Why Move to Canada

Express Entry is the most sought-after immigration system for Permanent Residency in Canada. It is a file management system where anyone who is applying for immigration to Canada needs to register. Under the Express Entry system, all immigration aspirants from the UK need to submit their profile under Federal Skilled Worker, Provincial Nominee (Express Entry Programs only), Federal Skilled Trades, or Canadian Experience Class selection categories to push their immigration application.

Express Entry Pool is the database for all eligible candidates. Express Entry system is a 2-step process wherein after you submit your profile, you are assigned a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score provided you meet the requirements to qualify for immigration to Canada from the UK. If you meet the requirements as per the CRS score sheet, you will be issued an Invitation to Apply for Permanent Residency (PR) by the Government of Canada.

The time it takes to receive the ‘invitation to apply’ for PR under the Express Entry Pool can’t be guaranteed as it is based on your CRS score and when your CRS score is selected. Some lucky applicants have received an ‘invitation to apply’ after just 2 days of submission, and some have had to wait up to 1 year. It happens if you meet the score requirement under CRS; your chances almost diminish if your score is below 450 under CRS.

Once you have submitted your profile under the Express Entry Pool, you will get a specific CRS score out of 1200. Out of that, in the first set of 600 points, you get a score based on your age, language abilities in English and French, total work experience, Canadian work experience, and education.

Additionally, the education of your spouse, your spouse’s language ability in French or English, and the Canadian work experience of your spouse also help to add points in the first set. Try to get as many points in the first set. You can get the remaining 600 points at once under CRS and, with it, an ‘Invitation to Apply’ if you get a Provincial Nomination or a qualified job offer from a Canadian employer with a Valid Labour Market Impact Assessment.

The Canadian Government issues an ‘Invitation to Apply’ once your CRS score has been selected. You will get an ‘Invitation to Apply’ only if you have applied under the Express Entry Pool. ‘Invitation to Apply’ is the document that helps to boost your chances of applying for Permanent Residency in Canada.

If you are a UK citizen and plan to move to Canada for a job, you can get jobs easily anywhere in Canada. Thanks to the close historical bilateral relations between the two nations due to their shared colonial past. Almost any city in Canada suits you as a UK citizen to move to for a job, provided it meets your needs and offers facilities and other opportunities matching your work experience.

However, the most common cities UK citizens prefer to move to Canada for a job are Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Ottawa, Ontario. If you are a woman, Toronto City in the province of Ontario should be your preferred city for a job, as it has been regularly ranked #1 in a study conducted by Bloomberg as the leading city globally for providing quality of life for pursuing their career.

The highlight of Toronto has been its diverse economy, with jobs in technology, finance, and media, traditionally the preferred sectors for women to pursue careers. Canada is a booming economy, and its expanding job market with around 1.1 million job vacancies nationwide ensures enough opportunities for UK citizens to get a job in Canada.

If you wish to migrate to Canada from the UK, you can do it with a work permit. You can get it with a valid job offer from a Canada-based employer. However, if you only plan to study in Canada, you can migrate to Canada with a Study Permit without a job. Ensure that you have been admitted to an eligible Canadian educational institute.

You can also migrate to Canada without a job via the family sponsorship route, provided you already have a relative who holds PR in Canada or is a citizen of Canada. The charges for moving from the UK to Canada depend on the immigration route chosen by you. However, it is advisable to consider the following, to calculate your total cost of immigration from the UK to Canada. These include:-

1. Application fee for immigration application which includes processing fees

2. Settlement funds that you need to show that you possess

3. Permanent residence fee if you applied for PR

4. Transportation cost to Canada

5. Cost of medical insurance, if required

6. Cost of living in Canada

7. Suppose you have a parent/child or partner dependent on you and want to bring any or all of them to Canada. In that case, you need to consider additional costs associated with processing their visa application.

8.  Cost of hiring a legal representative to help process visa application

As an individual visa applicant migrating from the UK to Canada, you will need at least CAD 15,500. Couples, on the other hand, need around CAD 21,000. Families with children will need anywhere between CAD 25,000 to 30,000 to migrate to Canada from the UK.

If you are applying through the PNP route, you must pay additional application fees depending on the province you are applying for. Please note that the Quebec province of Canada doesn’t have a PNP. Below are the current charges for PNP.

As a UK citizen, you can also visit Canada without a visa for up to 6 months with Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) for tourism or business. Beyond that, you need to apply through appropriate immigration routes.

If, as a working professional, you are willing to immigrate to Canada from the UK, you must be eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker Program. This program, which comes under the Express Entry system, allows qualified individuals from the UK to immigrate to Canada.

Under the Express Entry pool, there are 370 jobs, and you can apply for any one of the jobs to immigrate to Canada. The Federal Skilled Trades Program and Canadian Experience Class are the other programs under the Express Entry system.

Provincial Nominee Program is meant for those skilled workers who only wish to move to a particular province in Canada, making them eligible for an additional 600 points under the Express Entry program’s CRS. If you have the highest CRS scores, you will be duly invited by the Canadian government to apply for PR.

The maximum number of points that can be scored under CRS is 1200. If you score below 450, you may become ineligible for Canadian PR. If you are eligible, you can get a Permanent Residency in Canada very quickly, provided you get invited under the Express Entry system by scoring maximum points.