Need a Start Point

[Irishguy1]

Hi all,

Im currently living in the uk with my wife and 2 yr old son. We have decided to move to the wonderful world of Canada but have no idea where to start. Can someone please tell us the 1st step to make with regards to forms or applications or what catagory is best to apply under. We are both professionals with a long time family friend and her family willing to support us and put us up when we arrive....Any help would be appriciated Thanxs!!! Also has anyone used David Cohens Law firm??? If so what was the service like???

[thaiguy]

Hi Irishguy1

The start point is for you to fill out an online application form and see whether you qualify under the skilled worker category.  I'm going to guess you will because both you and your wife are English-speaking professionals.  Even if you eventually choose not to use a lawyer, having a lawfirm assess your qualifications is reassuring.  If you do choose a lawyer, you can ask him/her about ways to expedite the process - like provincial nomination.

The long time family friend, if he/she isn't a relative, won't help expedite the process.  It will help you to have a convenient address to send your PR cards to, though.

I have used Campbell Cohen and I have the highest respect for David Cohen and his abililities.  But you should maintain a watchful eye on your application process since it's your future that's at stake.  Just common sense.

[Irishguy1]

Thanks Thaiguy,

Appriciate your input. Maybe I should have made my situ clearer. We have done the online app. and we qualified well over the required point value of 67. This was done through David Cohens law firm and he has confirmed this. Should we now get in touch with him and seek direction from his firm..? Oh and also what is a P.R.???

Thanxs again mate,

[thaiguy]

Irishguy1,

A PR card is a permanent residence card.  After you've landed in Canada, you'll need to give Immigration your local address.  They'll send your PR cards to that address after a few weeks.  You'll need those to do pretty much everything in Canada - like get a job, etc.  It has to be a Canadian address (not foreign), so you couldn't, for example, "land" in Canada, return home, and have your PR cards sent to Ireland.  The cards have to be sent to a Canadian address.  So the benefit of having friends already in Canada is that you could use their address while you took your time to find really suitable housing.

Since you've already done the online app and passed, I would go ahead and give them a call and ask for a consultation.  You may have to pay, but I don't think so - the website says they'll do it for free.  You should be able to ask any questions about how to make the process as speedy as possible.

One way, as I mentioned, is provincial nomination.  In Canada, some provinces are especially needy of skilled workers, so they make it possible to expedite the immigration process.  I'm not completely familar with the mechanics, but I believe in those cases you can cut down the processing time to mere months rather than one or more years.  So it's worth asking about.

Best of luck!