moominsmum

Hi, We appear to have thrown Canada back in the thinking pot!

We have read up lots on PR visas for Canada, but have a few questions we can't find an answer for;

How long approximately does a skilled PR visa take to process? (we have seen the timescale tables but have seen people who have taken in excess of 6yrs! Not sure if that is down to where they applied from, but it's slightly concerning)

Once your visa has been granted, how long do you have before you have to land?

If, when you applied you did not have a job offer therefore requiring settlement funds, but after being granted your visa you then get a job offer before landing, do you still have to have the settlement funds in order to land?

Husband is a Registered Nurse - Mental Health & we know only certain Provences accept them. Problem is that Internation recruitment seems to be very difficult with Canada at the mo.

Thank you in advance for your help

helcat12

The long processing time in years is for applications before the new rules last year.
There are no up to date figures for FSW processing since the application rules changed in June 2010, but London has a big backlog and I have not heard of any one applying post June 26th rules receiving their Visa since then yet, except applicants from Pakistan who are also using London as their VO at the moment.
If it is any help, our FSW Cat 2 has been with CIO since 7th September, so 9 months and counting and we are at London but no meds requested yet. Some other UK London Cat 1 applicants have received their med requests but are waiting weeks for their results to be looked at, mainly again due to London being the processing centre for so many other countries I think.
You have one year to activate your visa from the date of your medicals, I believe.
If you apply under Cat 1 they will want to see your proof of funds when you apply and when you enter Canada. For Cat 2, Proof of Funds is not required at all.
Hope this helps.

james.mc

Nice response Helcat

Going Kamping

Now I'm not very good at the quoting so hope this works!!

If you can get your husband a job and then get nominated by a province it should be much quicker. We are looking at a 6 month time frame for PNP and have come out already on TWP's.

Good luck

christmasoompa

6 months would be incredibly quick, 9-12 months is more normal, so it's on a par with Skilled Worker. Plus of course, if the OP does a Skilled Worker application then they don't require a job offer first.

Going Kamping

That's true. It was just a suggestion. It's what has worked for us, so might work for others.

moominsmum

Thank you Helcat12 for all the great info. We'll have a check through the two categories. Working out our timing seems to be the hardest thing. Hubby would pass cat 1 no problems, except the funds part, we would have to save first and in the current UK climate it's kinda hard!

Going Kamping, exactly what are your circs? How have you gone about finding an employer which will do the TWP & sponsoring thing? We found most places seem to have shut the door on this.

Thanks loads everyone.

Going Kamping

We've been really lucky. We came out to Canada last May looking for work and found a job on the second day! They had no issue with doing all the paperwork as they really wanted my partner and everything went really smoothly. Everything has been submitted and we moved to Nova Scotia in April of this year - on TWP whilst waiting for PR.

I don't know how it all happened so easily, I'm just assuming it was meant to be and I'm thankful that it went as it did. I know not everyone is as lucky, but I have my fingers crossed that you will be.

I also know others that are going the PNP route and certainly in Nova Scotia the immigration people are lovely and very helpful.

moominsmum

Hubby is a Mental Health trained nurse. We can only go to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba.

How did you go about locating a job?

We're trying to work out our plans & it's always more complicated when you have to consider kids! Hubby doesn't want to go out job hunting on his own, so we'd all have to go. I know they are really short of nurses, but trying to get any kind of communication going from outside the coutry seems extremely difficult.

So pleased your plans have all worked out!

Going Kamping

We took a 6 week trip with our then 5 year old son. We had Canadianised my other half's CV and had a list of places we wanted to contact/visit. You should all go if you can as it will give you a feel for how you will like areas.

Canadian's like to talk face to face - it's the best way to try to find work. As you say, they're not really interested if you don't meet with them. It's all about talking to people and making connections.

BC can be expensive - I have a friend there. The other places you mention have more extremes in temperature so can be harder to live and long distances between places. We went for Nova Scotia as it has a more temperate climate and east is cheaper than west.

Anything you want to know, just get in touch. I'm happy to help if I can

kellywalsh22

Hiya - Sorry this may be a really stupid question but how do i know what cat i am on - been looking all over - we applied FSW Plumber being 7251 xx

Thank you

Kelly

PMM

Hi

1. If you applied without a job offer to CIO Sydney, then you are FSW1, If you had an Approved Employment Opinion from Service Canada, that you included with your application, or a letter from an employer that you working for in Canada that says they will employ you when you receive PR FSW2.

christmasoompa

I'm confused, why is your husband talking about job hunting now? If he hasn't even applied for PR yet then he's around a year away from being able to work anyway, so surely it's better to wait until nearer the time before he goes over and tries to find work? Or am I missing something?

christmasoompa

As PMM said, you are category 1. But obviously you had to show proof of funds when you applied anyway, so that will have told you that it's required.

Going Kamping

If he can get himself a job then then they could all come over on TWP. If he can also get PNP then that is a quicker route and can work here whilst PR is being processed.