These Canadian Immigration scenarios are based on frequent situations and outcomes. Names and specifics are fictitious and are designed to give the reader an idea of how different Immigration routes can develop over time.
Jasmine’s Story – A new life in Canada.
Jasmine was born in the UK, is Single and 28 years’ old; she qualified with a Master’s Degree from a UK university and has been working as an HR manager for the past 4 years. She wants to move to British Columbia to start a new life with her boyfriend who is Canadian and lives in Vancouver.
Jasmine couldn’t be sponsored by her boyfriend as they were not married and hadn’t lived together for at least a year. An IEC working holiday visa was also not a definitive or long term solution. However, the combination of age, qualifications, qualifying work experience and English language ability meant that Jasmine was Eligible for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and scored highly within the Express Entry system.
No real Issues for Jasmine and she was able to get her Work Experience confirmed easily enough, her qualifications assessed in Canada and an English language IELTS exam to a level of CLB 10.
Her Express Entry profile was uploaded with a score of over 450, and she was invited to apply within 2 weeks. Her application took 3 months to process. She is now a Permanent Resident in Canada.
John and Simon’s Story – All factors considered?
John, 37 and Simon, 40, are married and both highly qualified with Degrees. Simon also has a diploma but it’s not related to his work experience. John has extensive work experience and is an Architect, with many Professional qualifications; Simon is a Sous Chef. Both have good English language ability.
Both John and Simon assumed that John would be the Principal applicant as he is younger and had more professional qualifications.
Initially John and Simon uploaded their own Profile with John as the Principal applicant, but got frustrated when they hadn’t received an Invitation to apply in over a year.
A consultation with a Regulated Immigration Consultant compared both assessed scenarios for Principal applicant; Simon in fact had the greater points as his Diploma counted towards an Educational Credential Assessment, whereas John’s Professional qualifications did not. John had 404 CRS points and Simon had 415.
They hired a consultant and uploaded Simon’s Profile as the Principal applicant, and Simon received his Invitation to apply for Permanent Residency within 2 months. Both Simon and John received their PR visas within 5 months.
Josh’s Story – I need a little time.
Josh is 26 and has spent 2 years in Canada under an IEC visa and has just less than one year’s work experience in Canada as a chef. He has a 3-year Diploma in food management and has worked as a waiter in the UK for 3 years but 10 months ago was promoted to assistant manager of his restaurant. He has an Aunt who is a Canadian Citizen.
The problem here is that Josh hasn’t achieved one full year of continuous work under a NOC O,A or B occupation; however he will have a full year’s continuous qualifying work experience within the next 2 months. His Canadian Work Experience cannot count as ‘Canadian Experience’ as it is less than a year; it will count though towards his total work experience. So, in three months’ time, he will have accumulated 2 years in total. He qualifies for the FSW program and then a month later increases his points total within Express Entry to 416.
Josh completed his year’s work experience as a Restaurant Assistant manager and qualified for the FSW Program; his consultant uploaded his profile and he was invited to apply for PR the following month.
Amir and Amandip’s Story – Who’s the Principal applicant?
Amir and Amandip are in their late 20s with a 3-year-old child. Amir is highly qualified with a Master’s degree, extensive work experience but has limited English language ability. Amandip has good qualifications, a 2 year HND, very good English ability and 3 years’ qualifying work experience, but it’s from over 5 years’ ago.
Again, a similar scenario to John and Simon’s story. Who would make the better Principal applicant? In this case, although Amir had the higher qualifications, his English language ability meant that his potential score within Express Entry was reduced to 414, whereas Amandip’s 2 year HND was assessed as the equivalent of a 3-year Canadian qualification and she scored 439. Her work experience was still valid as it was within the previous 10 years.
Another factor was that Amir struggled to get his transcripts, from his University in India, sent to an assessment centre in Canada in order to be awarded CRS points within Express Entry. Having Amandip’s Profile uploaded re-vitalised their determination to achieve Permanent Residency and eventually their patience paid off, and Amir had his Master’s assessed for an ECA.
Amandip’s Profile was uploaded by their consultant and she received her Invitation to apply within 2 days.
Frank and Gemma’s Story – Too old?
Frank and Gemma are in their late 40s, with grown up children. Both are highly experienced professionals, have good English language ability and degrees. They want to move to British Columbia to set up a small Bed and Breakfast establishment. They have a great deal of equity in their property in London and are financially secure.
Gemma and Frank did not qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Program as their eligibility points were 65 each (min 67), so they thought their emigration plans were over. Through an in-depth assessment, their consultant showed that if either did a two-year Diploma course in Canada, this would make them eligible and open their options. It would also give the non-studying spouse, the ability to apply for an Open Work Permit. This would give them the ability to go to Canada, increase their Express Entry points through Canadian Work and Study; it also offered the opportunity to be nominated through the BC PNP.
Gemma successfully applied, through Canada Immigration Solutions, for a Study Permit and Frank subsequently applied for an Open Work Permit. Frank got a job in BC (as he could then legally work in Canada) and has worked for a year; he was Nominated by the BC PNP, has an Express Entry Profile, and received the additional 600 CRS points, and is looking forward to achieving Permanent Residency within the next 6 months.
David and Pippa’s Story – A plan that works.
David and Pippa are in their late 20s; David is a plumber and has UK trade qualifications and a two-year diploma; Pippa is a housewife and has a great interest in gardening and an NVQ 2 in gardening from a few years ago. They have two school aged children. David has a previous criminal conviction for Drink Driving conviction from 10 years ago and was banned from driving for two months. They had previously applied for Permanent Residency after being selected with an ITA through Express Entry but were refused on the basis of David’s Criminal Conviction and an inaccurate Express Entry Profile score.
The first consideration here was David’s criminal conviction. David thought this conviction was so long ago, it didn’t matter anymore. Unfortunately, David was inadmissible (and so were the whole family) but he had two options to gain admissibility to Canada; he could wait for two months and become ‘Deemed rehabilitated’ or apply for rehabilitation at the same time as any Visa application.
Their consultant advised them to wait for two months, until his conviction was deemed rehabilitated and David was again admissible to travel or apply for visas to Canada.
Pippa applied for a Horticultural course in Canada, and using a regulated Consultant they applied for a Study Permit for Pippa and a Spousal Open Work Permit for David. David, now legally able to work in Canada, got a job and completed his ‘Red Seal’ trade qualification. He subsequently applied for Permanent Residency under the Federal Skilled Trades Program, being both admissible to Canada and having an accurate Express Entry Profile.
Niall and Anna’s Story – Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Niall and Anna are 38 and 37, with one child but are not married; Niall has no academic qualifications but a wealth of experience in IT and is highly employable. Anna wants to work in early childhood education and perhaps open her own business eventually.
Neither Niall or Anna qualified for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and Express Entry. However, as Niall was eminently employable, as long as he had the legal right to work in Canada.
Anna decided to do a one year Early Learning Certificate at a college in Ontario and applied for a Study Permit; initially her Study Permit was refused on the basis of not satisfying the Visa officer of their ties to the UK, purpose of visit and their financial status, so they employed a consultant to apply again with a more robust application, and this time it was issued.
Her study permit also allowed her to work part time at the local daycare. Niall successfully applied for a Spousal Open Work Permit. Once in Canada Niall quickly found a job and his employer was so willing to support an application through the Provincial Nominee Program which in turn lead to achieving their Permanent Residency just over a year later through a ‘paper based PNP’ application for PR.
Peter and Louise’s Story -Provincial solutions.
Peter and Louise want to go to Nova Scotia and Louise has a job offer from a company in Halifax; the company are not prepared to apply for a LMIA but have advertised for the position without success, before offering the role to Louise. Neither Peter or Louise qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker stream and therefore Express Entry.
A similar situation to Niall and Anna’s story. Louise’s prospective employer didn’t want to apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment but was willing to go some way with the Provincial Immigration authorities. The Employer had advertised unsuccessfully locally, completed the required Provincial documentation and registered the position on the Employer portal.
Louise applied under the Skilled Worker Stream for Nova Scotia, and was nominated a month later. Both Louise and Peter were also given a ‘letter of intent’ which enabled them to initially apply for Work Permits whilst getting their PR application ready through their Consultant, within the six months from Nomination.
Their Permanent Residency application was a ‘paper based’ application to IRCC as Louise was not eligible for Express Entry.
Louise and Peter’s application for PR is in process and should be confirmed within the next few months. Meanwhile, both are in Nova Scotia working and starting their new life in Canada.