Hi! I am new to the forums and I'm looking for more info on immigration. I've been to some Canadian Immigration sites for info.. but I'm interested in getting real-life persons to help!
I am a US citizen, my husband is a Mexican citizen. We have a daughter that is a US citizen. I'm wondering what it will take for us to immigrate to Canada permanently. I currently have a job that allows me to work from home and I am really close to finishing up a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. Would it be best to immigrate as a student and take classes at a Canadian University or wait until I have my degree in Psychology and work in the field (in the US) for at least a year?
Would it be possible to immigrate to Canada with my US work-from-home job? Or do I have to actually have a Canadian job?
Where can I find info on finding a position with a Canadian company to get a sponsored Visa? (sorry if my terms are incorrect.. i'm still learning the ropes)
You need a purpose if you want to stay in Canada. A purpose is either studies or work. A work from home job will not do the trick. It would not be a bad idea for one half of the couple to come to Canada as a student. The other half of the couple can apply for an open work permit as their spouse. The one on the open work permit can work on forging relations with an employer. If they get sponsored for PR by their employer under PNP for example, they can apply for their spouse too. If that doesn't work out, the student will graduate and in some provinces can apply as a graduate under a PNP program as long as they have a job offer or in some cases as long as they have worked a certain number of hours.
Applying for your PR directly as used to be done under the skilled worker program in the old days is getting harder and harder now. It is currently down to 29 allowed occupations and each of them have a cap of 500 people per year.
Read all about it here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp
You also have another card up your sleeve as a US citizen and a psychologist and that is NAFTA. If you get a job offer in Canada, that is enough for you to enter at the border and ask for your 3 year work permit, see http://www.canadavisa.com/nafta-temporary-work-permit-canada.html Your husband could still ask for an open work permit as your spouse. Getting a work permit without NAFTA means that the employer would have to prove that he couldn't find a Canadian for the job so you see NAFTA is a good deal for you. Getting the job offer might be easier after you have a bit of experience though. In your shoes, I would put up a profile on some job websites and actively look and travel to Canada periodically to do interviews. That way, you can be working on your experience back home but actively looking to go. Once you get that offer, you go apply for your 3 year NAFTA work permit.
What happens after work permit, if you do not succeed in getting sponsored by an employer under PNP, after 2 years of skilled work, you can apply under CEC yourself.
