Migrating to Vancouver with Canadian Wife from Oz

[G-Mo]

Originally Posted by jawnbc

We did it in 2005 and the onus was on me as the Canadian to prove I could support my husband: his earning ability was irrelevant to IC. But that might have changed.

It hasn't changed. The onus is on the sponsor, not the applicant.

[Kiakaha_Chch]

Originally Posted by jawnbc

I went through this process 6 years ago: I was in Sydney and sponsoring my Aussie husband to come to Canada to live with me (it was always a 2-for-1 deal: me and Canada).

Strictly speaking your wife needs to prove she can support you. But since I was working in Australia I provided information about my wages in Oz, plus information about my employment prospects in Vancouver. The amount of income required to sponsor a spouse isn't onerous anyways.

The process was as follows:

I complete sponsorship application
He completes residence visa family class application
Photos etc.
Sent to Ontario for sponsorship appiication review (took 30 days)
Complete application forwarded back to Sydney Canadian consulate in the Rocks
Approved in principle and medicals and security certificates requested
Approved and stickers in passport 75 days later

Yes, 3.5 months from start to finish. Whilst the application was under review I got a job in Vancouver for September 1st. When I advised the consulate of this, they prioritized the application. Really it was a seamless, painless, relatively transparent process.

If you've not found it, there's a great Yahoo group on Canadian spousal immigration: canadian_immigration : Canadian Immigration

The folks in there were both supportive and great resources!

Id be a bit more generous on giving them time. I first applied for residency in January and I only just gotmy residency papers in the mail yesterday so that took 8 months for me. Also in my case not only did my Canadian husband need to sponsor me but we also had to have other supports, so my husbands parents sponsored me as well and signed a document saying theyd financially support us if things went haywire..

Yes this all sounds about right, though

[Kiakaha_Chch]

Also I forgot to add Matt Fitzy

I understan your stress re finding work. I am unable to work immediately in Canada as my profession because I need to pass a lengthy exam in order to 'register' as a therapist there, and this exam will cost over $500.
On a happy note, my mother in law works at Simon Fraser University as a support person for new immigrants where they give free (I think!) classes and help them find work and the appropriate funding required if assistanc is required and they also help you with car buying, insurance, social security #, accessing community stuff. They also teach you a bit of the Canadian politics and news and housing market. My mother in law found out that the govt can actually pay for my exam & registration costs so maybe finding out if the same can happen for you too could help.

[jawnbc]

There are all sorts of settlement services for new migrants, regardless of language skills or work background. Job clubs to find work etc all 100% free.

[thilld]

I live in Vancouver and work in Burnaby. There are several options for joining police forces here in the Lower Mainland (Greater Vancouver).

The Lower Mainland is made up of a bunch of separate municipalities. Two of the most central municipalities, Vancouver and West Vancouver, have their own professional, civic police forces. North Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond, which are also quite central (less than an hour commute to downtown) are served by Canada's national police force, the RCMP. Note that to join the RCMP you MUST be a Canadian citizen, or become one. The West Vancouver Police are, at the time of writing this, accepting applications ONLY from exempt candidates - essentially, 2 years of experience with the RCMP. VPD is accepting applications, and they state only that you must be a Resident, so that may be your best place to focus - but you should expect a couple of years of residence/testing/etc. to successfully join the force.

A previous boss of mine was an officer in London, and upon moving to Canada simply chose to move into other lines of work as the process for becoming an police officer here was long and involved. He was a good boss - and there is still a certain amount of credit that will be granted by an interviewer in ANY field of work when you tell them you've worked as a police officer - we've been through a couple of rounds of ugly riots, a nasty mass murder case and just the typical day to day grind of bad drivers and drunk Saturday partiers here in Vancouver, so you'll get some recognition for having put up with that no matter where you did it.

Security guard work is widely available. Temporary employment through Randstad or AngusOne or Adecco should also be possible - as long as you can clearly demonstrate you are entitled to work in Canada. I have been employed in the past through Randstad myself, and found it a relatively painless process. It is possible to transition from temping to full time employment, although employers are disincented to do so because they typically have to pay a finders fee. Again, if you're good, they'll do it - the job situation here is not fantastic, but it is not horrible either, and a good worker who is smart and personable can easily build a decent career path almost from scratch.

Hope some of that is helpful