Moving to Montreal with a skilled-worker visa?

October 31, 2006 12:04 PM

I'm trying to apply for a Canadian skilled-worker visa, with the ultimate intention of moving to Montreal to live. Can I apply for my Quebec Selection Certificate at the same time as I apply for the federal Canadian Permanent Resident skilled-worker visa?

Quebec requires that you obtain this certificate, the Certificat de sélection du Québec, before you apply for the national residence. However, it will take at least 8+ months to get the Quebec certificate, and then an additional 9+ months (if I'm lucky) to get the skilled-worker permit. It seems like it would be beneficial to put both processes in motion at the same time....

If I were simply applying to live in Toronto, for instance, I'd just have to apply for the federal visa, and only have to wait 9 months. If I say I'm applying to live in Quebec, it will take double the time.

I'm also considering applying to McGill and/or Concordia for a graduate program and could legally live in Montreal that way as well. Would that be a quicker route to being able to legally move there?

posted by autonia to work & money (7 comments total)

I think you'll probably want to get professional help for most of these questions, or at least get CBSA to answer them officially for you. What happen(s|ed) for other people may not mean the same thing will happen for you.

With the exception of your last question..

I'm also considering applying to McGill and/or Concordia for a graduate program and could legally live in Montreal that way as well. Would that be a quicker route to being able to legally move there?

For which the answer is almost certainly 'Yes'.
posted by tiamat at 3:13 PM on October 31, 2006

Moving there as a student is definitely a better way to get into the country. Hands down, a million times easier. And yes, Quebec makes it a huge pain in the ass to get into the country. Do you have a job offer already? What country are you coming to Canada from? I didn't think that *any* country had a processing time that was as short as 9 months at the moment. Oh, looking at the processing times for Quebec, it looks like Buffalo is getting 30% of its cases done in 9 months.

Oh, and I just looked at the application guide (found on this page and from the first step of the "How to Apply to Immigrate to Canada" section, we have the following:

Before you can apply to immigrate to Canada as a as a Quebec-selected immigrant, you must
first be selected by the province of Quebec. Each province or territory has its own nomination
procedures.

My question is this: why Quebec? Why Montreal? Quebec makes it particularly hard to get into Canada... it would seem to me that it'd be much easier to just apply as a Federal skilled worker, settle in Toronto (or Ottawa, if you want to be closer to Montreal) for 2 months, then move to Montreal. Once you've got your permanent residence card, you can live and work anywhere in Canada, can you not?
posted by antifuse at 1:48 AM on November 1, 2006

Also, here's the page at Immigration-Québec about international students who want to stay in the country. It has an online eligibility evaluation form as well.
posted by antifuse at 1:50 AM on November 1, 2006

Thanks for all your replies. It does seem like it would be easiest to either go to a non-Quebec city first, or go the academic route. From other sources I've been talking to, it doesn't even sound like I'd have to spend as long as two months in Toronto (or wherever).... Once you have your visa, they don't check again.
posted by autonia at 2:34 PM on November 1, 2006

That's what I figured... the thing is, you still have to get your permanent resident card (or whatever the hell they call it), and they can only mail that to your settled Canadian address once you enter Canada. So I'm guessing you'd have to at least have a non-Quebec address (a friend, or post office box?) for that to be mailed to.
posted by antifuse at 2:00 AM on November 2, 2006

Hmm, that seems like it'll be challenging.... Maybe a PO Box with mail forwarding? It seems like if they want your settled address though, they might not accept PO Boxes....
posted by autonia at 9:58 AM on November 3, 2006

Autonia - in case you are reading this please email me (see profile). I'm in a similar situation as you and would appreciate your insight.
posted by concourse at 8:58 PM on November 26, 2006