What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Hi

Apologise in advance if this has already been answered but I tried to look for a previous forum but couldn’t find one that answered what I needed.

I am 31 years old, from Scotland and would like to come to Canada this year to work and to try and make a better life for myself and to hopefully gain residency if I like it over there. As I am 31 now apparently I can’t qualify for a working holiday visa as 30 is the cut off age, is this correct? When looking for answers all I can come across is that I would have to do a university course (minimum 1 year) if I want to come to Canada at my age as my previous job skills don’t give me enough points. Is there anything else anyone can suggest for me to do? It’s so hard finding the right answers and what to do next. TIA

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Hi, welcome to BE.

What education and work experience do you have? Did you have a particular province in mind you wanted to move to? Is it just you or do you have a partner/spouse you’d be moving with? I assume it’s just you from what you’ve said but just checking….

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Hi

Thank you for replying :).

for the last 3 years I’ve worked for Royal Mail in the postal service, previous to that I was an office supervisor for an oil company and before that I was a commercial administrator for the quarrying industry so I don’t think I qualify for any skills Canada is looking for unfortunately.
I would be coming myself and I do have a lot of money behind so I can support myself no problem. After hearing back from MDC yesterday apparently the only way in is for me to work and study full time for my first year. Would this be my only option do you know? And also can tuition not be costly in Canada? I was very good at French in high school so maybe doing a further French course in the uk would gain me more points for entry? Time is against me and every year I’ll loose more points for getting older wouldn’t I?

My parents have old friends in Alberta so I’m thinking there, what’s your thoughts?

thank you for your time.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Yes, for the UK it is 30 and in Ireland (EU) and some other countries it's 35.
https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpce...num=923&top=25

Just a thought and if you have a lot of money behind you, maybe you aren't doing that bad at all? Your money will go a lot further in Scotland, so why not gain the skills back home.
Then you can go down the skill based route and will have more opportunities in Canada.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

No idea who MDC are, but I disagree with them. Studying should be a last resort, you'd need a heck of a lot of money behind you and there's no guarantee you'll be able to stay either. A study permit would be the last visa I'd consider personally, I'd at least try job hunting first if you don't qualify any other way. Canada isn't looking for any specific skills (yet - that's predicted to change this year), eligibility is purely points based for the main visas.

You mention your points score, what is it currently? What's your highest education level? The oil & quarrying companies you worked for previously, do they have any Canadian offices by any chance?

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

I only scored 37 :(

do I not need a visa before I can start job hunting? And no I don’t think so, quarry company have an American base but that’s all.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

OK, so this is the FSW points score you're referring to? That's crazy low, I don't think that can be right. Just for your age and speaking fluent English you'd get 40 points, even before points for education or work experience. So your calculations are going wrong somewhere, have another look - https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...d-workers.html

And no, no visa required for job hunting, you can go over a visitor and do it. You just can't work without a visa allowing you to do so, but job hunting is fine.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

I scored 20 for language, 5 for education, 12 for my age and 0 for job experience :(

if I was to come to come to Canada to job hunt how long can I come as a visitor? Also if I did find a job and then apply for a visa could that not take months to come through?

thanks again for your help.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Why have you only given yourself 20 for language? And why nothing for job experience? Your previous jobs would count as 'skilled' so that should be 15 points. I assume you have no post-secondary education at all?

Yes, if you did find a job offer from a sponsoring employer it would take months to get a work permit usually, but nobody is suggesting that you go and stay - just that you go over, job hunt in person, and then wait back in Scotland for the visa. You'd get up to 6 months as a visitor, but you wouldn't be able to work so you'd need a huge chunk of money to stay that long. Canada is a blooming expensive country! You mention moving for a better quality of life but what do you think will change/improve out of interest?

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Look at the working holiday through a Registered Organisation (RO), which for you as a UK citizen would be BUNAC. I haven’t been close enough to it over the last few years, but I believe some changes were made in the last couple of years where if you go through an RO you have an extended window of application up to 35yrs old even as a UK citizen. Usually I’d say stay away from BUNAC but pretty sure this is your “easiest” route currently. I say “easiest” because I imagine it’s incredibly competitive to get one of their limited spots.

Details:
BUNAC

as has already been said, student Route should be last resort and only if you’re seriously interested in what you’re studying. It’s incredibly expensive and as someone who has done it, it sucks to be in a program with other students that are only there for “the visa”.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

Already done for this year though, so if the OP wants to move this year that's not an option. Hopefully they'll come back and give us more details at some point so we can try and help them work out the best visa route.

Re: What is the best way for me to get to Canada as I’m 31?
 

lol there ya go proves I was right to assume it was incredibly competitive :lol: