Moving to Canada: Answers from a Pro

Hello, welcome. It's Tod. I've— we're 1 second in, I've already managed to screw this up. But I think we're going, I think we're going, I think we're going. I'm not 100% sure. My intention was to because the Instagram people aren't able to see stuff properly. So— oh, but it looks like we're not broadcasting to the Instagram people, so hurrah! It worked! Excellent! Hello everyone, welcome to the broadcast. We're gonna start in just about a minute or so. I see a bunch of you are here. Welcome. Hello everyone. So you know I can see your comments. Our guest Laura cannot see your comments, but I will read them out to you. And we are going to talk today about immigrating to Canada legally. I mean, you could always just, you know, show up, but there are legal ways to do it and there's not legal ways to do it. It's a topic of which I know almost nothing, and that is why I have brought on board Laura Cai. Laura, how do I pronounce your last name?

Oh, it's Cai. Hi. Hi.

All right, okay, I'm just gonna say Laura from now on. Uh, this is, this is Laura over here. Laura is a certified registered, uh, Canadian immigration consultant. This is what she does for a living. Um, there's certification involved, obviously, so not just sort of like someone with, with an interest in it. This is what you do for a living, essentially. Um, I have a lot of questions. I know folks here have a lot of questions. So folks, if you have a question please post it and I will get to it. I see some regulars in here. Hello. Laura, first of all, what is what you are? Are you registered? Are you certified? What are you and how is that different than like hiring a lawyer?

Okay, so it's regulated Canadian immigration consultant, so we call it RCIC. And when you see people like me, sometimes our designation also have a dash IRB. Behind it. And what that is, is we are regulated by a college by the Canadian law to practice Canadian immigration, which means we can represent you for your immigration applications to a certain degree, except to the court. And that's what the lawyers do, which I'll get to it later. So we can— we, we are here to give you advice, we're here to represent represent you and to submit documents on behalf of you in communications with IRCC, CBSA, the provinces on behalf of you. So, and someone like me with the -IRB behind it means I can also be representing you on Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, but not everyone goes to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. They do the refugee the appeals, the detention hearing, and the family— sorry, yeah, the family sponsorship appeals, but not all of them. And sometimes—

sorry, how is that different than what a lawyer does, for instance, like an immigration?

So a lawyer can do all what I just mentioned plus going to the federal court because immigration is a federal matter. Well, It can be provincial to a certain degree, and then it is a federal matter. So let's say there's a decision, let's say you get rejected, and there's no other ways of appeal other than going to the federal court. Then that's when the lawyers comes in, and also lawyers can file certain applications that we cannot, such as asking the court to stay a deportation order. And these are the things that we cannot do.

Right. Gotcha. All right. Well, let's start. I see that there's some questions coming in. Jason has one. If you have a question and you're watching right now, post it in the chat. I will make a note of it and I will ask you in a few minutes when we get to that section. Laura, let's, let's just say that you— that I am someone who is an American. I'm an American citizen, and I'm just tired of what's going on down there. In what circumstance would I have the best opportunity to immigrate? Like, is it— like, is there an order? Is it like if you have a child or a parent and then a nurse and then like a vet? Like, is it— how does it work in terms of the priority of who jumps to the front of the queue?

I would say that depends on the individual. Say, let's say if you are an established professional you have been working at the skilled job, I would suggest that maybe you start looking at how to maybe get a job in Canada first and then immigrate to Canada under economic immigration, which is Express Entry. This is actually a very big part of the immigration pathways to Canada, and if you have a Canadian boyfriend, girlfriend, a partner, a spouse, then obviously we are looking at a family sponsorship, right? And, uh, and you know what I think is the easiest is if your grandparents or parents are Canadian citizens and you can prove that, then that might be the easiest way. Because if you can prove that, and then you can apply to be a citizen So some people might already be citizens, they just don't know it? Oh, absolutely, absolutely. So because the law changed so many times, um, there's one time that the law determines that the child's nationality follows the patriarch of the family, which by default at that time is the man. So if the woman Canadian marry a foreign national, she lost her Canadian citizenship and could not pass that. To her child. But since the law has changed, we recognize these people. They are Canadian. But for you, is how to prove that. So, you know, like, you know, talk to your grandparents, talk to your parents.

All right, makes sense. Um, if you're just joining us, uh, on YouTube, hi, I'm Tod Maffin. Uh, I'm doing, uh, I'm talking with Laura, who is a certified Canadian immigration consultant. We're chatting about— I'm in bed right now on bed rest, this is why you see this behind me. And I have a newsletter and a podcast, it's at farandwide.news, right up here. And we are asking some questions about how this process works. All right, Laura, let's say that I don't have any relatives, I'm just, you know, I've been in Minnesota for 12 generations or something like that. Um, what is the pathway for me? Like, what is the first step that I take? Let's start by assuming— let's start by assuming that I'm in healthcare. We actually have this comment from, uh, Mags who said, how can a licensed practical nurse— I'm not sure what an LVN is, that might be a medical, uh, thing in the US, but let's just assume this means nurse, right? Okay. Is there a site where a company is looking to hire? Do they help with paperwork and sponsorship? Because you did mention that it's better to get a job in Canada. So how do we get a job in Canada then? And let's assume that the job is healthcare-related.

Okay, so for that instance, I, um, and I will use BC as an example. So first of all, this occupation is licensed in every province and region in Canada. So if you want to look for a job as what you are doing right now, you might want to consider getting your license recognized first by where, uh, which province that you want to go to. Let's say BC. So we have Match BC, which actually helps you to connect with the potential employers, which will be the public health authorities in BC. And we always are looking to hire healthcare professionals. So you get matched, and then they also want you to approve your credentials. So there's some, like, process going on there. Then once you get your credential, recognized, you match with an employer, then, then we start the process of helping you, um, in different economic immigration pathways to help you to get to work, or maybe apply for a work permit first.

Right, and there is a point system, right?

Um, for economic immigration, it's usually a point system. It's either the Express Entry system, which is the federal one, or the provincial nomination Uh, but I have to be clear that for provincial nomination program, which almost all provinces have it except Nunavut and Quebec, um, not all of them are points. So some of them, uh, let's say the entrepreneur stream is not by points. So, and I can go into details later about it, but yeah, basically you are rated by points.

Gotcha. Okay. And is it fair to say that the, that the, the best thing you can do or be to have the best chance at getting legally into Canada if you are an American is to be in healthcare? Or is there like, are there different higher levels? Like if you bring $200 grand with you, does that put you higher? If you speak French and English and Mandarin, does that put you higher? Like are there things that are not skill-related that also have an impact.

Okay, so, um, then I would like to bring your attention to the current, uh, priority categories of Express Entry. And I'm so glad that you mentioned French. I almost forgot about it because French language proficiency right now has the lowest cutoff points.

And we've been like the federal government We should say that I learned this last time you and I chatted. The lowest points, and only a fucking Canadian bureaucrat could have made this rule up, the lowest points is actually the best.

Well, no. So what I mean is people under this category but being selected to invite to be permanent residents, they, the cutoff point is the lowest, which means is easiest to achieve, if I can put it that way. But you have to be under that category.

I see. Okay, I got it.

Yeah, so, so I— so like, there are other categories which is, uh, a priority too, such as healthcare and social services, uh, the STEM occupations, some trade occupations, agriculture and agri-food occupations, and education occupations. So, and I want to be clear, it's not that, oh, I'm a— what's that called— software engineer, then my job is under the STEM. No, under each category they have specified different occupations. So even you think I'm working a STEM job, you may not be under that priority category. And for this categories, it reflects the labor market needs. Of Canada.

So that's all around, I guess, is it?

Um, so every year they are going to announce new one. They're going to make some changes, and, uh, for this year they added the education one.

Interesting.

So every year will be probably a little different, but I think healthcare will always be one because we all know we, we need healthcare professionals.

And this list of, of occupations and skills and trades, this list is up on the government website? Like, it is something correct? Yeah, okay.

Correct.

All right, well, let's get to some of these questions. If you have a question for Laura, please type it into the chat. Some people are asking if this will be replayable. Absolutely, the second we turn it off, it should be replayable. You'll be able to watch it, um, forever, probably. Um, all right, let's go in order. We have a question from Jason. Jason says, uh, please— and by the way, if you're an optometrist Please move to my city because I'm getting old. My question is, if I'm in the process of finishing a degree, is it better to get the ball rolling now, or do I need to wait until I'm more qualified and credentialed to apply?

Well, I would say if you are going to finish a degree, just finish it right now, because what's the point to come to Canada when you are not really having a degree and try to find work, and, or maybe try to get your credits transferred and maybe finishing school in Canada. That could work, but, um, it costs extra money and time. So if you are very close, then maybe consider finishing it first. And, um, yeah, and you know what, I, I can't really answer like a very specific situation or person questions because, because there's sometimes there's no black and white.

In it, I should have said, I should have made that disclaimer at the start for you. Just like how whenever you're watching, uh, you know, on, on YouTube or TikTok and a doctor, the very first words out of their mouth is, this is not medical advice, you know, first thing a lawyer says is, I'm not your lawyer. So Laura is not your consultant yet, right?

Right, right. I'm not providing legal advice to you specifically here. Some general information. Yes.

All right, I have questions from Aidan, Poetry, Joel, and Mags. We're going to go in this order. Aidan says— oh, this is a big one— "Is it better to apply for asylum online or to present yourself at a port of entry?" Let's talk about asylum because a lot of people are asking about that. So, yeah, there's two different types in my mind, or at least that's what I want to talk about. So the first type is what I think we're seeing more of in the US, which is an aggrieved class. Trans people is a really good example down there right now. If you are the parent of a 14-year-old who is a trans girl, trans woman, um, is that enough to claim asylum in Canada? Let's start there.

Um, so first of all, like, we actually talked about it in our last video, and I went back to check the statistics that the government posted from 2013. And I bet you can check years before 2013. What happened is we have a major change of law and regulations in 2012 for immigration. So the statistic shows that from 2013, there is zero successful case for refugee claims from Americans. And should I— this Pardon?

That's amazing. I didn't realize that.

So yeah, so every year, yes, we do have some claims from Americans, and, um, there's zero successful ones. A lot of them are abandoned and withdraw. And, um, and I understand, I truly understand how frustrated Americans are, um, under, under what is going on right now. I truly understand that. But refugee claim has a very high bar. And US again is a democratic country and has laws and rules in place to protect their citizens. And it's not really like Canada's place to decide that, to say that, or I don't think there's actually enough proof to show that, uh, your state cannot provide protection from the persecution.

And if that changes, I mean, I honestly, I feel like we're getting close to the point of where that's not, you know, gonna even be a thing anymore. Laws are kind of just being ignored right now down there. What happens if someone wants to make a try, I guess is my question. Is it true that if you make an attempt at the Canadian border to claim asylum and you're rejected, you can no longer ever claim asylum for the rest of your life. Is that, is that real or not real?

For the same reason, you cannot.

Interesting. Okay.

Yeah.

So, so you gotta make darn sure that if when you're going that you have a very good chance of, of making it. Now, can someone who is, who is your role, do you assist with asylum applications, entries?

Uh, my license allow me to, but I don't take that kind of application. It's just not my expertise. Expertise. So if you do have that concern, like if you are really going forward to it, like I can refer you to immigration lawyers that specialize in this. But if you ask me if I recommend that you do it, probably not.

Right. Okay.

And, and I, I think one thing that we need to understand that when you claim asylum against a certain country, you are saying that you are never going back. Until certain situations change. But, but, but, but the rule is you are telling them that I need protection against this country, so I'm not going back ever.

Okay, we have Poetry, Joel, Mags, and Leanne to work through. Poetry says, I have a question for my friend. If you do have— if you do have grandparents that are Canadian But you yourself are disabled. Can you still come? And where would you find information on doing that?

So I would first consider, like, if my grandparents are Canadians, are they— were they born in Canada? Were they first generation born outside of Canada? And this matters because right now the law only goes to first generation born abroad, and there's a court order to allow second generation born abroad right now can claim citizenship, but you have to also meet certain requirements. So if your grandparents, they are the first generation born abroad, that makes your parents the second generation, and you are the third, then you are not qualified for that, right? But you ask, okay, well, if you are disabled, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter for citizenship. If you are a citizen, you are a citizen. Doesn't matter if you're disabled.

If you're— if you are, um, in the high priority category, let's say that you're a medical office worker of an extreme level, um, but you are also disabled, you use a wheelchair or something, does that negatively impact your application?

Um, so let's say if you come in under the economic immigration, we, uh, we do have some kind of inadmissibility called medical. And under medical inadmissibility, there is, um, uh, two. One is, uh, your, your, your situation could cause, uh, harm to public. Let's say you have TB, then, then you will be medically inadmissible. And the second one is, um, the service and treatment and medication that the government is going to treat you will be over a certain amount per year. So if they determine that— dollar, Canadian dollars. Yeah. So if they determine that, oh, your situation, um, for us to treat you averagely per year will be over this amount— for 2025 is $27,000. Around that Canadian dollars. If the government needs to spend over that, then you may also be considered as medically inadmissible.

And $27,000 in a Canadian hospital goes a lot further than $27,000—

like, it—

like, an aspirin costs, costs $27,000 in the US. What is $27,000 in real world? Like, is that someone who has diabetes and that's it, they're good otherwise? Or is—

I I, I can't tell you. That's why it's very individualized. Like, because people have the same illness, they may take different kind of medication, they may need different level of services. So it really comes down to like what you need and how much it's going to cost in Canada.

Is it your responsibility to somehow come up with, with, uh, uh, documentation that shows, hey, this is only going to cost you guys $20 grand? Like, will that help your case, or did they— or is it like, no, no, the government will just work that out on our own?

No, no, it will be on our end to prove that. The onus will be on us. Okay, to prove that.

Okay, gotcha. So when you come, leave the expensive wheelchair, bring, bring the, uh, bring the quickie from the hospital. Uh, okay, uh, we have Joel, Mags, Leanne, and Rylee. Joel says, I'm a Canadian. Who's engaged to an American with plans to marry this June. What are the best steps to— I feel like this is a trivia question. Which of the following— no, what are the best steps to ensure my spouse can legally immigrate to Canada?

Well, first of all, congratulations. And, uh, and, uh, second, uh, so for spousal sponsorship, there are two ways. One is, uh, inside of Canada, and one is outside of Canada. And basically, for inside of Canada, your spouse have to legally stay in Canada during the process. And when your spouse is being issued permanent residence, your spouse have to always maintain a legal status in Canada. And sometimes it's not that easy, but I also understand that you don't want to be separate when the application is going on, is being processed, because it can take quite a long time. So it depends on the individual situation.

Okay.

Yeah.

I should say that we have one comment from Jocelyn LT who also happens to be my wife, who is in the kitchen and is obviously overhearing this because she sent in a comment saying, "My colleague immigrated as a skilled immigrant and he passed the health admissibility and he's a quadriplegic." So there we go.

Yeah. There we go.

Yeah.

All right.

Okay. All right. Mags asks, "Is there a green card lottery system in Canada like there is in the US?" Lottery is the key question. There, I think.

Um, yes and no. So for the grandparents sponsorship, parents-grandparents sponsorship is, is a lottery system. And like we discussed in the last week, uh, last chat, um, they are still taking the applications out from the 2020 pool of the lottery. So yes, So in that sense, that's a lottery system.

So if you're— now it's going to be 5 years before your piece of paper gets to the top of the to-do list pile.

Um, no, it's just being invited to apply. It's not even your paper is in yet. Your paper is not in. They are asking you to submit the paper from you submitting the intent to sponsor your parents or grandparents 5 years ago.

Man, that's crazy.

Yeah, but other than that, it's a competitive system. It's not lottery for the rest. Yeah.

So most of it is based on the economic side, on skills, you know, what kind of a job do you have, those sorts of things. Is there— I kind of hinted at this before, but I'm sort of interested in kind of a Schadenfreude way. To see Donald Trump, I think, essentially selling citizenship for $5 million and you get a gold card or something like that. Um, this— I don't expect something like that exists in Canada, but is there— do you have to prove that you have a certain amount of money to immigrate, and/or is it— are your chances better the more money you can bring in?

Well, there used to be a startup program and, um, excuse me, and entrepreneur, uh, federal level ones. And now they have closed, but it doesn't mean that, oh, if I have more money, I have a better chance. You still need to show that you can run a successful business. You still need to prove that you are able to do it. And there are some provincial nomination programs right now still have the entrepreneur stream where you either buy or invest a business and you sign an agreement with the government, uh, uh, promising a certain type of performance. And then they will revisit— they let you come to work, set up business, do business, and then after a certain time they revisit, uh, how your business is run and determines if you are good enough to be, uh, uh, to be permanent residents. So in that sense, more money the better? Maybe not.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, good. Um, Ryleum asks, my question is if it's harder to move to Canada as an LGBTQ+ person. If so, what are some struggles they might face? Is it harder to immigrate if you're queer?

Canada doesn't care if you're queer or not. We're welcome. All kinds of people. And, uh, and you are, and you are absolutely, uh, legitimate in any type of spousal sponsorship too, because we also recognize that.

Oh right, yeah, of course, of course, of course. So it doesn't impact one way or the other. It doesn't make it easier, doesn't make it harder. It's just—

no, no, no, we treat you just like—

it's funny, you know, like we— some of you who are watching know that I'm— that I have this thing going on where a whole bunch of hundreds of Americans are coming up in a month from when we're recording this right now. And one of the questions that we got in the Discord from a lot of people, from a lot of people in the, like, the queer channel, was, what is it— is it safe for my wife and I, we're both same-sex, is it safe for us to walk down the street and hold hands? And my answer has been, not only is it safe, it will be completely uneventful. Like, it'll— prepare to be ignored. Like, no, but it's not even going to be— it's not even going to be an issue. So, um, yeah, anyway, I could go on about how great Canada is just on that topic alone, but we're not here to, uh, to wax eloquent on that. Um, I'm with Laura. She is a licensed Canadian immigration consultant in Canada. If you've just joined us, uh, we are live if you're watching this on March 25th, um, and we're answering your questions Is there any— what is the biggest mistake, Laura, that people make when they try to do it? You know, they're not coming in on asylum, they're not coming— they're just— and they don't have spouses or anything like that. They're just moving up here, they're trying to move up here. What are the biggest mistakes that they make in doing that?

I wouldn't say the biggest mistake, but I would tell you the most common one. The first one is They look at the requirement, they think, yeah, I meet the requirement, but they fail to realize how competitive it is. So meeting requirements does not mean that you are in. So that's the first. And second is when they are already here, let's say if you are studying or working or none of that, you are inside of Canada because your spouse is Canadian and applying for sponsorship for you and you fail to maintain legal status. And by that, failing to maintain legal status could be, oh, I forgot to renew my work permit, I forgot to renew my study permit. I submit this application and think that, you know what, I'm good, I'm, I'm here just waiting for decision, I'm good. But maybe you have already lost your legal status in Canada. And say like for students too, as international students, you cannot work more than 24 hours a week outside of campus, and you may be working more than that.

Actually, that's more than half time. That's interesting.

Yeah, yeah, it was— it used to be 20 and now it's 24. So, so it's those little mistakes that you don't realize that you are making, and that could have a tremendous, uh, effect for your applications later, right?

If you have any questions, pop them in the chat. What happens if I'm ready to go? I'm a nurse. I'm a really good nurse. I've got lots of money in the bank. I have no medical conditions, but I did have a DUI 10 years ago. Or when I was 19, they did nab me for shoplifting and I went to a county jail for 2 weeks. What— how does having a felony affect your immigration status or ability?

So first of all, if I were you and having that kind of concern, I would definitely reach out to a professional. Because how Canada does is, uh, whatever crime that you committed, no matter how many years ago, um, first of all, they're gonna ask you, have you ever been charged convicted. So it's, it's a comma. It's not you have to be convicted. Sometimes if you already been— if you were charged, even is later dropped, for the answer you have to say yes. And that's one thing. And that's one thing. And then second, if you have that with you, you might want to find a professional like one of us, because we look at how it was how the crime was determined under either your state law or your federal law, and how it's equivalent to the Canadian law, and what kind of punishment it is in Canada. And depends on it, and depends on how long ago the crime was committed, You are either already deemed rehabilitated or you can apply for rehabilitation after certain years upon finishing your punishment. But what if it's just like, oh, 2 years ago and I like, it's pretty active. I just finished, like I just came out of jail, let's say. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, last year. It might be a problem. And does that mean that you will be barred from entering Canada? Not necessarily. There are still ways that you may be able to come into work, for conference, like, you know, there may be still a chance. So it's good that you talk to a professional if that's your concern.

Yeah. All right, I don't see any other questions in the chat. I think I feel like I've kind of run out of questions. Who adjudicates that, by the way? Like, if it's— if you've got— if you're 35 and when you were 25 you got a DUI, like, I don't know, it's kind of in the middle, that's 10 years ago, maybe it was your first offense, you've been clean ever since, like, is that at the border guard level they're making that call? Is it the Minister of Justice is making the call? Is it somewhere in between? Who makes that call? Is there anything you can do to have those numbers look better somehow?

So it's the Immigration and Refugees of Canada, IRCC, who made that call. So, so, and I, and I know that a lot of people come to the border without realizing that they have that, and that might be a problem. A lot of them get turned away because they either do not have sufficient documents to, to help them. To explain the situation, or they just do not know that they have to answer this question, and this is a big deal. So if you need to apply for rehabilitation, it's better that you apply for it before coming to Canada.

Gotcha. Okay, we have questions from Fred and Bradford. Fred, less of a question, I think, and more just kind of a concern, but Uh, US citizen mother was Canadian. US citizen mother was Canadian. Oh, he— I think Fred is a US citizen, his mother was Canadian, lived in Canada for 10 years during school, just sent paperwork for proof of citizenship. How long does that take these days to get proof of citizenship paperwork? It's not terribly long, is it?

Well, actually, what's happening over there?

Oh, there we go. Okay, it's so much brighter now.

Let me see what I am, uh, I'm looking, I'm checking the processing time. Uh, it says 4 months.

4 months for proof of citizenship. Okay.

Uh, yes, if I was not aware of anything else from you, I was not aware that the government had a site that was tracking paperwork times. Um, yeah, you can, you can just go to Google and you enter IRCC processing time. Then go to the government link and they ask you what kind of, uh, applications, where, where are you, and yeah, they give you a rough estimated processing time.

Yeah, that's good. Uh, Bradford wants to know, is there an age limit on the immigration of someone married to a Canadian citizen? In other words, can someone be too old?

Um, in that sense, if you are married to a Canadian citizen, then I'm guessing that you are going to do a spousal sponsorship, then it doesn't matter how old you are, you have a legitimate relationship.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, all right, Poetry has another question. What would be the path to citizenship for an American who doesn't hold a degree? Would they be required to come in with a certain amount of money in their bank account? And can you bring a pet? Let's do the pet question later.

Of course you can bring a pet as long as you have um, uh, all the documents for the pet, then yeah, that's like rabies, that's kind of the standard veterinary care.

Yeah, okay. All right, so someone who's an American doesn't hold a degree, uh, how, how do they come in? Is it a certain amount of money? What's the best path for them?

So first of all, we have to recognize that not everyone has a degree, and when people just do not have a degree, does that mean that they are not successful? Of course not. So that's why this that the system use is a combination of not just education, but your language, your work experiences, your age, and if you're— the different factors of your spouses as well. So I wouldn't say, hey, if I don't have a degree, then is this the end to me? Absolutely not. And, um, for— and if— and to extend this question, If I work a lower skill work, will I have pathways? Sometimes, yes, you do. You will want to look at, uh, Provincial Nomination Program, and some provinces have a lower skilled worker streams. But of course, you have to meet certain requirements, say like, um, getting a permanent offer and have been working in this kind of field for like 2 years.

And what kind of jobs? Can you give me an example of what one of those jobs would be, or what some of them would be?

So, well, I'll just use the BCPNP, for example. So that is the Provincial Nomination Program in BC. So under that— well, it might take me some time to find it, but from what I remember, Because BC is very heavily relying on tourism. So a lot of work, jobs under tourism, say like housekeeper.

Right.

And it's under one of those categories.

Yeah. Housekeeping is awfully skilled too. I have tried to clean and it does not go well usually.

Yeah. Sorry. By no means that we discriminate any kind of occupation. Occupation. It's just we have the system to rank what is a higher skill, what is a lower skill. That's just how the system is.

Yeah, it's an unfortunate sort of phrasing that, that is used, but, uh, absolutely. Yeah, there it is. Um, this is an interesting question. I hadn't thought of this before, but Fred wants to know if he immigrates, does he get to keep both citizenships? Will he end up with two?

Yeah, you can have more than two passports too. Okay, again, yeah, don't—

you don't, you don't like automatically revoke your American citizenship or anything like that?

No. Okay, no.

All right, I am scrolling through looking for, uh, looking for other questions. Um, uh, here's one. I have PNP for BC. Do you know what that is? PNP for BC?

Yeah, that's the provincial nomination.

Oh, okay. So I have that for BC. Nursing job is secured. All right, so this is, this is a, this is an American, I presume, who, who has, has received the sort of blessing of the provincial government, if I'm reading this correctly. She has a nursing job ready to go up here. I'm finishing up our immigration paperwork, waiting on our FBI checks to submit. Why would the FBI be— anyway, whatever. Uh, not Express Entry. Is there a known timeline for processing and then a work permit. So where they are right now in the sort of the stream of things, how much longer do you think they've got?

Oh, sorry, I cannot answer that. Processing time really varies, especially you are under a provincial timeline, and we don't have that. I have news from the BC government, I think it was in January, and they just say that it's about to take longer. Than expected. So I don't have a timeline for you. And, uh, and for the question of bi-checks, and I can answer that. So when people are immigrating to Canada— that's for your curiosity, Tod— they have to, they have to provide, um, their criminal record check from the countries that they live.

Okay. Uh, uh, and they get that FBI?

Well, if they are— you're American or you have spent over 6 months in a row in the States, then you have to provide an FBI check.

Interesting. Okay. All right. Excellent. Um, Cheryl, I'm going to do my best because you split it over 2 questions. So I'm gonna do my best. But this is— this is Cheryl's. Lived in Canada as a landed immigrant for 19 years. Circumstances had me going back to the States 'With effort, I was able to get my portion of a split pension moved from Ontario to BC, but it was only okayed on the condition that I don't try to go back to Canada.' Does that— do you understand what she— and she also says she's a retired nurse right now. Is this— none of that's making sense to me, but I'm not in the industry. Does this make sense to you? Do you know what she's saying here?

I, I almost feel like that's not an immigration question but more like a tax lawyer question. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I don't think I would have the answer for that.

Okay, fair enough, fair enough. All right, um, well, it's certainly very helpful. Can we talk a bit about what you do specifically and like how much it costs and all those sorts of things?

Well, so like I just explained, I do all kinds of applications, but probably not refugee, and I focus on individual immigrations instead of corporate. And so I help people— like, most of my clients are looking for PRs, but I also do a lot of temporary. Yes, yes, permanent residents. I help with their citizenship applications after when they meet the requirement. And so permanent residence, it covers like the economic one, the family sponsorship one, And there are other types too, but I'm not going into that.

Yeah.

Um, and, uh, and there's, um, sorry, my—

that's okay.

I've been working all day. I have to think about it.

That's all right.

So, and there's also the temporary ones, say, like coming here to work, to study, to visit. So study permit, work permit, visitor visa, all kinds of different things. And, um and abuse.

Is like, is the engagement that someone would have with you like a year-long relationship with you?

Like, it can be, it can be because just for how long the applications are going. And sometimes it's not one application. Sometimes they come to me, they first want to get work permit, okay, getting the work permit, and then the spouse graduate We get the other work permit going in, and now, okay, we got the permanent residence applications. We register this, do this, and do that. So it lasts a long time.

Yeah.

And depending on people's goal, and people's goal change too during the time they are in Canada. Right. And usually working with me, I would like to have a consultation first because I I gotta be honest, a lot of people come to me or other professionals, they think, hey, I meet the requirement of this, you just help me with this. And most of the time, it's either you actually don't meet the requirement or there are better ways to help you. So I— and without talking to you and looking at the whole picture of your situation, your family, is kind of hard to determine that what works the best for you. Like, unless it's a very simple thing that, hey, I got detained by the border, I need your help, then that's straightforward.

Yeah, and I know that your answer to this question is going to be, it depends, but let's pretend that that's not an answer you're allowed to give me. And here's the question: how much do your services cost?

It depends on what type of—

No, no, no, no! Again! One more time, Laura!

Oh, okay. It depends on, on what type, and it depends on the difficulty of it. So someone can, um, you know, have no trouble coming to me after my assessment, everything's qualified, and I think, oh, you know, there's no, uh, foreseeable factors that I think we need to be concerned of. Then of course those type of price will be cheaper than you coming to me and I see that, oh, you have this overstaying record, you have work without authority in Canada. Those are the factors that will affect my pricing and also how we approach your application.

I get that, but I'm looking— I'm sorry, I'm looking for like a rough order of magnitude here. Like, is this Is this like, is this $100? Okay, let me give you a scenario because you're right, it is. It does depend on the scenario. Let's say Melanie, she's a nurse. She's bringing a husband and has 2 kids.

That's a very complicated situation, though, because the husband may— the husband may have criminal record.

Okay. Ditch the husband. We just divorced him. Just the nurse. No kids. All right. So she's just a nurse. She comes across. I'm trying to get like as simple a model as possible. Are we talking, is that $200 for someone like you? Is it $2,000? Is it $20,000? Like what's the ballpark number?

So definitely it wouldn't be $20,000, right? That, that's, that, that would be too much. And, uh, and I, I, I think I earned what I work for. Definitely not that, but also definitely not $200. Uh, my 1-hour consultation fee is $250. And that is, that's actually around the marketplace, the market price, and maybe a bit lower too. Yeah, we are on the island.

I thought it would be a little higher actually, but, um, and because we're on the island, let me be honest with you. Oh, okay.

Like you, like on the mainland, it's either way higher or they, or they say free consultation, but you know, free is never free. Yeah, free always comes with a price. So yeah, can you— I set my price at that.

And people may not know what we're talking about. You and I both live on Vancouver Island, which is on the far west coast of the country. If it's cheap, if the market is just generally like, it's, you know, there's fewer people, you know, so it's the hourly rate is a little less on Vancouver Island. If someone wants to immigrate to Toronto, can they hire someone on Vancouver Island to get that done? Can they just take advantage of the fact that the market is just a little bit cheaper?

Absolutely. If you hire someone that also knows what's going on in Ontario and be good at it, then why not? Ah, you have to hire someone there, right?

Because it is quite— a lot of those sort of those feeder programs are quite provincially based.

Yes, yes. And, uh, but I have to be clear that for us, RCIC, um, unless we are specified that we can work in Quebec. We cannot touch anything Quebec immigration because you and both know that Quebec have their own system.

Yeah, yeah, Americans, if you're not familiar with the Canadian culture, Quebec is essentially another country within Canada. It's sort of like if you ever go to like a fancy hotel, you know, like a really nice hotel, and then you discover that there's like an elevator button you can't press. But if you actually get access to it, it's like an— it's like a hotel in a hotel. It's like the X— it's kind of like that. It's kind of a weird— they have their own sort of very, very strange set of laws. Um, Jocelyn is prompting me to look for a question. Uh, ah, okay, hang on a second. Sorry, Jay, I missed this one. I saw that they recently limited international student visas. Does that mean it would be impossible for Americans to come to Canada as students these days, or at least very unlikely?

I would say no. I would say although they limit it, it's— I wouldn't say limit, they just put on more requirements on it. And, and I don't want to go to a long story for that, is because we actually have a lot of international students right now from the previous years during COVID and And right now they are saying that is way too much. But hey, we still have good schools, we still have good programs, and as long as you are accepted to the school and to the programs that meet the requirement, you, you, you have proved that you are really here to study, you have the proof of funds to help you to study in Canada, then I wouldn't say, okay, then they are limiting it and this is hard for me. I wouldn't say so.

Right. Um, all right, uh, Laura, I promised 1 hour. We are coming up on 10 minutes to that hour, so this is the last call for questions. If you're watching right now live, I have Leanne in with a question. If you have a question for Laura, um, who is a certified immigration consultant in Canada, uh, please ask it right now. Uh, we're gonna get to— we're gonna get to Leanne's, which is, what if a person overstayed their visa by 30 days and left Canada and hasn't been back since, would they still be able to become a resident or even come back to visit friends in Canada? Before you answer that, can I ask you one sort of a leading question to that? Does the government know that you've overstayed your visa?

So let me tell you that. The government Canada did not start keeping the record for asset until last year. But does that mean—

Oh, interesting.

Asset. Say you live in Canada. Do they keep a record? No, they just let you go.

And where is that record? So do we get that? Hang on now. I'm so fascinated by this now. So when we go— when we— when an American comes up here, maybe they overstay and they— or whatever. And they go to the US, it's, it's the US border they're going through to exit. So does that mean the Americans are providing the Canadian government with, hey, here are the people who have come across?

If Canadian government asks, yes. So US and Canada are in the Five Eyes system, you know, with 3 other different countries. Right. So we do exchange information. And right now Canada keeps both entry and exit records. Okay, so they know.

Yeah, is that a big deal?

So the question is, overstay their visa by 30 days and leave after. It depends on— so first of all, when you enter again, let's say later you want to apply for a work permit or study permit, they would ask you, have you ever done this? And you have to say yes.

Yeah.

And you have to explain that. Will they forgive you? And depending on the situation, like, were you here doing, you know, crimes, committing crimes, right? Or you just like simply forget that I, I, I overstayed for 30 days.

And yeah, you missed your ferry or whatever.

Yeah, yeah. But you have to like, you have to come clean when you are being asked. This is very important.

So, and, and because they know Yeah, like they're asking— they're not asking to find out whether you overstayed, they're asking to see whether you're going to be honest in telling them you've overstayed. That's really the question.

Absolutely, absolutely. And, um, and would you be able to come back? Definitely. But for— again, first you have to be honest, and if there's a reason, provide one. And for a certain permit holder, say I have a work permit or I have a study permit and I overstay, there's certain time— not going to the details— sometimes you can restore your status Sometimes you do have to leave, but then they allow you to apply to come back again after a certain time, sometimes 6 months. So there, there are recourses.

All right, interesting. Um, Laura, thank you so much for this. Uh, this has been eye-opening. I learned so much more than the small version that we did a couple of weeks ago. Um, I'm excited to finally meet you in person. I think we're probably— we live like 10 minutes away from each other. We haven't actually even met in person yet, but I think everyone who's in the chat is thankful as well. If someone wants to talk to you, maybe find out about your services, maybe have a brief consultation, how do they reach you?

So I believe you have my website up there next to my name, and so I welcome you to connect with me on mattlanders.ca. So and you can like just fill out a form there, then it goes to my email and then we can talk more about it. And I really look forward— I don't know how many of, how many of your viewers are currently like are coming for the weekend in April, and I certainly look forward to meeting most of you, but I also will be just giving birth around that time.

Okay, you get a pass. You get a pass.

So hopefully, hopefully I can still make it, and if not, you can still connect with me online. All right.

And if you're listening to the podcast, you're not able to see the titles. Laura's website is maclanders.ca. That's spelled M-A-C-L-A-N-D-E-R-S dot C-A. Maclanders.ca. Laura, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Thank you all for the questions.

Excellent. So now, thank you all for coming. Next week, my goal is to have a trauma specialist to talk with us about how do we absorb the information that has always been around us, that is circulating around us, that is dark and doomy, and not completely lose our minds. How do we do that? If you're not signed up to the newsletter yet or the podcast, The podcast just started today, by the way. There's a bunch of stuff there. It is here. It's farandwide.news. And make sure you subscribe to this YouTube channel because all of my good stuff is here. Thank you again. I'll send out an email on the newsletter when we have it scheduled for the— how do we maintain news and not doom scroll? Thank you all very much.