gen121 said:
Thanks for your reply Baloo.
A few more questions, will owning a company make it easier to get a visa and for longer stay? I currently come in with six months visa.
You may have guessed that just after I started this immigration journey, I was in a similar position to you, a Brit' director running a UK company, looking at the possibility opening a Canadian company.
When you say owning a company, in this instance I assume that you mean the UK one?
I believe that it does impact immigration decisions, both at CIC and at the border, but I have no idea how much.
In my experience I know that it helped me prove my ties to the UK (this is mentioned in my immigration notes FOSS & GCMS).
It may seem strange, but to be allowed into Canada (if you visit a lot), you really need to show plenty of evidence of ties to the UK. Visiting too much, does attract attention.
Before becoming a PR I visited Canada lots of times, entering with the generic six month stay, for both business and pleasure.
To give you an idea of what "lots of times" means - If I remember correctly, in the last four or five years I have been in the UK for a total of about twelve weeks.
I have also applied for and received multiple "extensions of stay" visitor records; you need proof of UK ties in the extension application.
gen121 said:
Also, will a company aid my application in any way I.e. Showing interest in Canada Or can it harm it?
is there any advantage at all with Company registration, since, I believe, I can do business with Canadian companies from my company in the UK.
In this case I assume you mean the Canadian company.
The big issue for me was I had enough going on with the UK company to be able to hold off the Canadian one.
I did not want to confuse the immigration issue (I applied family spousal), as in my opinion having lots of strong ties in Canada does't help when you try to enter Canada on visitor status.
You can "do business" in Canada, but be very careful of how you do it. There are specific rules that cover business visitors, if you break them (and get caught) you will find it very difficult or impossible to visit Canada. I know a few people who have received bans of one or two years.
gen121 said:
Looking ahead to moving to Canada, I am considering starting the process of buying a property in Quebec, is this a positive move (since my application is being processed)?
Thanks for your reply.
It is a personal choice really, I did not want to start the process until after getting PR, but maybe I am risk averse
I also prefer to be "in country" when making large transactions.
