You, waiting in Australia
Have you tried every avenue in Australia, only to find your plans can never keep pace with the changes, endlessly searching for the next opportunity yet still hesitating, unwilling to give up the overseas lifestyle you’ve grown used to, then Canada, itself one of the world’s oldest migration countries just like Australia, might be worth a look.
Someone else’s invitation round
A lot of our Aussie friends probably had their feeds flooded by one piece of news recently
On 13 February, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited all 27,332 candidates in the federal Express Entry Canadian Experience Class (CEC) pool, with a minimum invitation score of just 75 points — the lowest invitation score on record! If you’re not familiar with Canada, 75 points might not sound like much — but in other words, as long as you’d submitted an application, you were guaranteed an invitation!
This was, of course, a highly unusual one-off event, more a remedial measure for the talent loss suffered during last year’s pandemic, and it only applied to applicants already inside Canada.
That said, ever since Canada made its million-migrant plan basic national policy, it has kept rolling out one relaxed migration measure after another in practice, creating a genuine migration-policy dividend period. Even through the pandemic, the immigration authorities held firm and even increased quotas — and under the latest migration plan, Canada’s immigration authorities will bring in 1,233,000 migrants over the next three years.
Not only that — Canada’s Immigration Minister has personally come out in support, saying more convenient migration policies will be introduced to help applicants who already hold a study permit or work permit secure their status, and that in 2021 Canada will welcome every applicant with a more open, inclusive attitude — Welcome to Canada!
Given how tough the situation in Australia has become, it’s time to shift your thinking and get a backup plan ready, there are plenty of Canadian migration programmes, so which Canadian programmes suit applicants already based in Australia? Today we’ve pulled it all together for you — solid, practical information, and well worth bookmarking!
EOI figures by occupation for the 189
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Atlantic Provinces employer sponsorship
The Atlantic provinces sit in eastern Canada, and include Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, with beautiful natural surroundings and stunning scenery.
Nova Scotia enjoys pleasant weather all year round and is Canada’s warmest province, with milder winters and cooler summers than the rest of Canada. Its climate is similar to New York, Boston, and Dalian in China. Numerous international geography publications have rated Nova Scotia one of the world’s most liveable places.
The AIPP programme first opened in March 2017, with an annual quota of 2,000 places, aimed at easing local population ageing and driving economic growth. The pilot programme was a major success early on, with applicant numbers climbing steadily. Canada’s federal immigration authorities decided to extend the pilot programme’s validity through to December 2021, and increased the quota from 2,000 in 2019 to 4,000 in 2020.
Application requirements:
1. A full-time, long-term job offer from an employer;
2. A minimum IELTS General Training score of 4;
3. A diploma or higher qualification;
4. At least 1 year of relevant work experience;
5. Good health and a clean criminal record
Programme advantages:
1. Low entry threshold, low funding requirements
2. Ample places, lenient assessment
3. One person applies, the whole family gets the Maple Leaf Card
4. A federal programme — safe, reliable, high success rate
5. Short timeframe, fast turnaround — approval in around a year and a half
Saskatchewan employer sponsorship
Saskatchewan sits at the heart of Canada, bordered by Manitoba to the east and Alberta to the west, and is known as Canada’s “bread basket”, famous for its ranches and wheat fields.
Saskatchewan employer sponsorship is a migration pathway under which Saskatchewan grants special nomination to bring in skilled professionals for economic development. It offers numerous advantages — a high success rate and fast processing make it a rare, high-quality programme today.
Application requirements:
1. A full-time, long-term job offer from an employer;
2. A minimum IELTS General Training score of 4
3. A diploma or higher qualification
4. At least one year of relevant work experience
5. Good health and a clean criminal record
Programme advantages:
1. Low entry threshold
2. Short timeframe, fast turnaround — approval in as little as 1 year
3. Genuine employers, safe and reliable, high success rate
4. One person applies, the whole family migrates
5. You can secure the Maple Leaf Card in one step, then land in Canada after approval
Canada Express Entry
Canada’s Express Entry system includes the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW), the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FST), and a number of Provincial Nominee Program streams, and today we’re focusing on the FSW category under the Express Entry system:
Application requirements:
1. The occupation must be on Canada’s in-demand occupation list;
2. At least one year of relevant work experience;
3. A minimum IELTS General Training score of 6 in each of the four bands;
4. A diploma or higher qualification
5. A self-assessment score of at least 67 points;
6. Good health, a clean criminal record, and so on
One thing to note, though — 67 points is really just the entry threshold; applicants also need to score under Canada’s Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), out of 1,200 points, and receive a federal invitation before they can submit a migration application. Applicants with a bigger points gap to close can pick up extra points through provincial nomination or by applying for an LMIA to reach invitation level!
An LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) assesses the impact of hiring on Canada’s labour market. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) assesses whether an employer genuinely needs — and is able — to hire overseas workers. If an applicant secures an employer LMIA, they gain at least 50 extra points on the scoring grid, which means a very high likelihood of being selected federally.
Manitoba study-to-migration pathway
Manitoba sits in south-central Canada, known as “Canada’s sunny capital”, with excellent transport links.
The Manitoba government has rolled out a series of favourable policies to encourage more international students to settle in the province, and Manitoba has the best study-to-migration policy in all of Canada: study for one year, no work required, and you can apply to migrate.
1. After an international student completes at least a one-year programme in Manitoba, if they find a job related to their field of study that’s on the in-demand occupation list, and secure a one-year work contract, and if their IELTS score reaches 6 in each of the four General Training bands, they don’t need to work for 6 months at all — they can go straight to a provincial nomination submission.
2. If, after completing at least a one-year programme in Manitoba, they find a job related to their field of study that’s on the in-demand occupation list, but their IELTS score is 5 rather than 6 in each of the four General Training bands, and they work full-time for 6 months, they can then submit for provincial nomination.
Isn’t that a lot more reasonable than Australia’s study-to-migration policy?
Application conditions:
1. Applicant aged between 18 and 35 (some flexibility for strong applications);
2. High school or technical secondary school or higher;
3. A certain level of English proficiency;
4. At least one year of full-time education completed within the past three years;
5. A full-time employment offer and contract for at least one year, in NOC 0, A or B categories, in an occupation on Manitoba’s in-demand list;
Australia VS Canada
Australia and Canada, as two long-established migration countries, share a great deal in common across the economy, culture and migration policy — and cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary have also been ranked among the world’s most liveable cities year after year!
Beyond having a relatively welcoming attitude toward migrants, Canada also has another advantage: there’s no concept of a skills assessment, and no specific occupation list — most occupations qualify for migration, with matching policies available whatever your language level, which makes it far more flexible than Australia in this respect.
That said, Canada’s requirements around relevant work and work experience are a hard benchmark on almost every pathway, and not accepting PTE scores is also a hurdle for applicants coming from Australia. And then, of course, there’s the climate and the time difference from home to consider.
We’ve always encouraged our Aussie friends to have a Plan B ready alongside Plan A — and right now, that Plan B might as well be Canada. Add us on WeChat for a free assessment!
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