Help with Immigration - First Steps

[Jacko]

Hey all,

I am a British citizen who wants to migrate to Canada to work and potentially settle down in the future – I am interested in Ontario or Quebec provinces. I am an experienced professional with 3 years of experience in the IT industry as a Consultant, QA Analyst and Business Analyst. I have got my Master's from university in United Kingdom in 2016. I am currently 26 yo. I will be a single applicant and I also have basic knowledge of French.

I appreciate that there are plenty of threads on this forum and I have seen many posts regarding various visa programs, however I am still not sure which one is best to choose in my situation? Could someone please recommend something based on experience? That would be highly appreciated!

I have a couple of general questions regarding migration.

Could someone speak from the experience and advice whether it is better to have my permit and then apply for jobs, or apply for jobs then permit, or do it simultaneously?

Which would be best Visa to apply for? Express Entry? Work Permit? Province nomination? Federal Skilled working program? IEC Visa? Please help!

Is it better to apply on your own or use agencies?

Can someone please explain me IELTS rules? I have read that even if you are native you would still need to provide them with language test results, is that true?

How long does normally the process take?

Also how willing are Canadian companies to hire British people?

Thanks! Any help is much appreciated!

 

[Riley Haas]

So the thing about IEC is that it is much more straightforward and quicker than the other ways to come. I don't know, offhand, what the competition is like for the UK, but if you can come that way you don't need to have a job offer and you can decide whether or not you like Canada.

You're British so you will have a leg up when applying for jobs. If you can get a job offer (with an LMIA) from the UK then you should absolutely try to come that way but it's quite hard for most people to get jobs when they are physically not in Canada, which is why IEC or FSW (which is through Express Entry) or a PNP is often preferable.

The reason to use a consultant or a lawyer is mostly one of effort and time. If you are willing to spend the time and effort to learn enough about immigrating to do it yourself, then you shouldn't hire someone. But if you are unwilling to do that, you should absolutely hire someone. (Also, if you are concerned you will make an error, hiring someone is a good idea.)

IELTS rules apply for immigration, not work permits. If you come by IEC there's nothing to worry about for the moment. As for immigration, you have to: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...s/language-requirements/language-testing.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ss-entry/documents/language-requirements.html I thought there was an exception to those who had studied post-secondary education in an English country but I don't know if that's still true.

The processing time depends upon whether you are immigrating or just coming here on a work permit.

 

[Jacko]

So the thing about IEC is that it is much more straightforward and quicker than the other ways to come. I don't know, offhand, what the competition is like for the UK, but if you can come that way you don't need to have a job offer and you can decide whether or not you like Canada.

You're British so you will have a leg up when applying for jobs. If you can get a job offer (with an LMIA) from the UK then you should absolutely try to come that way but it's quite hard for most people to get jobs when they are physically not in Canada, which is why IEC or FSW (which is through Express Entry) or a PNP is often preferable.

The reason to use a consultant or a lawyer is mostly one of effort and time. If you are willing to spend the time and effort to learn enough about immigrating to do it yourself, then you shouldn't hire someone. But if you are unwilling to do that, you should absolutely hire someone. (Also, if you are concerned you will make an error, hiring someone is a good idea.)

IELTS rules apply for immigration, not work permits. If you come by IEC there's nothing to worry about for the moment. As for immigration, you have to: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...s/language-requirements/language-testing.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ss-entry/documents/language-requirements.html I thought there was an exception to those who had studied post-secondary education in an English country but I don't know if that's still true.

The processing time depends upon whether you are immigrating or just coming here on a work permit.

Thanks! seems like IEC is a good shout or Express Entry program! I may have a safe amount of points!

 

[Riley Haas]

You are welcome. Good luck.