Canada Blog: From Work Permit To Permanent Residence

And again, quite a long time without posts… hope this one will be useful for new immigrants in Canada.

Last week I decided to take a test for G1 driver license (so called student’s license that’d allow me to take a driving test and then buy a car). After a short research I’ve figured out that I’d need to take the following steps:

• Get a letter from Ukrainian consulate that’d proof my Ukrainian driver license validity.
• Go to a drivers test center, pay something about $100, get my vision checked and then take G1 test.

This is it So, on monday I went to Ukrainian consulate on Bloor Street West (next to High Park). I paid $40 for the translation and approval of the validity and it took them 3 days to finish the work. Procedure was pretty straighforward and I really liked the experience of working with Ukrainian consulate.

When I got the papers, I went to the test center in the Downsview Park. They checked my vision, asked me to pay $85 bucks and gave me the test papers. In 15 minutes I was a proud owner of a G1 drivers license and now I’m going to prepare for the driving test.

Hope this helps someone.

It took a long time before I decided to continue writing about our life in Canada. I wasn’t writing too much because many interesting and (sometimes) disturbing things were happening here, but now it looks like everything is fine again so it is time to tell our story here (see this and other following posts)

So, as you maybe noticed in this post’s subject, I’ve changed my work place. It was quite a painful process because my new employer is a company from the US. Actually, there were many factors which made this process painful and one of them was the fact that we didn’t know (we weren’t sure) that a US company could hire non-canadian citizens who are temporary canadian residents now. At the end we’ve retained really great lawyers (the best immigration lawyer in Canada and one of the best in the world) and they’ve helped us to fill all papers and make it easy to switch to the new employer.

My new employer is Scribd.com - online document publishing company which is in top-500 sites in the Internet now (and growing). My primary duties there as a Scalability Expert are “simple” - our site needs to be able to keep up with growing popularity of the service. I still work remotely from Totonto, company’s head office is located in San Francisco, California.

So, here we are, I’ve started writing new posts again And, to emphasize the major idea of the post I’d like to say it again: if you’re not a canadian citizen, you CAN switch to a new employer even if it is non-canadian company (at least it works for the US companies).

I’m going to apply for PR really soon, and thankt to my employer I’ll apply with 10 points for arranged employment. But as all people on Earth we’re pretty lazy and don’t like an idea of waiting few months for HRSDC confirmation letter… Today I called to CIC hotline and asked them how can we apply w/o this letter and they said, that if I have a valid work permit now, I can apply with photocopy of my WP attached now and then, when I’ll get new WP, I can send its photocopy to them. So, I don’t need to have a WP valid for at least one year from application date as mentioned in official docs.

Tomorrow I’m going to review all my paper ready for application and will describe this process thoroughly here. Stay tuned

I was going to fly to US at the end on May and it was my first visit to this country. So, entire visa system of US was really new for me and because it is little bit messy I want to describe it here in this short article.

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Привет всем! Мы давно не писали здесь, но планируем написать очень много полезной информации в ближайшее время. Почему? А потому, что:

1. Я сдал тест CELPIP (это тест, похожий на IELTS, но полностью компьютеризированный и может быть сдан только резидентами Канады.
2. Мы очень скоро собираемя подавать документы на постоянное проживание в Канаде.
3. Мы собираемся продлевать мое разрешение на работу в следующем месяце.
4. Мы подумываем над переездом в Торонто (из Бремптона) и я буду детально описывать этот процесс.
5. Мы собираемся посетить Украину этой весной, но тут возникла большая куча вопросов о повторном получении визы.
6. Мы тут посмотрели некоторое количество информации о ценах на жилье в Торонто и по условиям получения кредитов на жилье.

Потому, оставайтесь с нами. Будет много новой информации о жизни в Канаде.

Before last week I thought, that temporary residents of Canada are not eligible to use Canadian health care system. But few days ago my boss said, that we are eligible. After not so long research I’ve figured out that we’re eligible for Ontario Health Insurance Plan. According to OHIP site, almost all Ontario residents are eligible for provincially funded health coverage (OHIP). To be eligible for Ontario health coverage you must :

• be a Canadian citizen or have immigration status as set out in Ontario’s Health Insurance Act, and
• make your permanent and principal home in Ontario, and
• be physically present in Ontario 153 days in any 12-month period.

OHIP coverage normally becomes effective three months after the date you establish residency in Ontario.

To get OHIP health card, you should should fill application in one of Ontario Ministry of Health Offices. When applying for a new health card, you must bring three original documents to prove citizenship/immigration status, residency in Ontario and identity.

• See health card Fact Sheet
• See Ontario Health Coverage Document List (PDF)

You may be asked for additional documents. For example, if your name has changed you may need to provide a marriage certificate or a change of name certificate.

After filling application and applying to one of Ministry of Health offices, we’ve got our health cards and now we can use Canadian health care system. I was wondering how different this system comparing to xUSSR countries systems. One of most interesting ideas of this system is idea of Family Doctors. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

A general practitioner (GP) or family physician (FP) is a physician/medical doctor who provides primary care. A GP/FP treats acute and chronic illnesses, provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. Some also care for hospitalized patients, do minor surgery and/or obstetrics. The term general practitioner is common in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, where the word “physician” is only used for certain specialists and not for GPs.

Yesterday we’ve got one family doctor for me and my wife in shopping mall near our home. IMHO, this idea of family doctors is much better, than our Ukrainian health care system based on set of polyclinics with huge line-ups. So, maybe, Ukraine will get such or some similar system one day and we’ll be able to have better health care system.

Одной из самых важных вещей, которые необходимо сделать новоприбывшим канадским резидентам, является получение Номера Социального Страхования. В реальности процесс этот очень прост - Вам необходимо посетить ближайший офис Service Canada и заполнить Ваше заявление. Вместе с заявлением Вам придется подавать и некоторые дополнительные документы. Если вы - skilled worker, имеющий разрешение на работу, то вам будет нужен только Work Permit (заверенный в Citizenship and Immigration Canada Government of Canada).

Информация о работе офиса SDC в Бремптоне (обслуживание - только на английском языке):

• Адрес: 18 Corporation Drive, Brampton, Ontario, L6S 6B2
• Телефон: (905) 790-2525
• FAX: (905) 789-3885
• E-Mail: ontario.inquiry@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
• Часы работы: Понедельник-Пятница с 8:30 до 16:00
• Самые занятые часы: с 9:00 to 12:00

Когда Ваше заявление будет обработано (это может занять 15-20 минут), вы получите бумагу, которая будет являться доказательством получения Вами Social Insurance Number, а через 3-5 рабочих дней Вам по почте пришлют Вашу пластиковую SIN card.

Полезная ссылка: Официальная информация SDC о получении SIN

На этой неделе я получил письмо от будущего работодателя, в котором он рассказал о том, что существует специальная программа для получения разрешения на работу в Канаде для работникой информационной отрасли (IT workers). Как Вы можете увидеть на сайте Canada Immigration , IT-работникам не нужно предоставлять заверенное HRSDC предложение о работе, а достаточно просто письма от работотателя с детальным описанием позиции (с кодом NOC), на которую он вас нанимает и будущей заработной платы.

In response to the need of employers to fill critical shortages in the software industry, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) collaborated with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), Industry Canada and the Software Human Resource Council (SHRC) on the development of a pilot project to streamline the entry of workers whose skills are in high demand in the software industry and whose entry into the Canadian labour market would have no negative impact on Canadian job seekers and workers. Under normal circumstances, a foreign worker who wishes to work in Canada requires an employment authorization from CIC and a validated job offer from a local HRSDC office. If the HRSDC office determines that there are no Canadian citizens or permanent residents available to fill the position, the job offer to the foreign worker is validated and the worker may then apply for an employment authorization for admission to Canada.

Under the pilot project, the job-specific confirmation was replaced by a national confirmation letter which states, among other things, that certain software positions cannot be filled by Canadian citizens or permanent residents. The national confirmation letter removed the delay associated with the job-specific confirmation process.

Для того, чтобы попадать под действие этой схемы, предложение о работе должно соответствовать одному из перечисленных на сайте CIC Canada описаний.

Для Вашего удобства я разместил здесь своеобразный checklist для IT-работника, с помощью которого можно контролировать процесс подготовки необзодимых документов для подачи заявления на получение трудовой визы:

• Завяление на получение разрешения на работу с тремя фотографиями
• Форма с персональной информацией
• Форма об использовании представителя [если нужна].
• Предложение о работе в Канаде, включающее:
  • продолжительность работы
  • сущность работы
  • заработная плата
• Рекомендательные письма от текущего и предыдущих работодателей, включающие:
  • даты начала и конца работы
  • описание сущности работы
  • должность
• Документы об образовании, относящиеся к IT-отрали:
  • вулючая приложения с оценками
  • подчеркивая курсы, относящиеся к компьютерам
• CAQ, если вы направляетесь в Квебек

Если хотите, Вы можете скачать или прочитать в онлайне достаточно детализированное руководство по подаче заявления на получение рабочей визы в Канаду, составленное CIC Canada.

В следующих постах я расскажу об украинской специфике процесса подготовки документов и о том, как правильно писать рекомендательные письма. Если хотите, Вы можете подписаться на RSS-feed этого сайта и получать все свежие статьи прямо в ваш RSS-агрегатор.