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

 

[ethels]

If you have secured a job offer then you do not need to be on the high demand occupation list. If you do not have a job offer then your occupation must be on the list. From your story, it seems to me that you have neither so Federal route is not an option. This is due to the fact that getting a Canadian company to offer you a position in absence of your ability to work right away (as you guessed it) is very slim to none.

If you want to move to Ontario: My suggestion is to move to Canada as a temporary resident first. Apply for a Canadian vocational training for your profession, get a work permit, work here for a year or two, then apply as a provincial nominee / federal route. If your country has an agreement with Canada for working holiday visa, then you could try that route as well.

If you don't mind living in other provinces: Go to their specific provinces program and look for their provincial requirements. SK has a less stringent approach in accepting new immigrants ... there's exploratory visit where they will assess you in an interview and might grant you PNP without having a job offer.