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Migration to Canada

Canada is a very attractive country and one of the safest countries to stay at in the western world. It is a land of opportunities which has always encouraged immigrants.

High standard of living, affluent society, abundant natural resources, low density of population comparatively, has made Canada as the most preferred destination for immigrants the world over. In fact, a United Nations study declared it as the best place in the world to live. It is mainly an immigrant country, as most of its population moved to Canada at some time and were not born in the country. Many of the immigrants in Canada come from Asian countries.

As an Indian citizen if you need to relocate to this beautiful country then there are plenty of options to choose from. Firstly, you need to decide which immigration program will work for you.

For a permanent immigration to the country, Canadian immigration and citizenship (CIC Canada) department offers a number of ways, like; applying for visa under family class, investor, self employed or entrepreneur class, skilled worker class or through provincial nominee program. Each visa type has specific requirements which one has to fulfill in order to be eligible for the program.



1. Family class or family sponsorship

As a Canadian citizen, one can sponsor a spouse, conjugal partner, dependent or adopted child, relative like parent or grandparent, brother, sister, nephew, nieces, so that they too can become Canadian residents. The sponsor should be willing to support the relatives for a period of 3 to 10 years. One can apply for sponsorship under family class for:

1. Spouse, conjugal partner and or dependent/ adopted children-

To become a sponsor, one has to be at least 18 years old. The sponsor should also be financially capable of supporting the relatives that he is sponsoring, so he should be able to meet certain income requirements. The relatives have to undergo medical and criminal screening.

2. Sponsoring other relatives



2. Investor class

There are three types of business immigration class visas. This route can be used by individuals who wish to start their own business in Canada.



1. Investor Class

Any individual who has managed a business in a time frame of five years can make an application under the investor class. If the individual has made an investment of CDN$400,000 or CDN$800,000 in any government approved program and if he has accumulated the money through his own business, then he is eligible for applying under the investor class. The individual also has to have a score of 35 points on the selection grid.

2. Entrepreneur class

This is mostly used by individuals who want to start a business in Canada. For applying under this class the individual needs a minimum net worth of CDN$300,000. He also has to have documents to prove that he has 2 years experience in managing a business. This business has to be within 5 years time frame. While applying for a visa under this class one has to submit a business plan along with application. It is also important to show that the individual will hire more than one Canadian in the business that he plans to start.

C. Self employed person

People who have experience in any kind of cultural activity, athletics, farm management, can apply for visa under this class. They need not show that they will hire a Canadian for their business. All other requirements remain the same as the entrepreneur class. The applicant also needs to score minimum of 35 points on the selection grid.

3. Skilled worker or independent class



This route is a very popular way for acquiring permanent visa and faster also but it is tougher too. List of occupations compiled in National Occupation Classification has been generated by Human Resources Development Canada, to make immigration process easy for the skilled workers and professionals. For an individual to apply in this class, his field of occupation must be on the NOC list and should fall under skill type which are classified as; Type O for managerial skills, Type A for professional occupation and Type B for technical skills.

The applicant needs to have an arranged offer in hand. Any international student, foreign worker, foreign national living in Canada for a period of one year can apply for independent class visa.

Work experience in any occupation which sits high on the demand list can get a preference. One need to have one year of paid continuous employment and the work experience should be within 10 year time frame.

Apart from these; education, employment, languages, work experience, age, arranged employment, adaptability are the other criterions application is decided on the basis of points.

4. Provincial nominee program

It is for those individuals who can not qualify for skilled class. One has to first choose provincial authority where he wants to stay like British Columbia, Ontario, Yukon, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Maintoba etc. the individual has to apply for his nomination to the provincial authority. There is a signed agreement between a province and Canadian government, where the province decides which immigrants are allowed. This type of visa has a very short processing time.

For applying Canadian Citizenship:

When one applies for immigration, he is applying for a permanent residence visa. It will allow one to stay legally and work in Canada. For Canadian citizenship, there is a minimum residency requirement of 3 years.

Permanent residents, who are not Canadians, can not vote but they can enjoy the same education, health, social services as Canadians. For citizenship of Canada-

* The minimum age requirement is 18 years.
* Individual needs to have a permanent resident status.
* Adults should have lived in Canada for a minimum of 3 years. This criterion does not apply for children.
* As English and French are the spoken languages in Canada, ability to converse in one or both languages is a plus.
* It is important that the applicant has no criminal history.



Since 2002, Permanent resident card is required by all residents. It is like an official proof of your permanent resident status in Canada and it is 100% required if you are planning to be a permanent resident.

It is important to hire a consultant to assist you in the paper work if you are planning to apply for a Canadian visa. Since only such specialists can help and know what are the aspects required to help you get the permanent residence status in Canada. For Indian residents, the applications can be submitted at various centers all over India and assessed at the Canadian High Commission (CHC) located in Delhi, India.