we seem to have a choice of ways but which is the best?

[MarcC]

Hello,

I have been married to a canadian for 9 years, and we are looking to make the move from the UK to canada as soon as possible. My wife is medical PA/secretary trained and used to work in Vancouver GH before relocating here to be with me, after looking at some jobs available here in the UK she has voiced a preference to maybe go into the private sector like I am. I am currently working in IT for an oil and gas solutions company based in Aberdeen, however have no formal qualifications which I assume would count against me trying to find a company willing to sponsor me to move over. I am currently looking into possible vacancies within my company, and should something be available it would be an option.

I cannot remember at this moment in tim if my wife still holds a valid canadian passport.

We have a 5 yr old daughter who would be joining us.

My wife has family members resident in Ottawa, and I have extended family somewhere in Canada however whereabouts I am unsure.

My previous career up until July was retail management, however my perception of retail managemant in Canada is similar to retail management in the UK as in if you don't have then don't do it lol. What would be my best way to try and obtain a job in the IT industry without formal qualifications? Would it be better to rely on my wife's proven track record of employment in Canada (as old as it is)?

I have taken an immigration test approx 3 years ago which said we would qualify for a visa (whilst I was in retail) which I suspect is mainly due to my wife being a citizen and her family still being resident, but is there a way we do this without relying on family?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we have been talking about this for a few years and the time for talk is done. We would also like to move whilst my daughter is young enough to adjust easier to the differences in schooling etc.

My final question would be how long does the visa process, on average, take. I realise that it's different for every person, and has many different factors to look at, but a ball park figure would be useful.

 

[scylla]

Since your wife is a Canadian citizen, she should sponsor your for premanent residency as her spouse through the family class program. This is really the best way to go. (What jobs you have now or may have when you get to Canada is irrelevant.) Read the first thread here for more information about the sponsorship process:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/spousal-sponsorship-t46995.0.html

Then read through the threads on the following pages for more information from people going through this same process:

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/family-class-sponsorship-b5.0

 

[Leon]

If your wife who is Canadian wants to move back to Canada, she might want to renew her Canadian passport and register your daughter for Canadian citizenship.

Passport: http://www.ppt.gc.ca/info/form.aspx?lang=eng&region=international
Citizenship certificate: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/citizenship/proof.asp

As for you, you do not want your wife to sponsor you which is the easiest way to get your immigration? May I ask why not? Your wife does not have to show income to sponsor a spouse. She could start the sponsorship now if she can show plans to move to Canada once you get your permanent residency. But ok, if you do not want that, I suppose you can try to get a work permit in Canada and come on your own. If your company finds a position for you, they can get a work permit for you a bit more easily if they can show that they need your expertise in Canada. Otherwise, if you find another employer in Canada that is interested in hiring you, they would have to apply for a labour market opinion (LMO) showing that they advertised the job and found no Canadians or PR's who are interested and qualified. If they get the LMO, you can apply for a work permit.

 

[JudyO]

I was told by a lawyer that a business immigration application should not be used if the person immigrating has a spouse in Canada.
He said it doesn't follow the rules and Family Sponsorship of Spouse is the only choice.

Your wife will have to show on her application to sponsor you that she intends to return permanently to Canada.
She'll need to get her visa renewed.
Having a lengthy marriage and a child together sounds like there wouldn't be any problems, except the processing time.
~ hopefully.

A job offer before you decide on your date of return is up to you, and you could include job inquiries / possibilities in some
additional information just to round out the story of who you are and how you both see the future unfolding in Canada.

But to the best of my knowledge Spousal Application is the one which suits your circumstances.

The cic website has the processing times. Sorry I'm not able to post a link here.

And I'm not certain how the processing time is affected when the person sponsoring (your wife) also lives outside of Canada.
It shows about 2 months when the Sponsor lives in Canada PLUS about 9 months for the 2nd part, the Applicant (you) when you live in London.

I think it's likely if your application is complete and without problems, you would have your result in under one year.
We hope, even much faster than that.

 

[scylla]

I was told by a lawyer that a business immigration application should not be used if the person immigrating has a spouse in Canada.
He said it doesn't follow the rules and Family Sponsorship of Spouse is the only choice.

The information provided by the lawyer is incorrect. (Unfortunately there are many stories around here about lawyers and consultants not quite getting it right.) There is absolutely nothing (i.e. no law, no rule) stopping someone who qualifies to be sponsored through the family class / spousal sponsorship stream from applying through a skilled worker / business stream instead.

However I do completely agree that in this case, the spousal sponsorship route makes the most sense by far.

 

[MarcC]

As for you, you do not want your wife to sponsor you which is the easiest way to get your immigration? May I ask why not? Your wife does not have to show income to sponsor a spouse. She could start the sponsorship now if she can show plans to move to Canada once you get your permanent residency. But ok, if you do not want that, I suppose you can try to get a work permit in Canada and come on your own. If your company finds a position for you, they can get a work permit for you a bit more easily if they can show that they need your expertise in Canada. Otherwise, if you find another employer in Canada that is interested in hiring you, they would have to apply for a labour market opinion (LMO) showing that they advertised the job and found no Canadians or PR's who are interested and qualified. If they get the LMO, you can apply for a work permit.

I may have miscommunicated what I meant. If my wife can sponsor me then that would be considered, absolutely. I was meaning we didn't want to burden her family with it if we could avoid it. If the only or easiest way is for my wife to move then I follow, then we will explore that.

Do any of these companies that claim to be able to help to get you together with employers from canada actually result in finding work?? Locally here in Scotland there was recently an international jobs expo including Canada, where there were companies from Canada available to talk to people. The organising company are holding another one here in March, so is that possibly a way to go? I know I have nothing to lose visiting it anyway but are jobs actually available through these events or are they more about informing people how to go about finding the job, applying for the visa, etc?


Like I say I have nothing to lose from attending anyway but I want to go to it with the right expectataions as to what can be achieved.

Thanks for the answers so far

 

[scylla]

I may have miscommunicated what I meant. If my wife can sponsor me then that would be considered, absolutely. I was meaning we didn't want to burden her family with it if we could avoid it. If the only or easiest way is for my wife to move then I follow, then we will explore that.

Do any of these companies that claim to be able to help to get you together with employers from canada actually result in finding work?? Locally here in Scotland there was recently an international jobs expo including Canada, where there were companies from Canada available to talk to people. The organising company are holding another one here in March, so is that possibly a way to go? I know I have nothing to lose visiting it anyway but are jobs actually available through these events or are they more about informing people how to go about finding the job, applying for the visa, etc?


Like I say I have nothing to lose from attending anyway but I want to go to it with the right expectataions as to what can be achieved.

Thanks for the answers so far

I would set your expectations very low for the job fair. And if anyone asks you to pay any money or fees in exchange for a job - walk the other way (likely a scam).

 

[Leon]

I may have miscommunicated what I meant. If my wife can sponsor me then that would be considered, absolutely. I was meaning we didn't want to burden her family with it if we could avoid it. If the only or easiest way is for my wife to move then I follow, then we will explore that.

Your wife's family would not be at all burdened if she sponsors you and it is really the easiest way.

One way is she applies to sponsor you now and tries to show plans to move to Canada when you get your PR. Another way would be if she goes first and applies to sponsor you and you follow later on. Yet another way, you go with her, she applies to sponsor you and you stay as a visitor. You would not be able to work if you are a visitor though. The sponsorship will likely take a few months. During which time you can of course look around for a job and see if any employer would like to try to get a work permit for you.

You can try the job fair. I have never been to one so I have no idea who is there. Again, don't pay anybody though. The employers pay for the agencies to get them employees. The employees are not supposed to pay.