Good day everyone,
So my wife and I are 36 years old and before we gave our IELTS our score was around 420. However post giving our IELTS our score is now 441.
While this was going on we started exploring immigration via ICT route and retained the services of a lawyer in Toronto.
Now we own and operate a cosmetic manufacturing unit in India and in the ICT can show that we will be doing the same in Canada and as we have been successfully running it for 6 years we have enough experience to show. Our ICT lawyer is very confident of getting the same approved. Post that we will immigrate and then after 12 months of operating it successfully can apply for PR.
OR and here comes the issue.
We can apply for PNP with 441 score and NOC 0016 and hope that a province nominates us and move with PR.
My questions are:
Which do you recommend?
Timeline for PNP is longer than the ones for ICT (3-4 months from today since we have been working on it for sometime)
In ICT we have a closed work permit and then after 12 months apply for PR and then wait for that to happen, whereas in PNP its straight shot to PR.
Can we move there via ICT and let PNP happen in the background, and if we do get it, switch over to PNP whilst being physically in Canada?
I know this is way too much information but do share your thoughts.
Thank You
We recently moved to Canada from US and age ~36 and magical 8 in IELTS but still not enough to get the PR. So we got the closed work permit Job (LMIA) and as soon as landed in Canada - we got the Alberta PNP invitation and submitted the express entry profile right away (within 4 weeks of arrival to Canada). I would recommend work on PNP in parallel and arrive in Canada on ICT. Very high chance you will get the PNP invitation. Though PNP processing is little longer but most of cases it comes in ~8 months if you are inland. So this will beat the timeline if you wish to apply after 1 year on ICT
@swamiom
Thanks for your message. So we will proceed with ICT and then hope we get a PNP on the way.
For PNP i assume best places would be Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba right.
What are your thoughts on location? Cost of living is so much lower here compared to Toronto.
I had originally landed in Calgary and in my opinion it is an excellent city. Agree with all your points on cost of living and affordability of housing.
The week I was there was the second week of Feb and the temperatures were extremely low that week between -15 and -40 the entire week (unfortunately this was during a polar vortex moving across the continent), however I will say that unlike the north east United States or Chicago, it was sunny and not at all windy so the cold was pretty tolerable.
My wife didn’t like the weather as much as I did so the move for good there got vetoed and we moved further west. All that said I personally think Calgary and Alberta are an excellent choice for a place to move to in Canada. I’m personally not convinced that the Vancouver and Toronto housing bubbles are sustainable and fear that if they ever crash there are going to be lots of people who will regret going all into those markets (but the prices have gone up for more than 2 decades now and who knows may never come down).
I moved to Calgary in June and for 3 weeks Alberta was burning with heat advisory. Talking with local ppl here - they are witnessing that winters are getting milder and milder and its shrinking but our first winter @Alberta has yet to be witnessed. Talking with relators said - many folks are moving to Calgary from Toronto but I believe Toronto & Vancouver real estate market will still be hot till government strictly regulate the snow washing activities in Toronto/Vancouver. With election coming up - higher chances that conservative will come and speculations are that they will enforce strict regulation for foreign snow washing activities. Alberta is a deeply conservative province and real estate market is kind of stable but we have seen the month of July property price went up like crazy with multiple offers.
@panditji - I also do feel that the housing market in Toronto and Vancouver has reached a point wherein new immigrants will find it very difficult to buy homes and put down roots.
@swamiom You have now been in Calgary for 3 months now. How has your experience been? Are you self employed or employed in a company? I am trying to also understand how the self employed people feel about Calgary.
Also what is Foreign snow washing activities mean?
I am employed by Company. For Calgary I would say its a best city except for cold winters - In terms of amenities - it is comparable to Toronto. Here many people have lost jobs in the Oil/Gas industry and then they became self employed. While home hunting, I found 2 realtors who lost their jobs & were at senior level in Oil/Gas. One of them started the building business - both are able to make good profit. Calgary is highly affordable. If you plan to invest money in real-estate - Toronto & Vancouver is very risky but with risk also comes the high profit if you play wisely. I feel Toronto/Vancouver housing market can burst any time with strong regulations coming very soon. Other advantage for Alberta is you will get PNP right away as soon as you reach here.
Thanks a lot @swamiom for your reply. This post is quite encouraging. So are you saying that you and your wife gave IELTS before coming. We are also planning to move to Canada on my husband ICT but I would like to apply for PNP for myself although I am coming on visitor visa currently. Secondly, if I create my EE profile, will it cause any issue with SOWP application which I am planning to put in after 2 months of landing? Please guide.
@Nehag1985 I think that now giving IELTS is mandatory irrespective of if its EE or PNP or ICT.
We have uploaded our profile in the EE Pool and are also considering the ICT route as well, but i wonder if we can have two applications running concurrently under EE and ICT simultaneously. Look forward to everyones thoughts on the same.
Thanks
Yes my wife and I both wrote IELTS before coming hoping we will get an ITA from federal but points were not enough so we picked up the route of work permit → PNP. Yes taking IELTS before hand would be highly useful to expedite the PR process via PNP.
@swamiom Thanks for letting me know. So if we create a profile for express entry after landing and let’s say we get the PNP nomination in my name who is on visitor visa initially. Can I apply for SOWP also in parallel? Any thoughts?
Yes PNP invitation or even ITA does not stop you from applying work permit. Also keep in mind if your husband has a job then it increases the chance for your husband to get PNP unless you have a strong connection with the province. Which provide you are landing? Why not you both create a EE profile and wait for PNP - it will double the chance of getting PNP.
