Point me in the right direction?

[fuuuturecanadian]

Hi all,

I am new here - just registered tonight. Thank you to all who share out here.

I have wanted to move my family to Canada for quite some time now - but now more than ever we feel like it is "time". All of the research we have done is now outdated by many years so I am hoping someone here can help point me in the right direction.

Here is our scenario:

Family of 4 - with 2 dogs - US citizens. We would be selling everything we own and just moving with our personal items if we can make this happen.

We're self employed - have run our own businesses since 2004. Everything is online.... nothing to move there.

What is our best option for moving to Canada? Is is possible to move first, and then begin the official immigration process?

I guess we're looking for the quickest way to get our family to Canada. We think we'll be much happier than down here in the states and we're ready for the change. Is 6 months too short of a period to try to move? Are there certain steps that one MUST complete before moving?

Thanks in advance! If I could get a bit of a jump start back into my research here, it would be a huge help.

Thanks!

 

[scylla]

First of all, you can't "move" to Canada until you have applied and been approved as permanent residents. You can visit for up to six month on your US passports (as visitors you can't work and won't be covered by health care - and your children can't attend school). However if you show up at the border with all of your personal belonging and the dogs, you'll very likely be turned away and denied access for behaving like residents rather than visitors. You could even end up with a ban from entering the country (occasionally this happens to Americans). So unfortunately you're putting the cart before the horse. Your first step is to determine which immigration class you qualify under and apply. Once you have been approved or are close to being approved - you can start thinking about moving.

I would suggest that you start by reviewing what options are available to you to immigrate. This information is available here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp

You may want to focus on the self employment category. This information is here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/self-employed/index.asp

I'm sorry to say that this isn't going to happen in six months. Processing times are quite a bit longer than that. For example, the processing time for self employed applicants through Buffalo is 20 months. See:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/self-fed.asp

Good luck.

 

[mitali]

First of all, you can't "move" to Canada until you have applied and been approved as permanent residents. You can visit for up to six month on your US passports (as visitors you can't work and won't be covered by health care - and your children can't attend school). However if you show up at the border with all of your personal belonging and the dogs, you'll very likely be turned away and denied access for behaving like residents rather than visitors. You could even end up with a ban from entering the country (occasionally this happens to Americans). So unfortunately you're putting the cart before the horse. Your first step is to determine which immigration class you qualify under and apply. Once you have been approved or are close to being approved - you can start thinking about moving.

I would suggest that you start by reviewing what options are available to you to immigrate. This information is available here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp

You may want to focus on the self employment category. This information is here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/self-employed/index.asp

I'm sorry to say that this isn't going to happen in six months. Processing times are quite a bit longer than that. For example, the processing time for self employed applicants through Buffalo is 20 months. See:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/perm/self-fed.asp

Good luck.

Agreed with scylla....+1

Mitali