I have been considering moving to Canada for a while, with the main reason being that family reunion (with parents) is almost impossible here.
Due to personal reasons, I am looking to minimize the time I would need before I am eligible to sponsor my parents. Currently, it’s 3 years on federal level (outside Quebec) and 1 year for Quebec. Therefore, Quebec is a clear winner as for my purpose.
To go to Quebec, I have considered 2 options:
Directly applying for a job there, find a company who is willing to sponsor a LMIA, move there, work for some months and then go with the Quebec Immigration Program (Arrima). After a year of working, I can apply for the sponsorship.
Go with EE, land in Canada first, after becoming a PR, try to find a job in Quebec , move there and then work for a year.
Both approahces have obvious pros and cons, but with approach 2, the question is: Is it even possible at all?
After all, EE states clearly that the candidate should not intend to live inside Quebec, I know once one gets PR one has the rights to freely move within Canada, but what if I want to apply for other immigration procedures afterwards? Will Quebec then find out that I migrated through EE and hence consider me untruthful and my sponsorship appliction undesirable?
Though it’s a pretty long-term plan, but as you can see, the answer to this question will decide for now what my focus should be: IELTS or landing a job in Quebec.
Thanks for your read & I appreciate any disucssion/replies!
Best,
If you’re invited to apply, you’ll have to provide proof that you meet the income requirements for each of the 3 taxation years right before the date of your application.
I am a Montreal resident who got PR via EE this year. My RAMQ (health insurance) is also approved. I didn’t even know if living in Quebec with a EE PR was illegal.
I moved from US. My target location in EE application was Ontario and had landed in Toronto and gotten my SIN/Bank A/Cs there. Changed my mind before the final move and instead moved to Montreal due to personal reasons but have had no issues so far.
Hi abshk, thanks a lot for sharing your experience!
It’s good to hear that you’ve got no issue so far, maybe it’s just me being over-risk-averse.
It’s not precisely ‘illegal’ to do that, but in EE they did specify that you should not have the intention to live in Quebec upon application. May I ask about the duration between landing and moving to Montreal? During this time, did you spend any time in Canada but outside Quebec?
6 months between landing and moving. And, no, I didn’t live anywhere else in Canada.
Do let us know if you come across any definitive information on your situation. Not sure if this will come up during citizenship application, which is relevant to us all.
@mie,
Thanks for the post, I’m still in the US as well, but I’m looking to move and sponsor my parents asap. It’s really interesting to know that I can do that faster in Quebec.
I couldn’t however find comprehensive information on the wait times in Quebec.
I was wondering if you could please point me to some more details or any updates that you might have?
I’m not aware of any rule that prevents you from moving to Quebec once you have landed as a EE PR in Canada (apart from Quebec, since landing in Quebec needs a special certificate), also your initial landing address should probably be in Canada but not in Quebec.
Option 2 might be easier in the sense that once you are a PR companies will be more willing to hire you.