Setting up this thread for an AMA with Aditya Nag, who works in the field of connecting global technology candidates with Canadian firms seeking to fill engineering positions. In addition, he is also a certified immigration consultant. Please see the post below for background on Aditya Nag.
The AMA will start 10:00 AM EST on 31/10/2020 and will end 08:00 PM EST on 01/11/2020.
According to USNews, Canada ranks number 1 in the global best countries for immigrants rankings.
The USNews rankings can be found here:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/best-immigrants
In addition, Canada also has a vibrant and growing technology industry.
Below is a snapshot of research on Candian tech industry provided by CompTIA.
The full report can be found here (free signup required):
https://www.comptia.org/members/resource-library/content/cyberprovinces-2020
DISCLAIMER
This Ask Me Anything (“AMA”) session is made available by the registered immigration consultant (“RCIC”) and KBITS Live for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law and process, not to provide specific legal advice. By using this Forum you understand that there is no consultant-client relationship between you and either the RCIC or KBITS Live. Neither KBITS Live nor the RCIC are liable for reliance placed by you on anything expressed by them in the AMA session. The Forum should not be used as a substitute for case specific legal advice from a licensed professional.
Aditya Nag
B.A, LL.B (Hons), MBA, RCIC
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditya-nag-3647a31/
Aditya is the Head of Marketing at VanHack (https://vanhack.com) as well as a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (https://nagimmigration.com).
After graduating from the National Law University in India, he worked for two years in Bangalore before moving to the US for graduate school. He received an MBA from the Hult International Business School in Boston, and then worked for seven years doing Enterprise Marketing with Dell EMC corp.
Aditya moved to Canada as a Permanent Resident in 2017, and spent some time working for Microsoft Canada before joining VanHack.
A Techstars company, VanHack helps Canadian and European companies hire great tech talent from all around the world. With over 180,000 registered members, and more that 1000 successful hires, VanHack is one of the best ways to get a job abroad.
Aditya has lived and worked for some of the world’s best companies in three countries, and has years of experience answering questions dealing with immigration and settling into a new country.
Hi, I’m looking forward to answering your questions. Feel free to post your questions in the thread now and I’ll post my answers on Saturday
Aditya
1 Like
Welcome Aditya, we are now going to start the AMA.
Let me kick things off with a question. What are the main ways for a professional to immigrate to Canada?
Hello all.
For working professionals, there are two primary pathways to immigrate:
- On a work permit
- via Express Entry
Work Permit - As a foreign worker, you would need a Canadian company to hire you and get an approved LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment). You would then get a work permit and move to Canada and start working. You do not become a Permanent Resident immediately, but working in Canada gives you a lot of points which can then be used for Express Entry
Express Entry - This is Canada’s pathway to PR for experienced professionals. It’s completely independent of a work permit, and allows you to become a Canadian PR entirely on your own (if you meet the criteria). For those who qualify, this is the fastest and best way to immigrate to Canada.
That is a lot of info that will need to be unpacked a bit but here is the bit that has caught my attention. I can become a permanent resident in Canada without a firm having to sponsor me! Did I get this right?
That’s right! The Express Entry program lets you become a PR directly. Here’s how it works
- There are three categories of professionals that EE is designed to attract. The first is called Canadian Experience Class and is only for foreign workers that have Canadian experience. The second and third categories are aimed at people who have NO connection with Canada!
The Federal Skilled Trades class is aimed at tradespeople (skilled welders, plumbers, electricians etc), so not relevant to this audience. Let’s talk about the third and most interesting category - the Federal Skilled Worker Class
The Federal Skilled Worker or FSW class is intended to attract experienced professionals to Canada. There’s a two step process to get through -
- You have to qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker class by scoring 67 or more points on a 100-point scoring grid. The primary factors that go into this are
a. Age
b. Education
c. Language skills
d. Work Experience
Without getting into too much detail, let’s just say that practically every college-educated working professional will qualify for FSW as long as they speak either English or French. If you have a college degree, 3 years of experience, and are fluent in English/French, you should qualify.
So, now that you qualify for FSW (and again, most people do), do you become a PR? Not quite. The next step is far more important as this is where the real selection occurs. This is called the Comprehensive Ranking System Score. Let’s talk about that next.
Yes please, would love to understand how this criteria is applied.
CRS Score
Once you’ve qualified for the FSW class, the next step is to calculate your CRS score. This score is calculated out of 1200 points, and most applicants score somewhere in the 350-500 range.
Again, without going into TOO much detail, the CRS scores are primarily calculated based on the following factors
- Age (max 110 points. After age 30, you lose five points a year)
- Education (PhD = 150 points, Master’s = 135 points, Bachelors = 128 points etc)
- Work Experience - Three years of work experience is enough to max out the score on this point
- Language Skills (Eng/French; Max of 136 points for primary language, plus 24 points if you speak the other language as well)
- Misc factors.
To take an example - if you are 20-32, with a Master’s degree, strong language skills in English OR French, and 3 years of work experience, you will almost certainly have enough points to be invited to become a PR of Canada.
There are various free calculators online where you can calculate your CRS scores to see where you stand.
Here’s mine - https://nagimmigration.com/immigrate/crs-score-calculator/.
Here’s the Canadian govt’s calculator - https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp
You should also know about the Global Talent Stream for those of you who want to immigrate with jobs.
This is a Canadian program to grant work permits very quickly for certain kinds of jobs. Software developers and Networking people all qualify under this program.
If a Canadian employer hires you, they can get an approved LMIA within 10 business days, and then you should get your work permit within 2 weeks. So you can go from the job offer to working in Canada in roughly six weeks!
Wow! I had no idea. Having spent time in the US and UK this process sounds like a dream.
It really is an amazing program. I personally used the Express Entry process to become a PR.
Everything is submitted online, you don’t need to meet anyone in person. The first time I met a Canadian in person was when I landed at Billy Bishop airport in Toronto and told them I’m here as a PR.
The officer smiled and said “Welcome to Canada!”
I have a question related to your landing in Canada but before we switch gears a bit there is one final question that I have on this topic. How are folks with families assessed in the point system you mentioned above? For example, I (32+) have a wife (32+) and a child (1-2 years). I have a masters degree and 13 years of work ex. My wife has a bachelors and is a housewife. We both are fluent in English.
Alright, let’s work through a complete example
Step 1 - Do you even qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker Class (67/100 points)
a. Age (33) = 12 points
b. Education (Master’s) = 23 points
c. First Language Skills (Assuming fluency in Eng) = 24 points
d. Second Language (you don’t speak French at all) = 0
e. Work Experience (13 years) = 15 points
f. Spouse Language skills (fluent) = 5 points
Adding all that up, you get 79/100 and therefore you DO qualify for the FSW class.
Now, let’s calculate your CRS score.
Step 2 - CRS Calculation
- Age (33) = 80
- Education (Master’s) = 126
- Language (Fluent) = 128
- Work Ex. (3+ years) = 50
- Fluent Language + PostGrad Degree = 50
- Spouse’s Education (Master’s) = 10
- Spouse’s Language = 20
Total - 464 points
This score is a decent one, but not quite high enough to guarantee an invite. Current cut-offs are in the 470+ range.
How do you increase this score?
- French language skills
- Get a job offer from Canada
- Work in Canada for a year
- Have a sibling who is already a Canadian PR/Citizen
- Have studied in Canada
Any of these factors will get you more than enough points to qualify.
In addition, you can also apply to the various Provincial Nominee Programs.
Also, the CRS score cutoffs have gone lower than 460 many times in the past few years.
Canada yesterday announced that we will aim to get more than 1 Million new immigrants over the next three years. That means that cut-offs ought to drop since more people will be invited.
Thank you, great info.
So switching gears a bit, what made you move to Canada? You had a successful career in the US before you moved to Canada.
The primary reason was very simple - I did not want to live as a temporary resident for the rest of my life.
As you said, I had a successful career in the US, and I even had an approved Green Card. However, as someone born in India, I would have to wait to actually get the Green Card. When my GC was approved (2013), it looked like it would be a 5-10 year wait, but over the next three years, wait times went to 50+ years. I was in the EB-2 class (Advanced Degree). EB-3 was even worse.
I did not want to buy a house and have kids in the US if I didn’t even have permanent status. After living there for 7 years, I saw that there was no way of getting this status without major changes in their immigration rules.
Also, the US has become somewhat less friendly to immigrants over the past 4-5 years.
All of these factors led to my wife and I deciding to go where we felt more welcome, and where we’d never ever have to worry about a work visa or being asked to leave the country.
We moved in 2017, and we will qualify to be Canadian Citizens in just a couple more months.
I shall be back answering questions in a few hours, and all through this weekend. Post your questions and I’ll get to them
