- Every sixth person in Canada is an immigrant
- Every year over 250,000 people choose Canada as their new home
- Skilled workers accounted for nearly 55% of all immigrants in 2001
- The average household income of recent immigrants is $46,400
- 85 per cent of immigrants become Canadian citizens
- 48 per cent of immigrants are between the ages of 25 and 44
- 86% of immigrants can speak either English or French
- At any given time there are 400,000-500,000 applications for immigration in the system
It is highly recommended to  visit Canada before considering immigrating! A visitor may enter Canada on a temporary basis to work, study or visit. All visitors, unless exempt, must have a valid visa in their possession upon arrival at a Point of Entry. The CIC website lists the countries and territories where visas are required or exempt.
In a Canada wide survey, recent immigrants suggested that their transition into Canadian society and suitable employment would be faster and easier if they had done the following activities while waiting for Canada’s immigration process and still in their home country.
- Upgrade English level, including taking standardized tests (45%)
- Learn more about the BC labour market (44%)
- Find out more about credential evaluation & regulatory information (43%)
- Learn about job requirements by directly contacting local resources in BC, such as employers, professional associations, government agencies and friends (31%)
- Do more research on the Internet (24%)
- Start the job search before moving to BC (22%)
- Directly contact employers, regulatory bodies and schools in BC (19%)
- More general investigation and research into moving to BC (17%)
- Learn more about Canadian culture (12%)
- Start skills upgrading from source country (12%)
- Collect and translate documents, such as course outlines & references (12%)
- Emotionally and financially prepare (7%)
For a comprehensive guide covering most aspects of moving to, and living in Canada, see the Welcome to Canada guide available in PDF format (1.4Mb) or on the web in HTML format.
Services and Assistance are available from many provincial, federal and regional or community sources. Integration-net is a federal site that provides links to assistance providers in Canada for education, employment, health, ethnic and multicultural, language and human rights to name a few.
The British Columbia Attorney General produces a Newcomers Guide that is available in 5 languages. The guide provides general information for those just moving to BC and contains information such as climate, geography, health care, banking, driving in Canada, etc. You can also find a list Immigrant Settlement Agencies located in other areas of British Columbia. Local agencies you can contact concerning immigrant relocation and living in the community are:
|
Before Immigrating
