What Qualifications Do You Need to Immigrate to Canada?

Every year thousands of people from all over the world immigrate to Canada. You, too, can be one of the fortunate ones if you have the right education, skill and work experience. If you already have a job offer from an employer in Canada, that will make the process faster and easier. There are also several other criteria you have to meet. You will need to hire a good Canadian immigration lawyer as your representative to start the process.

There are three classes of immigrants to Canada: economic class, family class and refugees. If you do not already have a spouse living in Canada or do not plan to seek asylum as a refugee, then you will have to apply under the economic class. This class has several subcategories, among which Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP) attracts the most applicants.

To apply under the FSWP program, you need to have the following qualifications:

• A PhD in Canada: You must have completed a PhD program from a recognized institution in Canada or completed to years toward the program.
• Work experience: You must have a work experience in Canada of at least a year of fulltime paid skilled work in the past 10 years.
• Job offer: You must qualify for ‘arranged employment’ and have an offer of fulltime, permanent job from an employer inside Canada.
• English and French: You must have passed a minimum threshold of language ability in either English or French.
• A minimum of 67 points: You must also attain at least 67 points according to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) selection factors.

If you do not have a PhD, but have some the right kind of skilled experience in Canada, good at either English or French or both, and a demonstrated ability to contribute the country’s economy, then you can apply for the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

If you do not qualify for both FSWP and CEC, then you can apply as an investor or entrepreneur under the Business Immigration Program. For this you will be required to invest at least C$800,000 in a business in Canada and demonstrate that you can contribute to the country’s economy.

No matter under what category and sub-category you choose to apply, you can vastly improve your odds by hiring a good Canadian immigration lawyer to represent you.