Occupational Therapist - which route to take??

[vickyOT]

Hi there,
I am a fully qualified occupational therapist, hoping to apply for immigration with my husband who is a business sales manager. I will be the principal applicant and we have no children. Can anyone advise which immigration process which may be best for us to apply through?

Occupational Therapy is not on the skilled worker list of high demand jobs - does it have to specifically name your job title in this list or is it a rough guide? The job description is very similar to physiotherapy, which is on the job list. But I don't want to risk applying via the wrong route!

Would we be better going for a Provincial Nominee route? We are hoping to move to Ontario (not sure which area as yet), so I have looking into their nominee programme, but you have to have a secured job offer first (i think...is this right?) - is it likely that a company will offer you a job, when they may have to wait months until you are even in the country?!?!

I would welcome anyone's advice regarding which route we should apply for PR.

Thanks in advance, Vicky

 

[scylla]

I can't help with your second question - but I'll help with the first.

The list is not a rough guide. To qualify, your occupation and experience must match the description of one of the occupations on the list. Here's the description for Physiotherapy (noc 3142).

http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2011/QuickSearch.aspx?val65=3142

Here's the job description for Occupational Therapists (noc 3143) for comparison purposes:

http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/noc/english/noc/2011/Profile.aspx?val=3&val1=3143

Hope this helps at least somewhat.

 

[vickyOT]

Thank you. So I probably can't go via the Skilled Worker route which is really disappointing!

I'll try the Provincial Nominee forum for advice from their perspective.

Any other thoughts on other routes we could apply??

Thanks!

 

[scylla]

You can still apply through the Federal Skilled Worker program if you have a job offer in Canada. Without a job offer, your occupation has to appear on the list of 29. And if you're truly an OT (i.e. OT education and experience), I completely agree that you won't qualify to apply as a physiotherapist. So FSW is still open to you if you can secure a job offer.

You don't qualify for Canadian Experience Class since you would need pre-existing Canadian work experience to qualify.

so the provincial programs are really your only other option. And yes - if you want to settle in Ontario, then you will need a job offer to apply via the provincial program.