Immigration to Canada?

[Rocketeer]

My husband has always (and I mean always) been a huge fan of Winnipeg, as he grew up in Grand Forks, ND.

I'm hearing that in Winnipeg as well as Manitoba in general there is a huge demand for jobs in my field (microbiology/biotechnology). We've been exploring the possibility of immigrating to Canada, Winnipeg specifically.

Has anyone ever done this? Can anyone even tell us where to start?

[mlpfan]

you should contact the immigration department of canada, you could either become a citizen or go live there on a work visa.

[Tilas]

My husband and I just went through the whole immigration process, and we HIGHLY suggest contacting the same lawyers we did!  The company is Lowe and Company, and the lawyer we hired is named Vivien Lee (though you'll probably be dealing with Doris Tong, her assistant), and she was amazing. Answered all of our questions, handled ALL of my husbands immigration, and was simply fantastic with the whole thing.  We worked with her and her company since June 2010, and my husband became a Permanent Resident of Canada on March of this year. You can do it probably a lot faster, we just took awhile because of money issues and some family things we had to deal with.

She does consultations as well, so if your serious about immigration, I definitely suggest calling her and getting a consult, and she'll go over your options, costs, etc.  Also, DO NOT do the immigration yourself! Yes, it costs a lot in the end; we spent nearly $10,000 in fees to get my husband here (lawyer, fees, immigration fees, etc), but it was WORTH it. They handled all of the paperwork, problems and did things we never would have known about. They were able to have his interviews and things waived (and the interview alone can cost upwards of $3000 or more cause THEY decide where in the US to send you, it could be across country!) because they handled all of it themselves. It was a lot of paperwork, but they guided us through everything.  Oh, and they also guarentee their work, if there's any issues at all THEY will handle it. If you do it alone and you make a mistake, you may have to start all over again and all your time and money will be lost. In a worst case scenario, if you try on your own and mess up,  immigration can deny you entry ENTIRELY, where as with a immigration lawyer, they'll make sure everything is right and deal with any problems for you.

I've put their contact info below, if you call them feel free to say Shilo and Shane referred you. We were SO happy with their service!

LOWE AND COMPANY
Immigration and Business Lawyers
Suite 900, 777 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V5Z 4J7
Phone#: 604-875-9338 (Ext. 233)
Fax#: 604-875-1325
Website: www.CanadaVisaLaw.com

[kaoskat]

Not a clue in the world but good luck!

[melodys_angel]

Oh gosh--I remember this when my brother brought his wife over.

Its a long process hun and helps if you have family here--someone will need to sponser you for a few years.

Best of luck <3

[Vintergatan]

you should contact the immigration department of canada, you could either become a citizen or go live there on a work visa.

lol, if only it were that easy

But yeah, as a general rule, a good place to start when interested in moving to another country is that country's embassy/consulate. I'd start by checking online as I´m sure plenty US citizens have immigrated to Canada so they should have all the protocol and info on Canadian embassy's website. If not, give them a call.
It might be a bit difficult to first move there and then get a job. In my experience you usually need a "reason" to be able to move to a country, such as family, studies or work. But as I said, people at the embassy should know all this to the detail, that is basically what embassies are for ^^

If I were you I would also start going through available jobs in the area you´re interested in. Sometimes if a company is really interested in you, they will do most of the work for you and might even provide (temporary) residence and other goodies for you until you and your family have settled down. Of course, this is the absolutely best scenario, but you never know

Best of luck though! Moving countries is never easy but ultimately, if you end up happy in the place you´ve moved to, it will be worth it

[ArtemisM]

I second what Tilas said about working with an immigration lawyer if you want to make the process go a bit smoother. From what I've heard, it can be a bit of a complicated process.

I'm much more familiar with resources for Calgary and Alberta, but these look like they might be useful for you to look into:
Service Canada - Newcomers to Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
The Government of Manitoba's immigration website
About Winnipeg
Immigrant Centre Manitoba

I highly recommend researching your field in Manitoba before deciding to move there.  I work with youth with barriers to employment, many of whom are newcomers to Canada. (Youth=ages 15-30 according to the federal government.) In my conversations with many newcomers to Calgary, including Americans and even Canadians that have just moved across the country, I have often heard the story about how they moved here because they had heard that there were so many jobs and that they were were very frustrated at not being able to find a job...because they didn't do their research first.  Here are some links to help you get started:

Manitoba Labour Market Information Publications
Employment Manitoba
Working in Manitoba
Working in Canada - Explore Careers

I hope some of this has been useful for you and wish you the best of luck!

[Tilas]

I second what Tilas said about working with an immigration lawyer if you want to make the process go a bit smoother. From what I've heard, it can be a bit of a complicated process.

"A bit" is a major understatement, believe me! ^_^;  By the time we were done, we had nearly 100 pages of paperwork filled out!!

[ArtemisM]

I second what Tilas said about working with an immigration lawyer if you want to make the process go a bit smoother. From what I've heard, it can be a bit of a complicated process.

"A bit" is a major understatement, believe me! ^_^;  By the time we were done, we had nearly 100 pages of paperwork filled out!!

Haha!  The "a bit" was totally meant to be tongue in cheek.    The Canadian government loves its paperwork...just getting a passport has become so ridiculous with all the hoops to jump through, it makes me thankful that I've never had to apply for anything more complicated...

[Eviecorn]

Great referral, Tilas.  I'm actually looking into this, and looking into getting a work-related visa.

[Rocketeer]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

We knew it would take a while and a good amount of capital to get to where we want to go. Good thing we set a timeline of 5-6 years for our immigration (if it does happen)!

[gustystarr]

 I've always been intrested in history with how, whenever America had a major problem a ton of people fled to Canada. I guess it's like a safe heaven . (Please don't take any offenise to this any one) I know a friend of some one I know who lives in Canada but works in the States and people say Canada a nice place to live. Thats all I know on the subject, but I hope you learn more from others on the arena. Sorry I'm not much help.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Oh yeah.... use an immigration lawyer!    Definitely the intelligent decision!

[Fräulein_Kim]

By the time we were done, we had nearly 100 pages of paperwork filled out!!

Yay. LOL.. 100p. .. sounds just like doing my yearly tax report. But then again, my homeland is the king of paperwork and  bureaucracy.. can make it here? Can make it everywhere. ;D

Never immigrated anywhere, but I might want to in the future. Anyways, good luck with your plans :hert: and getting a lawyer to help might well be worth it for such an important step in your lives. :>

[Tilas]

Thanks for all the advice, everyone!

We knew it would take a while and a good amount of capital to get to where we want to go. Good thing we set a timeline of 5-6 years for our immigration (if it does happen)!

When we talked to them initially, they said the average process for a standard move-to-work is about 2-3 years. Could have changed though lol. Also, when you hire a lawyer like Lowe & Company, you don't pay it all at once. We paid in 4 installments throughout the process, so it's not so bad. I think the most we paid in one installment was about $3000...