mandthepand said:
Supposing his occupation is not on the "list" he will then need to go the PNP route. Will he then be classed as a temporary worker until the Permanent Resident Visa is approved. This makes it very insecure especially as we have two children who are in school - does he give up his job here and work over there hoping to get the visa. How long does he have to work for an employer before he becomes nominated. Can you get the visa pushed through quicker by just having a job offer? Do you have to go through the PNP way if you have a job offer?
There are no guarantees in this life but there are loads of people at my workplace coming here from Germany with families and nobody had to go home yet because it didnt work out. The way it works, he needs to get a job offer first, employer applies for LMO and he applies for work permit for himself on that LMO and open work permit for you and when issued, you can all come over here. If you are really worried about your kids, you can send him ahead and join him later. Some of my German friends do that too but it is not really necessary. Maybe easier for him to go first and arrange housing and things like that.
The company can apply for his PNP right away if they want to but they may want to see that he is a good worker first so they might want to wait for 3 to 6 months. If his employer turns out to be horrible and awful and no good and all that, he can look for another job, apply for another LMO and change of work permit. It takes a couple of months to change so he should not quit a job before he has the work permit arranged for a new one but most likely his employer will be fine. You will have your open work permit and be able to take any job you can find. You will both be covered by health care, no problem. When his 2 year permit expires, he can renew but most likely you will already have PR by then.
To answer your questions, PNP requires you to have a job offer. It will not be faster when you have a job offer, it is impossible when you don't. You don't have to do PNP if you have a job offer. You can stay as a temporary worker for as long as you can get your work permit renewed but why do this if you can get permanent residency through PNP? He can also if he wants to leave his employer out of it work for 2 years, get his work permit extended and apply for Canadian Experience Class. You can find Alberta PNP at http://www.albertacanada.com/immigration/immigrate/employerdriven.html
