lived many years legally in Canada helps to become a landed immigrant?

[mike318]

Hi all,and thx for answering my question.i lived over 10 years in Canada legally,does living for long time has any advantage to get immigrated to Canada?

 

[scylla]

No - living in Canada alone doesn't really help.

Have you been working in Canada legally for the last two years in a skilled occupation? If so, then you likely qualify to immigrate under the Canadian Experience Class program.

Have you attended school in Canada and finished any diplomas / degrees? This might help as well depending on which province you studied in.

 

[Leon]

By reading your older posts, I see that you spent the past 12 years in Canada, the first 9 legally on a student visa and the last 3 out of status.

To answer your question, having completed education in Canada may give you some points for some immigration programs. Other than that, staying in Canada for a long time does not give you any particular rights.

To tell you now what you could have done when you arrived in Canada some years ago will not help you at this point but could prevent someone else from making the same mistake. Instead of taking a very long program and risking that you run out of money, take a 2 year program that you can complete. After completing it, get a post-grad work permit. Get yourself a skilled job and work for a year. Then apply for PR under Canadian experience class. After getting the PR, you can enroll in courses again if you want to. For a PR, the tuition is a fraction of what it is for an international student.