sushilover

Its been a while since I posted, but here I am again with an update. People have been very helpful here, particularly Christmas.

So we ended up hiring a company (not Brazalot!) to help us get our ITC transfer sorted. We pretty much have everything in place now, the final roadblock is having enough money in the business acc to evidence ability to support ourself in the first year (100,000 canadian). We are a little short at the moment and have been advised not to proceed until we have this, so its all hands on deck with the company.

It's been a long process, I am desperate to move on. I am under the impression once we have the visa we will be able to fly (if double vaccinated).

christmasoompa

I thought you were applying under the Self-Employed route? Why did you decide to do the ICT route out of interest?

sushilover

You've asked this before - I'm honestly not sure (my background is in lecturing, the whole business thing is my husband's thing).

I'm keen to know myself though, so I'll ask him and let you know!

christmasoompa

I'll be honest, it's a really odd choice if you had the self-employed route open to you, that would have got you PR rather than a temp visa with lots more restrictions! So just curious really.

sushilover

Husband isn't sure. It's driving me round the bend now so I've asked the immigration lawyers who are assisting why...

sushilover

ahhh, I see its taking up to 36 months for the SE route, that may be why we were put off when we first started the process...

sushilover

Heard back, according to the lawyers evidence of income needed to proceed professionally and personally is still required regardless - but the roughly 3 year wait is really off-putting. With the ITC, you can go for PR after one year as long as you prove yourself in the first year you are over, and the processing time is less. My plan personally though is to obtain employment in teaching/research, given my own background in academia.

christmasoompa

36 months if you're from a high risk country, reality is it wouldn't be that long for UK applicants with a straightforward SE history. The last person on the forum that went down that route took just over a year to get PR. And nowhere near $100k needed either (unless you're buying a business and hiring staff straight away so need to prove you can fund that).

It's just a much riskier route going on a temporary visa that's tied to the business, hopefully you'll make it work but it's not a secure way over. Different strokes for different folks though!

Remember that PR isn't automatic from an ICT work permit, so do check you will actually qualify! You'll still need to qualify under one of the normal routes for PR.

Siouxie

It sounds like you are being taken for a bit of a ride by your consultants (I hope they are approved).. ICT perhaps wasn't the ideal route for you - because you don't have a company already - he is self employed - you don't have a 'parent company in Canada' already, and could have come on that route without the need for extensive funds!

As explained it this thread - Query re consultant and moving a business to Canada
and this one
Obtaining a work visa whilst in Canada - possible?