How do i immigrate to Canada ?Pls Help !

[nick04]

ok, so i'm 18 years old. Right now i study at university in Russia ( the department of sociology if that matters).
Please, answer some of my questions:

1 Should i get a bachelor degree in Russia and then move to Canada, apply there to college and study for a masters degree ?(i dunno if it's possible though).I mean it would probably cost me less to pay for 2 years of masters degree instead of paying for 4 years  for bachelors one ?
But the question is whether my Russian education will count for immigration or not ?

2 If i got it right,after finishing higher education in Canada i need to get employed and work for at least 1 or 2 years, not sure about that. But the question is Who would ever employ me there ?Is that really common in Canada to hire foreigners ?I mean hiring a foreigner for some sort of a burger flipping job or car washer is fine, but it won't count for my immigration.Perhaps they need me to work according to my professional skills.But who would ever hire a sociologist there ? Especially if he is a foreigner ?

In the conclusion,would like to add that the whole Canadian immigration thing sounds kinda promising and cool at first but actually only  very few people have a chance there.Or am i wrong at something ?

[scylla]

Thousands of people immigrate to Canada every year - but you need to qualify.

I don't think it will be possible for you to immigrate based on education alone. In other words, just finishing your bachelor's degree will not be enough to qualify you to immigrate to Canada. Here are some options you could pursue.

1) You could apply for a study permit to do your Masters (or even Bachelors) in Canada. Once you finish your degree, you could apply for a Post Graduate Work Permit which will allow you to work in Canada for a period of time. If you manage to complete your degree and work in a skilled role for a year - you'll qualify to apply for Canadian permanent residency through the Canadian Experience Class program. The negatives of this route are that attending school in Canada as a foreigner is extremely expensive and on top of the high tuition fees, you must also have $10K per year living expenses. If you're interested in pursuing this route, information on study visas is here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/index.asp

2) You could apply as a skilled worker through the Federal Skilled Worker program. However you'll need to finish school and get a few years of experience in Russia to qualify. This program also has other requirements which are outlined here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp

3) You could consider applying through one of the provincial programs. However once again, you'll need to finish school and get a few years of experience under your belt. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/provincial/index.asp

[nick04]

Thanks for making it clear to me ! Assuming that i don't have a degree and  professional experience , the only way for me to get to Canada would be as an international student.However they only mentioned about getting a PhD there.That's a doctors degree and,if i got it right(i googled), you can't apply until you got your previous degree in the university/college in Canada. So if i would finish a university in Russia i wouldn't be able to apply for PhD in Canada.

Well, if i would finish my university in Russia and get a specific job from their priority list,and work on it for 2 years in Russia.I probably still won't qualify as a skilled worker .I've read some immigration stories and it seems that all those people were engineers, maybe qualified factory workers, and less luckily medical workers.They hire only technicians.Nothing like social workers .Well, you got my point...

[scylla]

If you had work experience as a social worker and also a job offer in Canada - you would qualify to apply for immigration.

Certain occupations can apply for immigration without a job offer in Canada. For social work - you would need a job offer. So it can still be done if you can find an employer here.

[nick04]

can you provide the link for those "certain occupations" ?