Visa Info

[tharrison]

Hi

I just wanted a bit of advise on Visas. I am a british citizen and i work in the UK. I am a chartered surveyor in commercial property valuation. I want to move to Canada (mainly for the snowboarding). I am 25 years old, have a batchelors degree and RICS diploma and 4 years work experience in surveying. I am listed on the Canadian NOC list as Class A NOC 1235, therefore I presume I am classed as a skilled worker. On the canadian embassy website if you take the immigration test I have to click the 'none of the above' on occupations as its not on the list (there is things like pysios, welders etc on one of the test pages...).

Anyway, if I am classed as a skilled worker I believe I have enough points to qualify as I score 68 IF a NOC 1235 counts as a skilled occupation they require. Could anyone tell me if they think I have a realistic opportunity of gaining immigration? The ideal situation would obviously be to have a job offer and i would get a visa no problem. I have spoken to employers and recruitment agents in Canada and it seems to be a bit of a chicken and egg situation. They would all be interested in speaking to me and believe I could be a good potential employee but without a legal right to work there they are understandably reluctant to start the whole process of sponsoring visas.

I looked at going on a Working holiday visa and trying to stay on but this i believe is not popular with the immigration service if i try and stay on on PNP programme and I would like to stay for good! Employers would also prefer a permanent visa.

How should I go about the application process? There are lots of agencies out there but I am very wary about the legitemacy of most of these.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Cheers

Tom

 

[rupeshhari]

There are two lists. The first list is the list of skilled worker jobs and practically all jobs are listed there.

The second list is the ministerial list, which has 38 occupation. You need to have one year of experience in a job from the ministerial list within the past 10 years to qualify. The list which said physio, welders, etc is probably that list.

So you need a year of experience from that list to qualify for FSW 1.

Your other option is try for PNP, FSW 2, etc. If you know French, you could also try Quebec, which I presume has great snowboarding.

For most people, they don't need an agency to do the immigration itself. Best is to figure out if you qualify on one of those categories (i.e., pnp, fsw, etc) and if you do, start the process yourself.

 

[tharrison]

Oh right cool. Thanks for the info. So fsw2 would be the list im on i guess. I know for the PNP i need a pre arranged job. I'm not quite sure how I will be able to get someone to employ me without being there tho, as i said chicken and egg! I reckon i'll do it for myself if I can figure out which route to take!

Tis all confusing!

My french is ok, i can do basics but could improve it to a decent standard with a bit of studying.

Cheers

 

[rupeshhari]

FSW 1 is that 38 list. FSW 2 is with a job offer as well (just like most PNP in some ways).

Go through the Quebec stuff and see if you qualify.

 

[tharrison]

Thanks thats awesome, ill check out Quebec. If any surveyors in Canada read this and want to give me a job....I'm really good!

: )

 

[qorax]

Tom,

Without an AEO u'll not be able to apply in FSW2. And w/out being on the 38 list u cannot apply for FSW1. Again, if u r not good (Ok won't work) in French, u'll not pass the TEF, thus no Quebec scene as well.

Ur best option is to try PNP. U don't necessarily need to obtain a pre-landing job in all cases. Check out the various Nominee Programs by visiting the provincial sites. www.cic.gc.ca shall also give u a fair picture too, as Rupesh said.

Another way is to hire a consultant. Though I do not advocate them for the 2009 system, as it's easy to go DIY here, but cases like urs can get a wave of options thru them. Again, not all consultants r bad. U may like to check the CIC site for a 'listed' one. Even if u do not hire one, just meet a 'reputed' consultant for a pre-retaining tete-tete & u'll come out with various options. Then the call is yours.

Hope that helps.