Understanding Visas/WP Options and Route to PR
 

Hello.

I am new to the forum and would like to hear from others from the UK that have went through the process of emigrating to Canada.



I have considered this for the best part of the last decade but have held off on taking action while obtaining my University degree in recent years. Since graduation, I have focused on reaching a level of experience in my field and saving up enough to manage the cost of emigrating.



In November 2021, shortly after graduation, I was granted a working holiday visa through IEC. After speaking to an immigration lawyer in Canada, this was suggested as the best route to PR as my current profile scoring sits just below the threshold. However, the timing was not ideal due to receiving a good job offer in Scotland at the time where I needed the experience. I was also unsure of the type of roles that would be available to me on this visa or that I could sustain living without savings.



What I’m unsure of now is if there are other routes - any kind of temporary work permit/visa situations. I know that PR takes some time to process and no employer would wait for this to conclude during the hiring process. PR seems to be impossible without a job offer to support it, so that process doesn’t really add up without any kind of intermediate step to bridge that gap. Would an employer be able to ‘sponsor’ you with some kind of work permit based on a positive Labour Market Assessment?



Alternatively, I can re-apply for a working holiday visa and find a lesser role than my current one with the savings I have to supplement living. Given it seems employers would be less willing to offer a permanent role to someone on a 2 year visa, I’m unsure what my options are there.



As for my background:

• I turn 30 in late October
• Have a degree in Marketing from a UK University
• 20 months experience since graduation in HR Tech/Marketing
• 4 years experience in non-degree qualified engineering roles - office based technical experience in Oil & Gas/Civil Eng.
• Other certificate qualifications - Computer Aided Design, Business, Marketing.
• Current CRS scoring - 474 (if I were to complete IELTS)

I hope this post provides enough information but if you have any questions that I can answer to better inform your advice, I would be glad to do so. Thanks for any/all help!

Re: Understanding Visas/WP Options and Route to PR
 

someone will be along shortly with much more in depth answers mate, but from what you’ve said you’ve got a few years of skilled experience and a degree, you’d be in with a good chance.

have you looked at provincial nomination programs yet? If you’re accepted into one it’s an additional 600 CRS points and practically guarantees and ITA.

good luck!

Re: Understanding Visas/WP Options and Route to PR
 

Hi, and welcome to BE.

The 'sponsorship' bit would be the LMIA - you apply for the work permit yourself, but the employer must apply for the LMIA. But that obviously requires a job offer first too. PR isn't impossible without a job offer to support it, but it does depend on your points score. 474 is actually pretty good and at that level I'd recommend you apply asap and get yourself in the pool of applicants as you're only just below the current points level, particularly as you'll lose points in October once you turn 30.

Plenty of employers offer a permanent role to those on IEC's, you just tell them you'll apply for PR asap. Not sure why you think it would need to be a 'lesser role' either? Plenty of people use IEC for part-time roles whilst travelling, but there are also lots that use them for 'normal' jobs. It's an open work permit so you can do anything on it.

However, you say you were previously 'granted' a working holiday visa - exactly what stage were you at? Did you go to Canada and get your visa? Or did you just get a POE letter? You can't participate a second time if you got a work permit and didn't use it.

Last thing I would ask is what exactly is your NOC code? No idea what HR tech is! But would it come under one of the new FSW categories announced a week ago perhaps?

Re: Understanding Visas/WP Options and Route to PR
 

With PR - my immigration lawyer said that 500+ would be required, although that was the estimated threshold in late 2021. They obviously didn’t go into detail with that as they charged a different rate for advice on PR versus initial consultation. They certainly seemed convinced that routes to PR were fairly limited, so reassuring that this is not the case. For LMA - what visa would I be applying for after a positive LMA and is it really that simple? I’d like to know more about both the process of LMA/visa in that case and route to PR beyond that (how points are scored, timeframes etc.)

Again, immigration lawyer’s advice may have been wrong on IECs - was told it’s highly unlikely an employer would offer something more permanent and I’d be looking around for contract work or part-time work. Which is fine, as I’m happy to compromise. But ideally I can sustain myself and continue my career.

I was given the POE letter - didn’t travel to Canada to obtain/activate the Working Holiday visa. I was set to head over and do just that but received a job offer here in Scotland the following week. Is it possible to reapply for a Working Holiday in this case? Seems a viable option and a quick way of telling employers I’m ready to work.

HR Tech is just the sector I work in. It’s more Marketing focused. The NOC code would be 11202, I think but wouldn’t fall under the categories announced recently? Would your advice on any of the above change based on the NOC or do you think I could proceed with LMA/Working Holiday/PR?

Thank you very much for your input.

Re: Understanding Visas/WP Options and Route to PR
 

Would be interested to hear more about the provincial nomination programs! Im unsure if that would pertain to my current situation - seemed more specific to high demand industries but I could be completely wrong on that.

thanks for your feedback, mate. Much appreciated.

Re: Understanding Visas/WP Options and Route to PR
 

There are over 50 routes to PR, I wouldn't call that limited myself. You can easily check the points levels yourself (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...ry-rounds.html), as you can see it's been down to 481 recently, so if you're really scoring 474 you're not far off that at all, and definitely worth getting yourself in the pool IMO.

LMIA. You'd apply for a temporary work permit. It's not a simple route by any means though, to get the LMIA you need a sponsoring employer happy to pay $1000 for the LMIA and happy to wait several months for you to start work. To get the LMIA, they need to prove that they've advertised the job across Canada and been unable to find a Canadian willing, or able, to do the job. Frankly, if you do have the option of the IEC open to you, I can't think why you'd even consider a LMIA/TWP.

Sounds like the lawyer just wanted your cash tbh. That's definitely wrong - just have a look around the forum and see how many people have got full-time skilled jobs on IEC's and then got PR.

OK, that's good. Up until recently you'd have been scuppered as that would have counted as your one participation, but they changed the rules last year and now it only counts if you actually went to activate it and get the work permit. So you can reapply.

You're right, that wouldn't come under any of the anticipated targeted draws. So IEC then PR once you've got your points up a bit would be your best bet.

All provinces have streams for those with jobs offers or already working in the province (doesn't need to be in demand), but also some have streams for those without job offers. You'd need to look at each province's PNP website for more info on all of the options. But again, if you've got IEC as an option then that's the route I'd go down.

HTH, good luck.