Harters

Hi lucky expats...

We are a British family of 4. Me (49], the wife (44] and our two kids who are 3 and 8.
I've been a freelance SAP certified (IT) Security Architect for 23 years before taking a full time job with an American company....I can work from anywhere in the world so would still earn if I move.
My wife doesn't work as I earn £120k so can support everyone but she is a qualified chartered accountant.
We want to move to Calgary area as we all love skiing and are fed up with the UK.
None of us speak much French...enough to order dinner etc
we have no mortgage as we paid off the house some years back (circa £600k)
I've read some posts and not sure if we will be OK.

One kicker is that my parents want to come. They are 74 so retired, and also have a paid for £600k house plus a very healthy pension pot which they easily live off the interest alone. Probably their net wealth is circa £1.4m

Do you think we have any hope of the 6 of us buying and couple of properties near Calgary outright and being allowed to become permanent residents ?

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Your age certainly won't help, as you'll lose a big chunk of points unfortunately. Have you taken the eligibility test on the CIC website to see if you might qualify for a visa? Do that, and let us know what it says - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...nada-tool.html

Afraid there's no way of them going on your visa application so they'd need to find their own route, or wait until further down the line when you could sponsor them for PR. There's no retirement visa for Canada, and the investment visa was done away with quite a while ago (and it was a higher amount required anyway), so they may find it tricky - but again, get them to take the test above and see what it says.

Does it have to be Alberta?

Harters

Thank you for the fast reply....much appreciated!

I just took the test...its a little strange as it asks so much about how much work experience we have in Canada, how many Canadian education certificates we have, and of course I had to pretend we had taken the language tests and scored 12 on all sections.

At the end I got a reference number ... I'm not hopeful as I answered everything honestly but with no work experience in Canada, no family there, no Canadian education....we have only every worked and lived in the UK...we are educated to degree standard, / have professional qualifications, have never been unemployed, have zero debts and a $250k CAD income which would continue - I was obviously foolish to think that alone may be enough.....I hope the dream isn't over before it starts.

It doesn't need to be Alberta no, I just kind of like the houses there... I'm looking to cash buy (not mortgage) a property for around the $2m CAD mark and Alberta has some nice rural properties.... does the region make a difference in the application?

Harters

Update: Just read the results page in a little more detail...

"Based on your answers, you appear to be eligible for Express Entry"

Maybe we might be OK after all. :-)

christmasoompa

Not the region, no, but the province. For example, if Quebec was an option, they do have an investor program, no idea if you'd qualify or not but it could be worth exploring if you're open to other places - Immigration Québec - Investor Program

You wouldn't by any chance be planning on setting up a business when in Canada would you?

That's fab, but Express Entry is a 2 stage process. First you need to meet the criteria to apply and enter the Express Entry 'pool' of applicants, which it sounds as though you do. But then once in the pool only those scoring the highest are selected and invited to apply for Permanent Residency, so it's a two stage process. You'll need to be scoring above approx 460-470 as a rough guide on the CRS, to be in with a chance of being selected from the pool, you can check that here - https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigr...d/crs-tool.asp Canada is essentially looking for young, highly educated applicants, so this is where your age will be against you, but if you score enough in the other areas you may be ok.

HTH.

Harters

Once again thank you first the replies.
i wasn't intending to start a business immediately however we do run a small business here in the UK where we offer boarding for small pets where owners take a holiday so we could easily transfer that to Canada...does that nake us a better prospect? Or is it employing lots of Canadians that is appealing to the board?

I'll take the next test and advise...

bc2015

Your main problem is at 49 you get 0 points for age and the only way to make those points up is with Canadian experience or a Provincial nomination. Already having a job is actually a hindrance in this case.

Harters

Thanks...interesting....I'm wondering if talking to the Canadian immigration office in London directly may help?

I took the test. My score was 553. The only thing I'm not sure us that my job offer is actually my current job as I work from home and its for an American company...although I would be servicing our Canadian clients rather than our European clients I currently look after.

Last question is is it worth employing the services of a specialist lawyer to assist? I've read on here that its not needed and all they do if fill in the forms etc for you and so don't actually help your chances any more than doing it all yourself.

Oh and regarding setting up a business... What sort of criteria is relevant..for example is there a golden number for employing Canadians etc? Is there a sector in demand...

christmasoompa

You can't speak to them directly I'm afraid, they don't give advice. You'd need an immigration lawyer for that - or BE, which you've already found!

That seems very high even if you are including a job offer. Can you give us the breakdown of those points? As I don't think that can be right tbh with your age and no French etc. If it is right, then you're all good to go, and could have Permanent Residency by the middle of next year.

So for a job offer to count you need both a job offer, and a LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment). The LMIA is something your employer would have to pay for and apply for, to get it they have to prove that they've advertised the job across Canada and been unable to find a Canadian willing, or able, to do the job. Note too that only Canadian companies can apply for a LMIA, so if your employer is only US based and doesn't have a Canadian branch, that won't work.

I agree with that. It's all pretty simple tbh, most of it you'd have to do anyway in terms of paperwork gathering etc, and now you've found BE you can ask any questions and double check you're supplying what's required as well. Unless you have complicated circumstances (criminal record, medical issues etc), then I'd save your money.

The reason I asked about businesses is that there are various visa programs for that. Alberta doesn't have a business based stream of their Provincial Nominee Program (well it does, but only for farmers - also the reason I asked about which province(s) you'd consider), but others do. For example, in neighbouring BC, they have this stream - https://www.welcomebc.ca/Immigrate-t...ur-Immigration

There's also a Federal program, so you could live in Alberta if you qualify and get PR via this route - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...tart-visa.html

Essentially, if you have a business plan and would be hiring Canadians and investing in Canadian premises, there would be various routes you could look at, but a home based dog boarding with no employees wouldn't cut it I'm afraid.

If you can double check your points score and give us the breakdown, that will tell us if you qualify for the quickest/easiest route to Canadian PR. If not, then essentially you'd need to find a province that will accept you via their Provincial Nominee Program (either with a business, or with a job offer). Do you know your NOC code? I've no idea what a SAP Architect is tbh, but sounds like it may be IT/tech related, so that may open up another couple of options…………..

HTH.

Harters

Thank you HTH ...you are very kind to reply with so much detail.

my points came as follows:

education 112 (Degree or trade qualification)
language 128 (i put 12 for all categories for English)
spouse factors 38 (i think it should be 28 as she got 10 for Canadian work exp but she has none so I must have answered it wrong.
Skill Transfer (Language and education) 25
Foreign work exp 50
job offer 200 - as you say this now might not be valid now I understand more from your reply.

so its 353 plus the 200 for the job

My work is an SAP Security and Software architect. Yes, it's IT. SAP is the biggest business software in the world... All big companies use it...98 of the FTSE 100, for example, all use it. I've been in this work for 25 years servicing clients like Rolls Royce, Airbus, UK Government, Lockheed Martin, I design software applications for the company I work for.

As I have 10 acres here in the UK we also have registered ourselves as a smallholding as we keep goats and breed chickens... I'd love to scale that up so maybe the farming option is interesting though I doubt 50 acres would cut it in Canada.

I'm beginning to think we may need to look at New Zealand as it seems we are too old and too many things against us for Canada...shame as I've had my heart set on Canada for last 15 years...I just didn't realise the hurdles or I'd have done this years ago before age was such a factor

I thought by being completely financially secure, no debts, well-paid job, and the best part of $1.6m CAD in the bank (after selling my house here) for would mean we could just move over and start a new life.... silly me ha ha...

PhilippaKatex

Hi Harters, I am new to the whole immigration process, but I think if you are a bit confused like I was a couple of weeks ago, I can recommend that you speak to<snipped>. It was well worth the money. I did the CRS score calculator and got a low score and thought there was no hope, but after speaking to <snipped> in great detail, she assured me my score would be a lot better and also explored all the various ways other than Express Entry. Good Luck and I hope you get there.

All the best,
Philippa

christmasoompa

You're very welcome. HTH stands for 'Hope That Helps' by the way.

Ah, ok. The 200 points is only for certainly eligible NOC codes, all other jobs get 50 points for a job offer, but as you say, it doesn't sound as though your job offer would be valid anyway. Is that right though, you don't have a Canadian office/entity of your business? It would be much easier if you did, so do confirm if so.

Can you check your NOC code though? That's the vital bit for Canadian immigration. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...tion-code.html

I doubt your experience would qualify tbh, but you can check here - https://www.alberta.ca/ainp-self-emp...igibility.aspx

Afraid not, most people that emigrate to Canada are in a similar situation but have other things that make them needed in Canada. There are places you could 'just move over and start a new life', but even that window will close on the 31st December! The EU would certainly be much easier for you now though if you want to be able to just move without going through so much hassle. I've no idea on NZ and their requirements, or if they have an age limit like Oz does, but do ask on the NZ section of the forum and they'll be able to tell you if you have a chance.

I always think there's a way for 99% of people to move to Canada, there are over 50 visa routes. It's just a case of finding the one that suits, and you being prepared to jump through some hoops and maybe do something to get a visa you hadn't expected to have to do (i.e. get a job offer from a Canadian employer rather than moving over with your current job).

Do double check your score yourself though as well, no consultant can magic up points for you unfortunately! So do make sure she's scoring you accurately, you can check it yourself on the CIC website.

PhilippaKatex

Yes I double checked and she was correct. There is only so much information you can read online and digest and it gets very confusing, so speaking to a regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant was definitely good for me especially when there are other routes other than Express Entry. She had very good reviews from Moving2Canada and wasn't pushy into getting more money out of me and did tell me many people go on their own ways after chatting to her. My scores now rely on my IELT results and what WES come back with.

All the best,
Philippa

christmasoompa

Sounds good, if you've checked it yourself, sounds like she's one of the good guys. Hope you get the scores you need, as long as you're above approx 460 you should be ok and get an invite at some point.

Best of luck to you.

PhilippaKatex

Thank you, yes it seems that there are some rouges out there. Looking at 461 points hopefully! Will know more once all the results come back.