US-based applicants, let's connect here

[useurhead]

what do you mean by NB?

New Brunswick, a province in Canada.

 

[trumprefugee]

applying from Seattle, I submitted my EE Profile yesterday, however my CRS score is just 365. I'm looking into PNP as an option in hope to additional points, however they require a job offer for you to be considered. Anybody here have a similar case? or does anyone here can give advice? Thanks!

Good information from @canada_eagle. Also, your NOC code is also on the list for SINP, although note that you would need to get CIPS certification to qualify as indicated on this page:
http://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/moving-to-saskatchewan/immigrating-to-saskatchewan/saskatchewan-immigrant-nominee-program/applicants-international-skilled-workers/sinp-in-demand-occupation-list
You can apply for the International Skilled Worker EE category when they open (they open approximately once a month)
http://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/moving-to-saskatchewan/immigrating-to-saskatchewan/saskatchewan-immigrant-nominee-program/applicants-international-skilled-workers/international-skilled-worker-saskatchewan-express-entry
or the Occupation In Demand stream:
http://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/moving-to-saskatchewan/immigrating-to-saskatchewan/saskatchewan-immigrant-nominee-program/applicants-international-skilled-workers/international-skilled-worker-occupations-in-demand
More information about SINP:
http://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/moving-to-saskatchewan/immigrating-to-saskatchewan/saskatchewan-immigrant-nominee-program/applicants-international-skilled-workers

This site lists upcoming info sessions for New Brunswick PNP:
http://livinginnb.ca/
Right now, they are only looking for people with excellent French proficiency, but keep an eye on this page for updates. About a month ago, they were looking for IT people, including your NOC code, who had attended an info session within the past 2 years, so if you are interested in NB, it's a good idea to attend an info session if you get an opportunity so you can apply the next time they open it up to people
http://www.welcomenb.ca/content/wel-bien/en/immigrating/content/HowToImmigrate/NBProvincialNomineeProgram.html

You can also keep an eye on Nova Scotia, Category B which does not require a job offer and reopens very occasionally
https://novascotiaimmigration.com/move-here/nova-scotia-demand-express-entry/
Page 6 of the application guide lists the qualifying NOC codes. Currently yours is not on the list, but they periodically update the list, so you can keep checking for any updates:
http://novascotiaimmigration.com/wp-content/uploads/Demand-AppGuide-English-1.pdf

 

[canada_eagle]

@trumprefugee Looks like OINP is taking applications. Hope you got your in

 

[trumprefugee]

@trumprefugee Looks like OINP is taking applications. Hope you got your in

Thanks for thinking of me! I did submit my application last night/this morning a little after 2 AM and am praying for a smooth and speedy nomination.

 

[moose17]

Yeah, congrats @trumprefugee! I was out of the ROH threads for a few days and was shocked when I went to catch up and saw that - I'm so glad you got a chance to get that in!

 

[JERiv]

link to join whatsaap group https://chat.whatsapp.com/1nCqXZMNQgeBdfyYULKsJv

Hi everyone. I'm just curious, is the whatsapp group still active? I tried joining it, but it doesn't seem to work.

Sidenote, I've been reading on the news lately (I really should stop...), and I'm soooo happy we decided on moving. Knowing we're doing this keeps me sane. We just need to be patient until we can finally make the jump. We're now all set to do our "landing" next month (12/17), and if all goes well job wise we'll move by June 2018 at the latest.

 

[BrittanyElaina]

Does anyone here have experience traveling to Canada after receiving a COPR but returning to the US before receiving your PR card? I'm going to need to go to Vancouver for a job interview soon and I'm wondering if I can just travel as a US citizen and not do my landing since I'll be returning to the US the very next day or so and will possibly need to go back and forth a few times before I would receive my PR card.

As a US citizen travelling with a US passport I don't need a visa or ETA to go to Canada, but I don't want to feel like I'm doing anything wrong by not disclosing or "activating" my COPR and landing. Is immigration okay with this? Do I just explain my situation when I go through customs? How did you go about coming and going for job interviews as a US citizen post receiving your COPR? The only information I can find on the topic has to do with people from countries (everywhere besides the US) who need an ETA or Visa and therefore need to activate their COPR at the time they first arrive in Canada.

 

[moose17]

@JERiv, we feel the same way. We're waiting on my husband's employer to reveal their health insurance options for next year and are expecting it to be ugly. Add in various other recent news stories and eesh, yep, can't wait to go! I'm glad you guys have a plan to make it happen soon. It's been a weight off our shoulders getting closer and I assume it's the same for you.

@BrittanyElaina, I don't but I think @mgnlky posted once about something related at the border? We're going to land in a few weeks by car but if one of us gets a job interview we might prefer flying up for it. We have the backup of just going by car again but I'll ask when we land and will pass on any info I get.

A little update on our situation: we got our COPRs a few days ago and are planning to land one of the first two weekends in December. My mother read some fear-mongering healthcare junk and did a 180 on her feelings about it, so that was a really awful conversation to have We're down to one single parental supporter - my Trump voter father-in-law Well, the rest technically support us but if we can't share pretty much anything about the move with them (not even "hey cool thing we can do in Toronto when you visit!"), that becomes a nearly empty term to me.

I'm honestly kind of sad over how we pretty much have to keep this to ourselves. We're so excited, and I've always wanted to live in a big city and/or a different country so the whole process and everything is really exciting to me but I have such a small number of people (that no longer includes my mother) that I can actually share that with. It just sucks sometimes.

 

[mgnlky]

Does anyone here have experience traveling to Canada after receiving a COPR but returning to the US before receiving your PR card? I'm going to need to go to Vancouver for a job interview soon and I'm wondering if I can just travel as a US citizen and not do my landing since I'll be returning to the US the very next day or so and will possibly need to go back and forth a few times before I would receive my PR card.

As a US citizen travelling with a US passport I don't need a visa or ETA to go to Canada, but I don't want to feel like I'm doing anything wrong by not disclosing or "activating" my COPR and landing. Is immigration okay with this? Do I just explain my situation when I go through customs? How did you go about coming and going for job interviews as a US citizen post receiving your COPR? The only information I can find on the topic has to do with people from countries (everywhere besides the US) who need an ETA or Visa and therefore need to activate their COPR at the time they first arrive in Canada.

I would advise you to do your landing on the first trip through. When landing, tell them you are going to be going back to the US prior to getting your PR card to settle things, pack up, etc., and they *may* go ahead and put a visa stamp in your passport (They may not, because it seems to confuse people when I show them mine- at the end of the day it's not a big deal). After you soft land, you can continue to use your US passport to enter Canada at airports. [The main issue at airports & PR cards is individuals can use the PR Card to be allowed to board the plane. As US passport holders, we don't have this issue so having the PR Card itself is rather useless to us on a plane.]

Traveling by land you can use your CoPR or your passport. I've talked to three different CBSA officers and all have said the same thing: Don't bother us with a request for PRTD because you can easily come into the country using your passport.

Additionally, by not activating your PR upon entering, you cannot tell your interviewer that you are a permanent resident. Once you have done the landing process you can. As someone who just went through countless interviews in Vancouver before landing and after landing, I can tell you firsthand it's a lot easier to get a job when you can confidently say, "I am legally authorized to work for any employer in Canada" and not have to explain/answer questions.

 

[JERiv]

@moose17 Yep. We're in "patient" mode, just waiting until we know if one of my wife's job opportunities materializes. If it does, we'll go into overdrive/ludicrous mode in how fast we'll get things done in order to move!

Sorry about your mom. I kind of expect that to happen with my parents. They tend to see what they want and stick with it, regardless of actual evidence to the contrary (they're devoted Fox News viewers). We'll find out next week, as we plan to tell them over Thanksgiving while visiting them... only after we eat, just in case they don't take it well... my mom's cooking is delicious...

I definitely empathize on not being able to share with everyone no matter how excited we might be. But we can't do much about it. Some folks react weird to knowing you're moving (distance themselves), while others finding out would be very bad (wife's employers). We'll wait until it's pretty much a done deal before we really let everyone know.

@BrittanyElaina No experience here yet. Sorry!

We're doing our landing next month, but we will leave back to the States after just 2 weeks. We're working on our "goods to follow" list now. We plan on giving my BIL's address in BC Canada for our PR cards. He'll mail them to us once he receives them. It's our understanding that this is a (kind of) normal thing to do, since lots of folks need to go back and wrap things up (i.e. sell house, end current job commitments, school, etc.). Some folks apparently setup a mailbox in Canada to receive their PR cards for them.

For us, we decided it would be best to just get the landing out the way and get the PR cards. That way we have 3 years to get a job and move, don't miss any landing COPR deadlines, and can state that we are PRs for job searches. But yeah, that might mean be a problem if you plan to travel back and forth before you get the PR cards.

 

[mgnlky]

@moose17 Some folks apparently setup a mailbox in Canada to receive their PR cards for them.

I do not suggest going this route. More than likely the CBSA officer will not allow you to list a post office box.

 

[katiegud]

Speaking of P.O. boxes... I'm filling out my PR application, and it requires a P.O. box under the mailing address. I don't have one. What do I write there?

 

[Cassiemassey86]

I was so relieved to see this thread. I'm a US nurse and I'm just so fed up with where our healthcare system is headed, We decided its time to move on. Explaining it to my friends was easy, some of them said 'stay and fight' others said 'good for you'. But the heat I have gotten from my conservative family is unbelievable. Some of them wont even talk to me, others wont talk to me except to try to convince me that America is perfect and I will regret leaving and that I'm terrible for even trying. Things have just gotten so hard for my wife and I here, I don't feel safe here anymore.
I've finished submitting our APR and now we're in the wait and see phase. I'm rather worried because American employers wont write the detailed employment verification letters that the CIC expects and that's where we're most likely to be rejected. I cant exactly explain to them that I'm immigrating, (I tried that once and they decided to start processing things very slowly and erroneously to prevent me from being able to move).
Does anyone know the likelihood of rejection based off of that? My nursing license through the CNO is being processed as well so hopefully my license comes in at the same time.

 

[prasenjit1986]

Just curious - did anyone figure out the tax implications for a US-based person becoming a Canadian PR? Do we pay double tax (Oh Please God No!) or do we pay tax in the country where we are currently working (until making complete move to Canada)?

And considering the tax rate difference between US and Canada, how does the mutual tax treaty between the two countries work?

 

[chardys]

Does anyone here have experience traveling to Canada after receiving a COPR but returning to the US before receiving your PR card? I'm going to need to go to Vancouver for a job interview soon and I'm wondering if I can just travel as a US citizen and not do my landing since I'll be returning to the US the very next day or so and will possibly need to go back and forth a few times before I would receive my PR card.

As a US citizen travelling with a US passport I don't need a visa or ETA to go to Canada, but I don't want to feel like I'm doing anything wrong by not disclosing or "activating" my COPR and landing. Is immigration okay with this? Do I just explain my situation when I go through customs? How did you go about coming and going for job interviews as a US citizen post receiving your COPR? The only information I can find on the topic has to do with people from countries (everywhere besides the US) who need an ETA or Visa and therefore need to activate their COPR at the time they first arrive in Canada.

Yes, I just did that - I'm US-based but with another passport that needs an eTA (I had the eTA before I got my COPR). They just asked me the purpose for the visit and I said I was attending a conference in Canada, that was it; they did not even ask me anything about COPR. Of course, if they ask you anything about COPR, you should answer truthfully... I had brought with me all the documents to prove that I was only staying in Canada temporarily for now (return tickets, the proof of current enrollment in school, etc) and say I was planning to land next spring; I'm no lawyer but as far as I could tell, you'll just need to convince them that you are leaving Canada after the temporary stay (see IRPA Article 22 (2)).

Though probably for the purposes of job interviews, it is better if you are officially a PR... though that's a separate issue. Good luck with the trips!