Posts Tagged ‘immigration’

Canadian Immigration And Health Insurance

Friday, January 15th, 2010

My purpose is to discuss the important information that you’ll need to know if you are thinking about or planning on moving to Canada as a permanent resident.

In this article, we’re going to talk about some of the first things you need to do when you arrive in Canada as a permanent resident.

Health Insurance Card

One of the first things you’ll want to do after arriving is apply for health insurance cards for every member of your family.  Applications are available in many places, including doctor’s offices and pharmacies.  These cards allow you to receive care through the Canadian health insurance program for the following services:

- Examination and treatment by physicians and most specialists
- Many types of surgery
- Hospitalization
- X-rays and laboratory tests
- Immunizations

You will not have to pay for these services, these expenses are covered by the taxes that you will be paying as a working Canadian permanent resident.

In most provinces in Canada, you can begin receiving medical coverage as soon as you apply.  In Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and British Columbia, however, you must wait 3-months from the date you apply for your coverage to begin.  In the meantime, short-term health insurance is available through private companies.

You may also want to ask potential employers about their health coverage options as well.  Many employers provide additional health insurance benefits that cover expenses, such as prescription drugs and dental care.

Social Insurance Number

Before you begin working in Canada, you need to have a Social Insurance Number (SIN).  This 9-digit number is used to help you receive the social benefits you are entitled to as a Canadian permanent resident and to ensure that you are paying taxes to help support those benefits.

To apply for a SIN, you should visit a local office of the Human Resources and Skills Development (HRSD) to complete an application.  You should also bring along your Permanent Resident card to proof your identity and your residency status.

The cost of application is $10, and it takes about three weeks for you to receive your card.

You can begin working before your receive your SIN card, however.  You simply need to provide your employer with proof that you have applied.

Employment

In most cases, you will also want to begin searching for work almost immediately.  It is possible to have a position lined up even before you apply for permanent resident status, but chances are that you’ll be unemployed when you first arrive.

Depending on the type of work you are searching for, you may first need to apply for permission to engage in that profession.  In Canada, some careers are classified as regulated fields.  These fields included doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc.  In order to obtain work in these areas, you will need to contact the regulatory office in the province where you intend to work.  The regulations vary from province to province.

The regulatory board will have to evaluate your experience and credentials then decide whether you need to take further steps to meet their standards.

Some trades, such as carpenter or plumber, are also considered to be regulated.  Therefore, you must make sure that you have the appropriate licensing before attempting to work in those fields.  Carpentry and plumbing, as well as 43 other trades, are considered Red Seal Trades.  This means that the regulations for that trade are the same in all provinces.  Therefore, if you are a licensed welder in Quebec, you can also do that type of work in New Brunswick without having to go through another assessment.

Fortunately, the majority of jobs in Canada are non-regulated, so you can begin searching for a position in your chosen field as soon as you arrive.

One of the best ways to find a position in Canada is to use the Job Bank service.  This online site allows you to post up to 3 employee profiles that can be viewed by employers.  You can also view postings placed by employers throughout Canada.  The daily newspapers in all of the provinces also include job listings.

Canadian Immigration Documents

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Your Personal and Financial Documents are very important when you submit your application for the Canadian Permanent Residence visa.I recommend sending with your application NOTARIZED copies of all the documents.

You should be sending all the documents except the following as you should carry them out with you and later you have to use the originals.

- Immigration Forms Academic Transcripts – Police Certificates – Bank Statements – Letters of reference – Language test(s) results – Photos Some of the Personal and Financial Documents you must gather ASAP are:

a) Identity and Civil Status Documents

- Birth certificate – Marriage – Final Divorce – Annulment or Separation – Death certificate for former spouse should – if applicable – Citizenship certificate or permanent resident visa (copy) for any family members who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada b) Children’s Information

- Children’s birth certificate (showing the name of their parents) – Adoption papers (if applicable) – Proof of custody (children under 18 years of age) and proof that the children may be removed from the jurisdiction of the court – Proof that the principal applicant has fulfilled any obligation stated in custody agreements (only if the children will not be accompanying the applicant to Canada) – Proof of full-time studies (only dependent children 22 years of age or more). You should include: i. School transcripts (since 22 years of age) ii. Letters from each school indicating numbers of days attended per week and number of hours per day

- Proof of financial support by parents (since 22 years of age)

c) Travel Documents and Passports – Passports / travel documents for:

- Principal applicant – Spouse or common-law partner – Dependent children (Only pages showing passport number, date of issue, expiry date, photo, name, date and place of birth)

- Copy of visa of the country where you currently live (only if you live in a country different from your country of nationality)

In my next article, I will explain more about your Personal and Financial Documents. However, if you want to start gathering your supporting documents TODAY, I recommend downloading Step-by-Step Immigration to Canada, which covers the entire Canadian immigration process.

Work in Canada but, Should You Become A Canadian Resident?

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

That’s one question you may already be wondering, especially if you’ve done some research into what the administer requires.  It isn’t simple to become a permanent resident, after all.

Plus, here are other options available if you want to work or study in Canada.  Small-term, temporary visas are issued to workers and students that allow them to live and work in Canada.

So why become a permanent resident?   The pledge is simple:  you’ll have more rights.

When you become a permanent resident of Canada, you are free to most of the sam e rights and privileges as a Canadian citizen.  Below is a list of a few of these rights:

- You are free to equal treatment and equal protection.

- You are free to certain legal rights, such as; to be presume innocent until proven guilty, to be provided with an interpreter in the courtroom, if necessary, to have a lawyer.

- You have the right to enter and exit Canada as you see fit, plus you can go freely from province to province.

- You can work and study anywhere you choose in Canada (you cannot hold some high-security government positions, but.)

Even as most of these rules also apply to temporary Canadian residents, here are some social service benefits that are only or primarily designed to help permanent residents and citizens of Canada.

These benefits include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) – For families with children under the age of 18 who are considered to have a low-income, the Canadian government provides monthly tax-free payments to help cover expenses.

- Ancient Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement, and Canada Pension Plot – All three of these programs are designed to provide financial support to workers after they get to retirement age – currently age 65.  To be eligible, you have to meet specific residency requirements and to have contributed to the system by paying taxes in Canada.  But, most permanent residents will qualify for at least partial payments from these programs.

- Universal health care – Most necessary medical expenses are roofed through the Canadian universal health care program.  These expenses include visits to emergency room, immunizations, yearly exams, etc.

- Free education – All children under 18 are free to a free education in the Canadian broadcast school system.

- Maternity and parental leave – In Canada, working parents are given time off when a new baby is born or adopted.  Women can take up to 12 months of maternity leave and receive 50 to 65% of their normal income.  Partially paid parental leave is also available for up to 35 weeks.  One mother can take all 35 weeks or both parents can split the share of time (i. e. one mother takes 20 weeks even as the other takes 15 weeks).  To be eligible for parental leave, you must have worked in Canada for at least 600 hours.

All of these benefits and more become available to you when you are a permanent resident of Canada.

Additionally, being a permanent resident gives you the opportunity to become a Canadian citizen after only three years of living and working in Canada.

Once you become a citizen, you can run for political office, become involved in political activities, and vote in elections.  You can also maintain duel-residency, so you don’t have to give up residency in your home country just to delight in the benefits of Canadian residency.

Immigration Fuels Canada’s Multi-Cultural Growth As A Nation

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Immigration, the entrance of broadcast into a country for the purpose of settling here, has always played a central role in Canada’s history. In comparison to many other nations, immigration into Canada has generally been viewed as being much simpler than in other countries.

Canada as total seems to be a favorable place for immigrants to gain naturalization. Since Canada is a relatively new country, the goal of Canadian officials for some time was to infuse the land with many different cultures and peoples, and its lenient immigration administer played a key role in this.

Thus far, this system has worked as Canada has a very diverse group of ethnicities, counting 200 ethnic groups total, of which 34 ethnic groups feature at least one hundred thousand members each. Of those 34 groups, 10 have over 1,000,000 broadcast, or 13.4% of the population. According to the 2001 census, the breakdown was Chinese (3.5% of the population), South Asian (3.1%), Black (2.2%), and Filipino (1.0%).

As one can see, Canada is a truly multicultural state that cannot truly trace their heritage to just one cultural background, or race.

Each current crop of Canadians can trace their heritage to someone that wasn’t a right Canadian national. The total country is built upon immigrants. Thanks to centuries of immigration, Canadians are a very multicultural and diverse group of broadcast.

Although the progress was positive for many years, attitudes toward immigration are varying, and restrictions are beginning to be placed on who may enter the country.

Mostly, immigrants also have higher levels of educational success than broadcast born in Canada. Yet, in virtually every urban region, a far higher proportion of contemporary immigrants were employed in jobs with decrease skill requirements, than the jobs held by Canadian-born citizens.  The level of equality has yet to permeate into everyday society.

Although most immigrants are pleased to be in Canada, most still have difficulties finding adequate jobs, and production with the language barrier. The majority of broadcast immigrating into Canada remain positive about their choice to come into Canada, in light of the better ordinary of living. They are extremely pleased with an increased quality of life, overall peace and happiness, and the opportunity to place forward their families a brighter future with more hope for success.

According to Wikipedia, in 2001, here were 250,640 immigrants into Canada. These elevated numbers are the reason that Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world. At no time has immigration played a greater role in Canadian history than during the twentieth century. In fact, without the immigrants who have settled in all areas of the country since the turn of the century, Canada would not be the culturally rich, prosperous, and progressive state that it is today.

So much so is the lure to gain access into Canada that broadcast sometimes take farthest measures, even if those measures are against the law. Illegal immigration into Canada is one problem that is deeply affecting this country. So huge is the problem that recently, police learned Chinese immigrants being illegally smuggled into Canada inside shipping crates at a Vancouver, British Columbia port. Such incidents go to highlight the measures and risks that some immigrants are willing to take to get into Canada. Here is a growing business of trying to smuggle immigrants into the country, many of which are hoping to gain political asylum. Sorry to say, the fate of most of these illegal immigrants is usually moving. For most of the illegal immigrants, their only option is to prove to Canadian officials that they should be protected under refugee status, and most illegal immigrants often apply to be contracted refugee status when they are captured.

In fact, an estimated 18 million Chinese look to immigrate out of the China, and they will take any risk to achieve this goal. A majority of these illegal immigrants come from China’s eastern coastal province of Fujian and most flock toward Canada and the United States. Once in Canada, many of the illegal Chinese immigrants can disappear into a massive underground network, where they must work to pay off their indentured servitude to the smugglers. This Chinese smuggling system is a $10 billion business.

Each year, approximately 600 illegal Chinese immigrants arrive on Canada’s west coast in quest of refugee status through legal channels, after having promised smugglers $60,000 per person to get them into the country.

For illegal immigrants migrating to Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia is a well loved destination. Vancouver’s metro area is home to more than two million residents, and the high population makes it very simple for illegal immigrants to blend into the environment unseen and unnoticed.

For legal immigrants, Vancouver is also a well loved destination, because several major publications consistently rate Vancouver as one of the three most livable cities in the world.

The huge waves of immigrants that have entered Canada over the last couple centuries have helped the country develop a much more multi-ethnic outlook and a much richer and more vibrant culture. Going forward, it is expected that immigrants will continue to play a vital part in influencing Canada’s social, economic, and political culture.

Immigration Lawyers still have a heavy workload these days as here is a huge demand to emigrate to Canada. Although the policies on immigration have tightened here is still provision being made for to bring skills into the country.