CPP-Ottawa

[BossJosh]

Oh wow, just six months, that's really fast, looks im going to have to reconsider applying to career type jobs here in the US, and to start looking in Canada then. Thankyou.

 

[IvanP]

Oh wow, just six months, that's really fast, looks im going to have to reconsider applying to career type jobs here in the US, and to start looking in Canada then. Thankyou.

But the official processing time is now 14 months to process 80% of complete applications, so you might have a very long wait ahead of you (hopefully not, but it's really a crapshoot).

 

[amikety]

Oh wow, just six months, that's really fast, looks im going to have to reconsider applying to career type jobs here in the US, and to start looking in Canada then. Thankyou.

If you get a good case officer, it helps tremendously. I got through very fast (7.5 months) but it appears I won the "lottery" on my immigration officer.

Keep in mind, if you're American or Mexican, you can look into NAFTA as a way to work inside Canada before getting your PR. All you need to do is a) find a job; b) make the job fit into NAFTA. Get a hammer and beat that square peg into the round hole.

 

[IvanP]

If you get a good case officer, it helps tremendously. I got through very fast (7.5 months) but it appears I won the "lottery" on my immigration officer.

Keep in mind, if you're American or Mexican, you can look into NAFTA as a way to work inside Canada before getting your PR. All you need to do is a) find a job; b) make the job fit into NAFTA. Get a hammer and beat that square peg into the round hole.

And if that doesn't work, get a bigger hammer.

 

[BossJosh]

If you get a good case officer, it helps tremendously. I got through very fast (7.5 months) but it appears I won the "lottery" on my immigration officer.

Keep in mind, if you're American or Mexican, you can look into NAFTA as a way to work inside Canada before getting your PR. All you need to do is a) find a job; b) make the job fit into NAFTA. Get a hammer and beat that square peg into the round hole.

Awe thanks ill look into that, Ive been having trouble finding a job here in the US which is partially why im moving to Canada to hopefully find work there. I take it that you mean to find a job inside in the US first then switch that over to a job in Canada using NAFTA? Oh one more question, could CIC still possibly reject my application to be sponsored, because im currently unemployed, although my wife got the approval to sponsor me?

 

[IvanP]

Awe thanks ill look into that, Ive been having trouble finding a job here in the US which is partially why im moving to Canada to hopefully find work there. I take it that you mean to find a job inside in the US first then switch that over to a job in Canada using NAFTA? Oh one more question, could CIC still possibly reject my application to be sponsored, because im currently unemployed, although my wife got the approval to sponsor me?

CIC doesn't care if you're not working. Your wife is the one with the obligation to support you in Canada if you can't find work. If you had work in Canada, that would help demonstrate that your family has enough financial wherewithal not to rely on public assistance, which is really what CIC is looking for evidence of.

The NAFTA visas are for specific categories of professionals (you can Google the list to see whether you fit in the category, but I know it does include lawyers so my wife is eligible for one). It's not about switching from the US to Canada, it just makes you eligible to get hired for specific kinds of jobs in Canada without the employer first having to go through the hassle of doing labor market opinions and other immigration hurdles (about which I know only very little).

 

[amikety]

Awe thanks ill look into that, Ive been having trouble finding a job here in the US which is partially why im moving to Canada to hopefully find work there. I take it that you mean to find a job inside in the US first then switch that over to a job in Canada using NAFTA? Oh one more question, could CIC still possibly reject my application to be sponsored, because im currently unemployed, although my wife got the approval to sponsor me?

NAFTA makes getting a work permit a lot easier. You don't need to find a job in the USA. You can find a job in Canada. They have to write you a job offer letter which you use to apply for a work permit. It has to meet guidelines for NAFTA (such as job description) so it will be LMO exempt. I'm not going to go deep into details about the work permits & LMOs because it's confusing and most of it won't apply to you anyway.

Generally speaking, CIC and/or CBSA won't care that you also have a PR application in process since you're American. They will be more interested in whether or not your job qualifies for NAFTA.

 

[BossJosh]

NAFTA makes getting a work permit a lot easier. You don't need to find a job in the USA. You can find a job in Canada. They have to write you a job offer letter which you use to apply for a work permit. It has to meet guidelines for NAFTA (such as job description) so it will be LMO exempt. I'm not going to go deep into details about the work permits & LMOs because it's confusing and most of it won't apply to you anyway.

Generally speaking, CIC and/or CBSA won't care that you also have a PR application in process since you're American. They will be more interested in whether or not your job qualifies for NAFTA.

Interesting, wow so i can still apply for a work permit then if find something that will suit me and NAFTA. I tried to find a job before we got married but when I finally did and I needed one of the LMO's in order to get a work permit, the government said no. So here i am now with this family sponsorship. This NAFTA option cuts out the middle man, i like that. Thankyou guys for giving me some insight on this. Ill take a look at the employment section of this forum too.

 

[nortena]

I have added you. My eyes are a little crossed (too much excitement & not enough sleep the past few days) so double check your dates. You did DD/MM/YYYY and the sheet is MM/DD/YYYY so just make sure I did it right.

Amikity you did a great job! I should of known better and had sent the dates US style, it took me forever to write it down like that, but guess I have to get used to it if I'm gonna live in Canada

 

[IvanP]

Interesting, wow so i can still apply for a work permit then if find something that will suit me and NAFTA. I tried to find a job before we got married but when I finally did and I needed one of the LMO's in order to get a work permit, the government said no. So here i am now with this family sponsorship. This NAFTA option cuts out the middle man, i like that. Thankyou guys for giving me some insight on this. Ill take a look at the employment section of this forum too.

Before popping open the champagne, remember that NAFTA visas are only for certain enumerated professions. If you don't have the training/education for one of those professions, the employer will still have to do the LMO.

 

[amikety]

Amikity you did a great job! I should of known better and had sent the dates US style, it took me forever to write it down like that, but guess I have to get used to it if I'm gonna live in Canada

I don't know about other parts of Canada, but Alberta does a lot of things the "American" way. (Which is fine because we're all technically North Americans right?) Some places do dates day-month-year. Others do it month-day-year. I gave up trying to figure it out. Unless they say which they want, I signed everything Aug 9, 2013 or 9 Aug 2013. If I write the month out, there cannot be confusion! (I think.)

In fact, I did the January 2013 spreadsheet that way too. I figured with people from all over the world, that was easiest anyway.

 

[computergeek]

Quick question - if you have nothing to import, what do you do?

Tell them you have nothing to import. The CBSA officer wrote "no goods to follow" in my passport around the immigration stamp.

 

[computergeek]

If you get a good case officer, it helps tremendously. I got through very fast (7.5 months) but it appears I won the "lottery" on my immigration officer.

I found that having a Justice Canada lawyer breathing down the neck of the officer helps as well.

 

[jds07]

Tell them you have nothing to import. The CBSA officer wrote "no goods to follow" in my passport around the immigration stamp.

Do you still need to fill out forms in that case then?

 

[aeastmond]

Pretty much (unless there is something wrong with the application). This is the very long (and painful) wait that we all must face.

I heard from Ottawa yesterday

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your email.

Your application has been finalized and your document has been sent to you on 2013-08-08 via mail.

Regards,

Case Processing Pilot - Ottawa