Getting Permanent Residence In Canada
Getting Permanent Residence In Canada
Skilled workers and professionals are the most common types of emigrants given permanent residency each year. Canada actively seeks highly-skilled workers to fill voids in their work force in 29 special job sectors, along with professionals like doctors and engineers who can enhance the country's society. The number of visas issued each year is quite limited, currently capped at 10,000 workers annually.
These skilled people are selected based on their education and experience in their field, English or French language ability and other criteria such as age. Canada uses a points system to give each applicant a score based on those criteria, which is presently a minimum of 67 to even qualify. The government's website has a test you can take to see if your score will be high enough to qualify for a skilled worker visa: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/assess/index.asp.
For emigrants with their own money or desire to open a company in Canada, there are several ways to gain permanent residency. The easiest route is the investor visa, which essentially lets you buy a permanent residency visa by investing C$800,000 in the Canadian economy. You also must prove a net worth of C$1.6 million and demonstrate business experience relevant to your investment sector. Obviously, this is only an option for wealthy, established businesspeople.
The entrepreneur program is designed for emigrants who wish to start their own business or company in Canada and can prove a net worth of C$300,000. Applicants must show they plan to open a business that is needed in Canada and will enhance the overall job sector. Currently, this program is suspended, but the government may reinstate it at a future date.
The third class of business visa is the self-employed persons program. While it sounds a lot like an entrepreneur program, it is, in fact, designed specifically for people who are able to be self-employed. Canada defines this as a person who has relevant experience and can contribute to the athletic or cultural scene in Canada, or who is an experienced farmer and plans to purchase and run a farm in Canada.
Other permanent residency programs include the provincial nominees program, where one of the country's provinces can nominate you to come to the region and make an immediate impact based on your work experience, skills or education. If your spouse is a Canadian citizen it is also easy to gain permanent residency.
