Examples of professionals that may apply for immigration under this category are: doctors, architects, nurses, engineers, lawyers, directors, scientists, teachers, and other professions that require at least 4 years of university education. This category has requirements such as advanced skills in one of Canada’s official languages, supported with test scores, and professional work experience.
Except for those who have an offer employment from a Canadian employer, and those who completed their PhD degree in Canada, applications to this category have been suspended indefinitely. A revision of this category is expected soon. The level of language skills required are expected to be higher than before. This was one of the most applied categories of immigration until June 2010. The expected changes to legislation will likely make immigration through this category more difficult than before.
A practical solution may be to come to Canada as a visitor first to investigate the possibility of the professional obtaining a job in his/her field. It would be beneficial to contact a career coach or a staffing agency, and obtain professional support in planning to secure a job offer from a Canadian employer.
Planning your immigration step by step will give you these benefits:
- An easier transition to living in Canada,
- Exposure to Canadian work culture and job opportunities,
- Taking surer steps toward the future,
- Reduce your workload ahead.
Naturally, when we make decisions that effect big changes in our lives, we tend to overlook many details we initially deem less important. When it comes to immigration, some of these details we would rather ignore and postpone are in fact just as important as coming to Canada as an immigrant. For example, finding a job in your field, doing the primary research to facilitate this, deciding where to live in Canada, and selecting a school if you have children, etc. These details will guide your expectations and shape your future in Canada.
The advantage of coming to Canada as an immigrant in this category is that your job will already be ready for you when you arrive. You will collect the fruits of your labour.
In older years, immigration was understood as making an application to immigrate, and try to find ways to build a new life after you had arrived to Canada as an immigrant. More recently, including Canada, many countries that accept immigrants are looking for solutions to integrate their newcomers more quickly and painlessly.
The major challenges that await immigrants are:
An inability to find a job in their field, insufficient language skills, problems with obtaining educational and professional equivalencies, and the length of time it takes to adjust culturally.
Some of the underlying reasons for the Canadian government to make recent amendments and changes to immigration laws are to prevent some of the initial integration problems, and to ensure that the new immigrants match the needs of the economy in closing labour gaps.
In conclusion, with diligent planning, this category could be ideal for those professionals who are seriously considering immigrating to Canada.
Nuriye Sahin is a Canadian Immigration Consultant and a member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. She represents her clients with their temporary resident and permanent resident applications, as well as appeals to the Immigration Appeal Division. She graduated from the University of Istanbul, Faculty of Law in 1986. After working as a lawyer for 14 years as a member of the Istanbul Bar Association, she immigrated to Canada.
Did you know that there are many different ways to immigrate to Canada – that it is crucial to know which category suits you most, to maximise the chances of a positive outcome for your application?