Canadian Immigration Application Process

Canada is a land of opportunity and abounds with economic prosperity, sound and affordable education options, world renown health care and retirement schemes, an abundance of land, clean air and fresh water supplies, all providing for a safe and secure environment.

Embrace your future and bring the heritage of your past, your family, and establish a place where you and your love ones will be proud to call to as home: Canada!

Immigration stimulates Canada's growth, prosperity and cultural diversity. It reunites families and offers the must reputable and fair process to refugees.
Canada benefits from the talents, experience and energy of immigrants, whether they are skilled workers, business people, refugees, relatives of Canadian citizens and residents, foreign students, temporary workers or others. All stimulate economic growth and enrich Canada's social and cultural life.

Canada's immigration program is based on fairness. Applicants are assessed on their ability to adapt to life in Canada and to settle with their families successfully within its borders.

If you want to immigrate to Canada, there are a few different ways to apply. After a detailed assessment we will assist you to decide which immigration program will work best for you.

Canada has two major program depending the reason for your visit.

• Temporary Residents or
• Permanent Residents
• Federal Programs
• Provincial Programs

The following is a summary of the various classes of immigration to Canada.

FEDERAL PROGRAM

TEMPORARY RESIDENTS

Temporary foreign workers

Under IRPA, foreign nationals may work temporarily in Canada under certain conditions. Those who wish to do so are generally required to have a job offer and a work permit authorization.

Upon receipt of an approved job offer, an immigration officer will decide if the foreign worker qualifies for the work permit and assess the person's health and security requirements. A work permit is usually valid only for a specified job, employer and time period. In most cases, applications must be submitted from outside of Canada prior to a Labour Market Opinion confirmation issued by Human Resources and Development Canada.

Visitor

A visitor is a temporary resident who has been approved by an immigration officer to visit Canada for a short period of time. The maximum time allotted for visitors to Canada is 6 months.

Students

A foreign student is a temporary resident who has been approved by an immigration officer to study in Canada.

An application to come to Canada as a foreign student is normally approved at a visa office outside Canada, although in some cases, applicants may apply at a port of entry if they have a letter of acceptance from a Canadian educational institution.

Live-in caregiver

Live-in caregivers are individuals who are qualified to provide care for children, elderly persons or persons with disabilities in private homes without supervision. Live-in caregivers must live in the private home where they work in Canada as requirement must communicate in English or French, have previous experience and a high school diploma.

PERMANENT RESIDENTS

The Canadian government grants permanent residence visas to members of the Economic class and the Family class and Humanitarian class.

ECONOMIC CLASS

Federal programs refer to applications in which the candidate has a stated intended destination of any province other than Quebec.

FAMILY CLASS

Under the federal family class, current sponsorship programs, promote the first objective of the Canadian immigration law: reunification of families in Canada.

Family Class members are people sponsored to come to Canada by a person who is a Canadian Citizen or a Permanent Resident of Canada. The Family Class applicant must be the sponsor's:

• spouse, common-law or conjugal partner;
  
• dependant child, including a child adopted abroad;
  
• parents or grandparents; or
  
• an orphaned child under 18 who is a brother, sister, niece, nephew or grandchild and is not a spouse or common-law partner.

REFUGEE PROTECTION

Canada is a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Each year Canada grants permanent residence to approximately 30,000 refugees under an elaborate refugee protection process comprising of two main components, the Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program administered outside Canada and the In-Canada Refugee Protection Process.

Refugees and people needing protection are those in or outside Canada who fear returning to their home country. Canada maintaining its humanitarian tradition and international obligations, Canada provides protection to thousands of people every year obeiding the codify law in a fair and non discriminatory process.

Canada offers refugee protection to people in Canada who fear persecution or who may be at risk of torture or cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, and are unwilling or unable to return to their home country.

Canadian immigration laws, also, allows groups and individuals can sponsor refugees from abroad who qualify to come to Canada.

CONVENTION REFUGEES ABROAD CLASS

You are a Convention Refugee if you are outside your home country, or the country where you normally live, and can't return to that country because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on:

• race
  
• religion
  
• political opinion
  
• nationality or
  
• membership in a particular social group, such as women or people with a different sexual orientation.
  

Refugee claims in Canada

Canada offers refugee protection to people in Canada who fear persecution or who may be at risk of torture or cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, and are unwilling or unable to return to their home country.

If you feel that you will be persecuted or otherwise at risk as mentioned above, if you return to your home country, you can seek protection in Canada as a Convention Refugee or a person in need of protection. To be eligible, you must apply from within Canada or at a point of entry to Canada.

Resettlement from outside Canada

Resettlement is the term used by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (the ministry) to describe the legal process of bringing a refugee to Canada to live as a permanent resident.

The ministry relies on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), other referral organizations and private sponsorship groups to identify and refer refugees for resettlement in Canada.

ASYLUM CLASS

The Country of Asylum Class is for people in refugee-like situations, who do not qualify as Convention refugees.

You are in the Country of Asylum Class if you:

are outside your home country or the country where you normally live

have been, and continue to be, seriously and personally affected by civil war or armed conflict, or have suffered massive violations of human rights

cannot find an adequate solution to your situation within a reasonable period of time and

will be privately sponsored or have the funds required to support yourself and your dependants.

Humanitarian and Compassionate Case

A humanitarian and compassionate application (called an H & C) is an immigration application that lets you ask for special permission to stay in Canada while your application for permanent residence is processed. For many people, an H & C is usually a last attempt to stay in Canada; however if you can that you will suffer an undue hardship provide evidence you may apply with anticipation be aware that this type of application do not grant status.

Refugees: Sponsoring refugees

Each year, millions of people around the world are forced to flee their homelands to escape persecution, war or severe human rights abuses. Often these people are never able to return home.

Groups and individuals can sponsor refugees from abroad who qualify to come to Canada.

Sponsors are responsible for providing financial settlement assistance (except for Joint Assistance Sponsorship cases) for refugees once they arrive in Canada. Sponsors must also provide emotional and significant settlement assistance for the duration of the sponsorship period.

Most sponsorships last for one year, but some refugees may be eligible to receive assistance from their sponsors for a longer period of time.

Sponsors in Quebec

Quebec has its own process for sponsoring refugees. Sponsors who live in the province of Quebec should contact the Quebec ministry that handles immigration.

PROVINCIAL PROGRAMS

All of the provinces have their own provincial immigration programs (known as Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP)), in order to promote immigration policies suited to a province's particular needs. As a result, the provinces are receiving an increasing role in the selection of economic immigrants intending to settle in a province.

Quebec Immigration Categories: The province of Quebec is unique in that it has the authority to select its own candidates for immigration. All applicants destined for Quebec must first be approved by this province's immigration department, which maintains offices worldwide. Applicants who succeed in the province of Quebec do retain the right to mobility throughout Canada once approved.

Alberta Immigration: Alberta's program is unique in that it only comprises of a Skilled Worker category no business category. In all cases, employers must first apply for pre-approval to sponsor candidates for the program Owing to the current demanding employment market in Alberta; after the employer receives it's pre-approval and presents the candidate with a guaranteed job offer, the candidate then submits the application.

Manitoba Immigration: The Manitoba program has seven categories, including Skilled Worker, Business, Student, Family, Community Support, Strategic Recruitment. The Skilled Worker category: requires employers to obtain pre-approval before sponsoring an applicant. The employer must demonstrate sufficient efforts to hire local Canadians and offer competitive terms and conditions of employment. The pre-approval requirement for the employer is waived if the candidate has worked in Manitoba for 6 months on a work permit. Otherwise, the pre-approval assessment can take between 6 and 7 months to conclude. After concluding the pre-approval process, the candidate submits an application. When the nomination certificate is issued, the candidate can then apply for a Work Permit without the requirements of obtaining a labour market approval (LMO). The business category requires an investment of at least CAN$150,000 in Manitoba, a preliminary visit to Manitoba, and a deposit of CAN$75,000 with the Manitoba government. The applications are generally processed within 3-4 months.

Saskatchewan Immigration: Saskatchewan has an extensive program. In addition for Skilled Workers and Entrepreneurs, Saskatchewan has programs for Health Care Professionals, Farmers, Students, Family Members of Saskatchewan residents, and a special category for Long-Haul Truck Drivers. The candidate requires a guaranteed job offer from a Saskatchewan employer. There is no pre-approval process. Both the candidate and the employer jointly submit the requisite application forms. There is a different application process for workers already working in Saskatchewan under a work permit. Skilled workers do not require a Work Permit or LMO before applying for the program. Once issued, the certificate can serve in place of the LMO to receive a work permit. The Business category requires proof of management experience, a $75,000 deposit, and $250,000 of net worth, an exploratory visit, and a suitable business proposal to be considered. Processing time targets for applications in all categorys are in the range of approximately 14 weeks. There are no fees charged.

Other provinces with these programs are:

• Nova Scotia
  
• Prince Edward Island
  
• British Columbia
  
• New Brunswick
  
• Newfoundland