To emigrate or not to emigrate?

Question

I'm a Great Britain that's finally had enough of my failing country constantly letting me down. I'm now thinking of emigrating from here to Canada, permanently. I have looked at the immigration procedures for a visa, and waiting times appear to be near to two years! Alternatively, there's the work permit route which could be as quick as one or two months, but this is of course not permanent.

Anyone got any advice on what may be the best way to go about immigrating to Canada? Could I find a job there, then get a work permit, travel over, then apply for residency from within Canada?

I'm a trained software engineer in Industrial Control Systems, so expect that I would qualify under the Skilled Workers and Professionals category.

I ought to add that I have a wife and young child who would (hopefully!) come along with me. Where would people recommend considering moving to - Canada is such a huge place! :-)

Answer 1

Actually, the waiting times for a permanent resident skilled worker through the London office is more like 50% of cases done by 3 years now.

Look into provincial nominee programs instead, http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/p...  Look at which province might be classifying your profession as their most wanted and then try to find a job there on http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/ or whatever job website.  Or come over on vacation and do some job searching that way.  When you get your temporary work permit, you apply for your family and bring them with you.  Your permanent reisdency through PNP should be done within a year.

If PNP doesn't work for you, get a job offer still, apply for a temporary work permit and once you are in Canada, apply for PR as a skilled worker under the points system.  Since you are skilled, it's not a problem to renew your temporary work permit while you wait for your PR to get processed and it's somewhat faster than London too, maybe only 2 years instead of 3.

Canadians treat immigrants the same as everybody else because guess what.. almost everybody here is an immigrant.  If you meet somebody who was born here, for sure their parents came over on the boat or the grandparents etc.  The only problem you might have is when you are initially looking for a job.  Employers will look at your education and experience with some suspicion because it's not from here but once you get your foot in the door, you are good to go.

Answer 2

Canada in general should offer a better life style for you and your family, given that we have more land, more natural resources, less debt and a decent high tech section for you to find work.

Most Canadians live within a 300 km strip that runs parallel to the US/Canada border, so in terms of culture, Canadian and US are very close.  

This is a big decision, so you really need to do some indepth research.  Uprooting your family is not without its risks.

Good Luck.