Are you approaching graduation from a Canadian college or university, or have you been working in Canada and are reaching the end of your current work visa? Canada has begun a number of immigration programs in the last few years that may be excellent choices if you are looking to make Canada your home as a permanent resident. Here, our Ottawa and Orleans immigration physicians explain more.
The past few years have revealed a number of existing needs that Canada has for skilled and essential workers. And part of the way the government of Canada has decided to help meet this need is by opening new immigration programs for students graduating from Canadian post-secondary education and temporary foreign workers who are working in careers that are critical to Canadian infrastructure.
As a resident of Canada, you are likely familiar with some of the most popular immigration programs run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Here, the doctors at Immigration Physicians Ottawa explain some of the top Canadian immigration programs for people who have recently graduated or who are currently working in Canada that you may not know about to help you to remain in Canada and continue to be a valuable part of our country!
Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot
If the idea of living outside of major Canadian cities and working in rural, northern communities appeals to you, you may be interested in this community-driven pilot project for immigration to Canada.
This program is designed to spread the benefits of economic immigration (immigration for work and for the benefit of the community and the person coming to Canada) across the country rather than centralizing it only in the largest cities.
Northern cities and communities in Canada can be excellent places to live and this program provides an extra pathway to people looking to explore what these communities have to offer while in Canada.
The communities that are participating in this program include North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste Marie, Thunder Bay, Brandon, Altona/Rhineland, Moose Jaw, Claresholm, Vernon and West Kootenay. In order to be considered to be eligible for this program, a person has to fulfill the following requirements:
- have qualifying work experience or have graduated from a publicly funded post-secondary institution in the recommending community
- meet or exceed the language requirements
- meet or exceed the educational requirements
- prove you have enough money to support your transition into the community
- intend to live in the community
- meet community-specific requirements
- have temporary resident status (if you’re in Canada when you apply)
Once you fulfill all of the above requirements, you can begin looking for work in a community in an eligible job as determined by the IRCC.
As with any immigration program in Canada, there will be extra steps involved, including a medical exam, certificate of health and a police check.
Home Child Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot
These two pilot programs are 5-year pilots designed to help qualified caregivers and their family members come to Canada and become permanent residents. If you have been offered a job already in Canada as a caregiver or home support worker, you may be able to use either of these pilot program to apply for permanent residence.
The way you can apply through these programs will depend on the amount and kind of work experience that you have in either of these fields, there are three options to choose from, each of which will affect how you apply to immigrate to Canada:
- You’ve never worked full-time as a caregiver in Canada.
- You don’t have 24 months of experience yet, but:
- are working full-time as a caregiver in Canada right now, or;
- recently worked full-time as a caregiver in Canada
- In the last 36 months, you’ve worked full-time as a caregiver in Canada for a total of 24 months or more.
Work as a caregiver or home support worker in Canada is defined using the National Occupational Classification numbers 44100 and 44101 respectively. Before applying to this program, check the definitions of those two in the NOC to ensure that your job experience would qualify you to participate in the program.
To learn more about the specific application process for this program depending on your level of experience, follow the link below and learn more.
The Provincial Nominee Program
This long-standing program is design to support worker who have specific skills and work experience to contribute to the economy of a certain province or territory. In order to be eligible for this program, an applicant need to also intend to live and work in the specific province that they will be applying through.
This program is available for all provinces and territories besides Quebec, which has its own provincial sponsorship program separate from this one. Each province and territory that participates in the Provincial Nominee Program has its own streams depending on the groups of people that they would like to attract to their communities, including:
- students
- business people
- skilled workers
- semi-skilled workers
Unlike the two immigration programs listed above, the Provincial Nominee Program is a supporting program to other immigration processes, such as Express Entry. In addition to going through the steps of applying to your immigration program, you can choose a province or territory (that you have been offered work in, most often) and apply for nomination in order to strengthen your application to immigrate to Canada.
The application process for the immigration program you will be using to apply for Canadian Permanent Residence and your provincial nomination will depend on the precise program and province. To learn more about the steps you will need to take in order to integrate a Provincial Nomination into your immigration application, follow the link below and make a selection of your province or territory of interest.
