to use an agent or not to use an agent?
 

hi all, me again. we are looking at skilled worker migration, but on a tight budget. we have a migration expert emailing us through one of the web sites i have put dh's resume on. ( wont name them here cos im not sure im allowed) basically can you do it yourself or is it better to get the paperwork done by a professional?
also we will need a job firstly to get the visa ( one point short without a job unless dh learns french) and will need money to live as we will have to leave our house here, there is no way we can sell it at the moment and get back enough to pay the mortgage and loan off, so we will keep it and rent it out ( have checked mortgage conditions on that and will get insurance, and monthly money will pay mortgage) so what we earnm in canada is to spend in canada,
general advice please, we have read a heap of the wiki articals but new to this and wondering what it is i dont know yet?
also blokey said BC is a better prospect for building trades? dh is a crane driver.

Re: to use an agent or not to use an agent?
 

Hi TJ,

I'm slightly concerned about this 'migration agent' you've mentioned for a few reasons. Firstly, is he a licensed member of CSIC? If not, then forget him as he can't represent you to CIC anyway.

Secondly, if he's proposing to charge you anything for job hunting (which I suspect he may do if he's found you via a job site) then that's illegal.

You can easily do the paperwork yourself (even if you used a consultant you'd have to collect all the info yourself anyway), but if you do decide you want to be extra sure and get help with completing it all, make sure that whoever you use is a member of CSIC.

But, are you sure that the Skilled Worker route is going to be the best for you? Will a potential employer be willing to wait a year for your OH to get out there and start work? I don't know how in demand his trade is, so am not sure if that's likely but only you will be able to tell that.

I don't know about BC being a better prospect for building trades, I know that the recession has hit the building trade very badly in Canada with an awful lot of redundancies. I'd research things quite carefully before deciding to go out there personally.

And finally, just had to add that you mention you are on a 'tight budget' but have you researched the cost of immigration? It's costing us in the region of £25,000 just to move out there, and if we decide to apply as a Skilled Worker then we'll also have to find the extra proof of funds (about £10k for the four of us). Plus the few months rent, buying cars, etc, etc - it all adds up!!

Anyway, hope that helps a bit, best of luck and shout with any more questions.

:)

Re: to use an agent or not to use an agent?
 

Hi

You can do it yourself quite easily. If you hire an immigration consultant, you will still have to provide them with all the info which YOU will have to gather. I would just methodically work through the application and info gathering process yourself and save yourself some money.

We did it ourselves. There is a lot of info on here about immigration consultants and many have experienced problems and even greater uncertainty....also been much lighter in the pocket.....so I would take the responsibility yourselves unless you have a complicated case. A lot of Consultants will give you free advice up to a point. Then there is the vast well of support on this site if you are unsure of anything.....ask on here....someone will have been there and done that and will gladly advise you.
Good luck with your application
lol
Stef and Lins

Re: to use an agent or not to use an agent?
 

We've decided to go it alone.

As has been said before, even though you have hired a consultant, you are the one that does the leg work anyway.

We were in contact with an immigration lawyer, who told us the east was the best place for building work, well for my husbands trade anyway.

Your hubbies trade is on the list, so that should help, but being short of points - you probably will need to secure a job first.

here's the list

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/THE_LIST-Canada

Best thing for you to do is look up the Canadian yellow pages

www.yellowpages.ca/

the job bank

www.jobbank.gc.ca/

and this one

http://www.tradesinfo.ca/

phone, post resumes and email them, I've been told persistence is the key. We've spent weeks contacting companies and we've been lucky enough to find one willing to hire my hubby, only problem is the company has never hired from out with Canada and were having to research from both sides now.

Once you get the job offer you need your employer to send off for a labour market opinion, you need the job offer letter and LMO certificate to put in with your application and you might find going over on a temporary work permit, then applying for PR once your there will be a better route for you.

I found this web-site page useful yesterday

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplace...rs/index.shtml

Re: to use an agent or not to use an agent?
 

To be honest, I find it quite strange why some people will use a consultant for something as simple as filling a form with information you own and have. If you are applying as a skilled worker, my assumption based on the skilled worker criteria is that one has at least a High school education and 1 year work experience.

In my opinion, you do not need a consultant because there are guidelines of how to fill the forms and what documents to provide. It is just a waste of money, time and also increases stress because you will be creating unnecessary layers of communication (i.e. CHC --- Consultant --- YOU).

From experience shared by some people here and on other forums, some consultants will not send your mails from CHC promptly. This does cause unnecessary worries. And ofcourse we have cases of sharp practices from so called consultants.

To summise, you can do it yourself and it gives that warm fuzzy feeling that your destiny is in you own hand rather than abdicating it to some unknown person that you may probably be more knowledgeable than.

Save your money, your time and cut out unnecessary stress. Good luck.

Re: to use an agent or not to use an agent?
 

Go it alone.

When you successfully secure a job over there with the right criteria met to secure a work permit or federal skilled worker status apply yourself.

If anything complicated pops up research and find out a well referenced Immigration Lawyer- not an agent or consultant but proper lawyer.

If you ask questions on this site and also use the CIC site you will have a great chance of getting through.

Your biggest challenge is securing the job and only you can do that.