn't there! :confused: )

Judy in Calgary

You were mistaken. But I'm glad that the article has disabused you of the idea -- not glad if the facts have disappointed you, but glad that you have found out sooner rather than later.
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LookingGlass

Thanks Judy. But I have met people who are emigrating to Canada now and they seem to have done it through the points system . . curiouser and curiouser. Maybe it worked until recently Also I've met people who've made the jump in less than 6 months. I guess they were in demand. Mmmm. I never got a reply from the High Commission (nothing odd there).

ravalak

Thank you - helps a lot.

deanonlisa

Hi, I applied for my PR October 2006 via the new partial application and because of the long wait i decided to come here on a work permit. I started work here in March and informed CIC of my change of circumstances and asked what i needed to do to get my PR. I didn't get a reply. I also sent a letter over a month ago enclosing my job offer and work permit but again no reply. This is really frustrating as I feel like I am waisting time waiting to be told what to do and delaying my permanent residancy.

Does anyone know what i need to do?

deanonlisa

ooops i have just read above and think my answer is already there

Charliekilo

A "reciprocal relationship" would be nice - however as a Canadian on a work permit in the UK, I can tell you that I get no special treatment because I'm a citizen of a Commonwealth country. I have fewer rights than a citizen from an EU country that has been at war with Britian for most of recorded history! As for taking the p***s, the Home Office has that market cornered, believe me! They've soaked so much money out of my company, it's ridiculous. That's why my British husband and I can hardly wait to get out of here and over to Canada.

dgpondhoppper

You are right about the lack of a reciprical agreement, My CAN wife moved to the UK with me (GB citizen ) when we married, we did everything right and correctly but when the home office screwed up by not knowing the rules my wife was threatened with jail, fines and deportation which took several long weeks before the issue was resolved. they kept her CAN passport and sent several letters telling her to " go home" even suggesting that they would arrange a help with the flight.

Her crime was that the home office opened her application too late after it had been sent well within the time allowed.

all the above is now resolved....

Good old UK, our people are wonderful!!!

Ibraheem

I think the article missed the point that skilled worker category will be brought to life again soon, people with certain occupations will be able to immigrate quickly even without job offers, we're only waiting for the instructions to be published

Judy in Calgary

The article states:
If you can think of a way of stating it more clearly, by all means go into the article and edit it. A Wiki is intended to be a collaborative effort. The more people who contribute to it, the merrier.

Edited to add this.

Ibraheem, I see you are right. I'm sorry, I was getting confused between the Wiki article called Quick Guide to Canadian Immigration and the first post in this thread. The original post of this thread has indeed been superseded by legislative changes.

For that reason it may be inappropriate for this thread to be a sticky thread at this point.

I will send a message to the Moderators and ask them to un-sticky it or whatever they deem appropriate.

And thank you, Ibraheem, for alerting the readers of the forum to the erroneous information.
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