The Canadian government is committed to strengthening the trades through immigration. As such, the Federal and Provincial governments have adapted their immigration policy to provide specific pathways to permanent residency to accommodate these workers. Although these pathways give you an overview of the processes you need to follow, Calver & Associates recognizes that your case is uniquely different to that of the next person. Personal details, such as age, trade, and nationality, can impact your application experience immensely. This is why we offer a unique, full, one-on-one service to all of our clients.
We want to make your decision to immigrate to Canada an easy one, by providing you with real information of real people who have gone through the journey you’re about to embark on. The following case study details a client journey who we recently assisted through the immigration process as a skilled tradesperson, destined for Ontario.
About our Client
Nationality: Chilean
Applications often have country-specific requirements, so country of origin largely impacts how we go about helping our clients.
Age: 34 years old
Age is one factor in the Canadian government’s Comprehensive Ranking System to evaluate PR applications. An applicant may get points under the Age factor in the system if they are under 47 years old.
Family: Wife and two children
Additional family members in the application may require an increase in proof of funds needed for the application. However, in our client's case, he does not need to demonstrate that he can financially support both himself and his family if he is authorized to work in Canada and has a valid job offer.
Employment experience: 8+ years experience as a heavy equipment mechanic in Chile
The type of skilled trade done and the experience one has in that trade impact the stream one applies through.
Past skilled work experience must be paid, in the same job type as the job you use for your immigration application, must have taken place within the past 10 years, and must include at least 1 year of continuous work or 1,560 hours total. Our client’s work experience meets all of these requirements.
First Steps
Before he even started searching for a job in Canada, our client prepared himself and took English courses to build his language skills. He had been aware that an approved language proficiency test in either English or French will be part of the application process. Knowing English is very helpful for most skilled trade positions in Ontario and will be something that Canadian employers look for.
Once confident in his abilities, our client started his job search and travelled to Canada several times to interview for job positions where he then was offered a job in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by a well-known company as a heavy equipment mechanic. It is important to keep in mind that in a typical work permit to permanent residency pathway, you already would need a job offer before attempting to begin the immigration process.
Before & after Arrival in Canada: Work Permits
Through the Ontario Skilled Trades Stream, a foreign national cannot apply for permanent
residency right away. Therefore, before our client headed off to Canada, he first needed a work permit, which would give him temporary residency status in Canada. We started with filing for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for the Canadian company which would employ him, and then a work permit was filed for our client. We needed to ensure his family could join him in Canada, so we filled out an open work permit for his spouse and study permits for his two children.
After these permits were approved, our client arrived in Canada with his family in September of 2019. Upon having his work permit, he was able to immediately begin working for his new company as an aerial lift mechanic. As the client already had one year of skilled foreign work experience, we were able to create a profile for him in Express Entry only a few months after his arrival, which is essential to be able to apply for permanent residency in the future.
Application for Permanent Residency
Once our client had completed one year of work experience in Ontario, he was issued a Notification of Interest from the provincial government for the Skilled Trades Steam, through Express Entry. This then allowed us to apply for Permanent Residency through Ontario, and the client was subsequently (after 3 months) issued a Nomination Certificate from the province. We were then able to apply for permanent residency on behalf of our client through Express Entry. Our client’s application was approved through the Federal Express Entry program.
Ontario Skilled Trades Stream Q&A
Q: What is the Ontario Skilled Trades Stream?
A: It is an immigration stream that falls under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), which allows foreign nationals with skilled work experience in a Skilled Trade in Ontario to apply for permanent residency.
Q: How do I become nominated by the Ontario government for permanent residency?
A: You must create a profile in the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC’s) Express Entry system. Once you receive a Notification of Interest from the Ontario government, you can apply to be nominated. Once you are nominated, you can apply to the federal government through IRCC.
Q: What is the application fee?
A: The application fee for Ontario is $1500.00 CAD. This covers the cost of processing your application. Fees for Federal Permanent residency are in addition to these fees at $1325.00CAD per adult application and $225.00CAD per child.
What Kind of Positions Qualify for Trades Streams in Canada?
The position must be in a skilled trade that is listed in Minor Group 633 or Major Groups 72, 73 or 82 of the National Classification (NOC). The position offered in Canada must also be in the same job type as your work experience and in one or more of the occupations that you identified in your Express Entry profile.
How do you Help with the Application?
At Calver & Associates, we provide a full service, meaning we help our clients from the very beginning of their application process all the way until their application is approved, and sometimes even provide support after. In this client’s case we were hired at the very beginning of his immigration journey. We want to ensure that each and every one of our clients has as smooth of an immigration process as possible, and a warm transition into their new life in Canada.
If you were to contact us and book an online consultation, we will start by evaluating your chances of having a successful application. We do, however, encourage you to make sure that you have somewhat of an idea of your eligibility for permanent residency before hiring us.
We then begin by assessing the Ontario Skilled Trades Stream’s requirements. If we find something that may cause an issue in the application, or there is a requirement not yet met, we do our best to help you overcome this obstacle. For example, in this case study, we recommended to our client to work on his language skills before beginning the job hunting and application process.
Once we feel you are in a good position to begin your immigration process, we provide a checklist of documentation and other requirements to ensure we have all the necessary materials and paperwork. We are there assisting you every step of the way by guiding you through filling out the forms and other process steps that we cannot do ourselves. Finally, we submit the application on your behalf and monitor it to ensure it is processed smoothly. We are fully attentive to our client, even after submission until we know their application is successfully approved.
How Do I get started?
Even when there is a designated immigration stream that you qualify for, obtaining permanent residency can be complicated and overwhelming. Clients regularly contact us saying that they don’t know where to begin in their immigration process. However, when you book a consultation with Calver & Associates, we can help you decide which stream best suits your situation, evaluate your application potential, and create a plan to determine next steps for you.
Our Services
Calver and Associates is a leading provider of Canadian Immigration services in Durham Region. We serve clients across Canada and internationally. Our Registered Canadian Immigration Consultant has over 10 years of experience in Canadian Immigration law and over four years of experience serving those in the Oshawa area.
We can provide assistance with applications for both temporary and permanent residency in Canada. We handle applications for study permits, permanent residency, family class sponsorship, visitor visas, work permits, and Canadian citizenship. We also handle criminal inadmissibility cases by developing remedies for refusal.
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