Moving to Canada is part of my long term plan, but what are my chances?

[econthought]

I have a first class economics degree from a British university and I am about to embark on a Master's degree to top up my qualifications (and possible immigration points). My plan is to graduate, find employment in the UK and get 3 to 4 years worth of experience before applying for Canadian permanent residency through the skilled migrant route.

On the face of things, to those in the know, is this a feasible plan or are there other considerations that must be taken into account?

Also, at the moment, how long does a skilled migrant visa take to process and what is the overall cost of the process?

Thanks in advance

[Leon]

There is no way to know what immigration classes there will be in a few years when you want to immigrate.  If you were doing your masters in Canada, Ontario or BC, you might qualify to apply for PR when you graduate under their provincial nominee programs.  If that is an option.

You can find all the immigration classes at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp
The FSW program should now be taking less than a year to get approved for most people but they have made it harder to apply.  You have to be of an occupation on the most wanted list.  The list of occupations may change at any time.  There is a cap of a 1,000 people a year for each occupation.  A cap of 20,000 overall.  You can bypass these caps and occupations if you have a job offer but those can be hard to get.

The cost is $1040 in application fees but you will need a medical and possibly some documents translated or notarized.

[econthought]

There is no way to know what immigration classes there will be in a few years when you want to immigrate.  If you were doing your masters in Canada, Ontario or BC, you might qualify to apply for PR when you graduate under their provincial nominee programs.  If that is an option.

You can find all the immigration classes at cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp
The FSW program should now be taking less than a year to get approved for most people but they have made it harder to apply.  You have to be of an occupation on the most wanted list.  The list of occupations may change at any time.  There is a cap of a 1,000 people a year for each occupation.  A cap of 20,000 overall.  You can bypass these caps and occupations if you have a job offer but those can be hard to get.

The cost is $1040 in application fees but you will need a medical and possibly some documents translated or notarized.

Right, that puts a spanner in the works; I wasn't aware that that the most wanted list was the be all and end all for the FSW category.

In your experience, how often are changes made to the "most wanted" list and do financial roles (i.e. Investment analysts) come up quite frequently?

Thanks.

[Leon]

They only brought in the list in 2008 and it has only been changed once so far and that was last June.  The original list had accountants, financial auditors and financial managers on it but they were cut from the list in June.  Nobody knows if they will revise the list yearly or bi-yearly or less often than that but the application year for these caps is from July 1st to June 30th the following year so I assume that updates to the list will be around those dates as well.

Quebec skilled worker still doesn't have a list of occupations or require a job offer so you can look into that.

[econthought]

Quebec skilled worker still doesn't have a list of occupations or require a job offer so you can look into that.

But requires French?

[Leon]

It does not necessarily require French but it helps a lot to get enough points.  Since this is a long term plan you are working on, you should have time to take some French classes as well.  It will also help you with your FSW points and it can be useful when you look for a job.