Confused about how to start... Please Help

[Carac]

Hi,
Really keen to move to Canada from Northern Ireland with partner and Child. Am just confused about the first step, I saw on one website that I need to have a job offer, but then on another it said it would take 24 months for my applications to be assessed. How can I get an employer to hold a job for this length of time?
Really really need help to make sense of everything.
I am a manager of 4 businesses educated to degree level so don't know if I count as skilled worker either??

Please help

 

[Leon]

There are 2 options. You can come to Canada on a temporary visa and try to turn that into immigration or you can try to apply for your immigration right off the bat. Applying for a temporary visa is fairly fast but applying for your immigration can take months if not a couple of years.

A temporary visa could be a work permit or a study permit. For a work permit you would need to find an employer in Canada who is ready to apply for a labour market opinion for you. This can take a couple of months. If they get it, they send it to you and you can apply for your work permit either through the Canadian embassy or as you arrive in Canada. If it is a skilled job, you can apply for an open permit for your partner based on your permit. A study permit you would apply for after having been accepted to a college or university in Canada. You would have to show funds, enough to survive for 6 months and pay your first years tuition. Your partner could also get an open work permit based on your study permit too.

If you want to try for your immigration right off the bat, you have to find a program here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply.asp that you qualify under. Most of them require a job offer.

 

[Carac]

Hi Leon,
thank you so much. I think the plan was to go with right off the bat, and here is where I get confused, because if it takes a few years, how can I get an employer to hold a job offer for that length of time?
Is it just a matter of finding a job, but you cant actually take it because your paperwork etc will take 2 years to come through?
please help! lol

 

[Leon]

It can actually happen that you apply for your immigration with a job offer and the employer then contacts you and tells you that the job offer is gone in which case you may lose your PR application. In some cases, an LMO is actually required as a job offer so if you have the LMO already, you can use it to apply for your immigration and then use it to apply for a work permit so you can come to Canada and work while you wait for your PR processing. This is for example the case with the skilled worker program. With the provincial nominee programs, they may not require an LMO as a job offer but after they have nominated you, they may allow you to get a work permit without getting an LMO.

However, getting a job offer in the first place is not necessarily easy.

There is another way open to UK citizens under 35 which is the working holiday visa. This will give you an open work permit for a year, enough to get your foot in the door and find an employer who may want to help you stay after the year is up but this visa is not really intended for families. They require you to buy your own health insurance etc.

 

[Carac]

Hi,
So, let me make sure I am with you.
If I can get an LMO from a Canadian employer I can move and take up that job while my visa paperwork is being processed?
Or
I can look at the International Experience Visa which could get me 2 years in Canada but my family wouldn't qualify for health insurance or free schools?
Would you recommend using a recruitment agency in order to find employers who might consider LMO?
Thanks Again
Cara

 

[Leon]

Hi,
So, let me make sure I am with you.
If I can get an LMO from a Canadian employer I can move and take up that job while my visa paperwork is being processed?

The LMO needed as a job offer for the skilled worker program is the same as the LMO needed for a work permit. Therefore, if you get the LMO, you can use it to apply for a work permit or to apply for your PR or to apply for both. In order to get a work permit, as a visa exempt individual, you only need to arrive in Canada with your LMO, passport and your $150 to pay for your work permit processing fee and you get it instantly and then you can start working. You may not work without a work permit, even if you have an LMO.

Or
I can look at the International Experience Visa which could get me 2 years in Canada but my family wouldn't qualify for health insurance or free schools?

I think it is a year and then you must apply again or something like that but yes, you would have to get your visa, your spouse would have to apply for their visa and the child would be under visitor status and you would have to apply for an extension for your child after 6 months and there is no guarantee that your child would be allowed to enroll in school without paying a few thousand $ for tuition. The program requires you to buy your own health insurance before you go. However, many say that they have been allowed sign up for health care after arriving in Canada. Your child would probably be able to get health care as your dependent if you are. Still, no guarantees. This is a visa meant for young people who want to work and travel and not really meant for families.

Would you recommend using a recruitment agency in order to find employers who might consider LMO?

You can try but be careful if they start wanting a lot of money from you. Of course they do need to make money but in many provinces, it's against the law to bill the employee for getting them a job. They can however bill employers who come to them and they can bill employees for filling out forms, to Canadianize your CV or something like that. However, there are a lot of scammers around. There have been people who have shelled out thousands of $ for an LMO which turned out to be a fake if they ever got it and the agency turned out not to have an office at the address listed and otherwise be untracable and maybe not even located in Canada at all.

I would suggest that you rather try to look on your own.

 

[Carac]

hi Leon,
thank you so so much for all of the help, it has been absolutely invaluable