To put it bluntly, you can’t just decide to wake up one day, hop on a plane and move to Canada. It’s not a cakewalk by any means but it’s not rocket science either. You need to apply for immigration and the government (IRCC) needs to approve your application before you can fulfil your Canadian dream.
Not everyone who applies for immigration gets approved. In fact, the majority of the applicants don’t even qualify to start their application. It can be difficult for some people depending on their situation while for some others, it is much easier. After all, every year 300,000 people migrate to Canada and they aren’t rocket scientists!
First of all, let’s take a step back and understand why Canada even wants immigrants in the first place. That will help you understand how likely you are to qualify. Like many other developed countries, Canada has an ageing population and Canadians aren’t having enough babies to keep the population stable. The country needs immigrants to keep the population growing and have younger workers who could replace people who are retiring. Every year, the federal government sets a target number for getting new immigrants. The kind of people they are generally looking for are young, well educated with good communication skills, and with a few years of work experience.
Now here is the tricky part. Remember, we mentioned in the beginning that it’s not a cakewalk? Because of high quality of life, Canada has been in great demand since forever. Hundreds of thousands (more likely, millions) of hopeful applicants consider applying for immigration every year but the spots are limited. That’s why the government can decide to set a high bar to select only the topmost applicants. Applicants get points for their age, work experience, English/French language skills and so on. Those with high overall scores get a chance to become an immigrant.
You can successfully (and easily) migrate to Canada if you have some or all of these factors in your favour:
- You are in early 30s or younger
- You have a few years of professional work experience in any country
- You have a good command of English or French
- You have a university education (bachelor’s, master’s or higher)
- You have Canadian education or work experience
…. and a few other factors
You don’t need a job in Canada to migrate. You can apply and migrate without any job in hand. Don’t let anyone misguide you on that.
If you have some of these factors in your favour, have a clean background, and have no major health issues, then go ahead and use IRCC’s CRS Calculator and see what CRS score you can get. Also, understand how these scores work and compare your score with the recent cut off scores and check where you stand right now. Remember, you can always increase your score by working on one or more of these factors until it is high enough.
Related Topics
Process of immigration
Do I need an immigration consultant
How long does it take to migrate
How much does this process cost