Category: Immigration

Faster Service

Posted on by The Webmaster

Connecting with UK folks

U.K. and Canada
New Canadians from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have an easy time integrating into Canadian life.
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pper Canada Immigration Consultants is doing an outreach to folks in parts of the United Kingdom this spring. Perhaps you saw our information on Facebook, in our e-newsletter, or on this web site, and you are wondering what to do next. If you are from the UK, please read this page first. It has lots of handy tips and sound advice for people seriously considering emigrating to Canada.

Call us via WhatsApp or by phone. The sound of a human voice is always best. For your initial consultation, we can arrange a telephone (or Skype or WhatsApp) appointment for a detailed discussion. Because of the time zone difference, mid-evening UK time is still in the midst of the working day in Ontario. If you are in Canada, or plan to come for a visit, we can meet with you. Here is how you can help us work with you:

Please complete these steps before calling us

1. Tell us who you are, and where you live
Please complete this on-line form. This also gets you our periodic e-newsletter. Nobody else ever sees your contact information.
2. Tell us about your situation
Please complete this on-line form. This web form describes your situation, and enables our consultant to gain insight into what you may need us to do for you.
3. Need to send a message, or add an explanation?
Our web site is a treasure trove of free information for you. It also offers you a way to write us a short message. For example, you could advise us that you had just filled out the two forms above. Click or touch here to send a message.

What happens after that?

Our staff will assemble your information, and contact you. We will need to know about your academic or trade background and your qualifications and experience. If you have raised a question in a message to us, we can respond briefly, and offer you an introductory consultation. This does not cost you anything, and lasts a short time.

  • When (or if) it looks as if your inquiry has substance and merit, your consultant will lay out a path for you. At this point, you become a paying client of Upper Canada Immigration Consultants;
  • After your initial consultation, we follow up with an Engagement Letter if your case would benefit from our services.
  • Once we have agreed to work together, a Retainer Agreement will detail  the scope of  our services, the terms of your billing and a tentative timeline. From then onward, you are our client, and  we are working on your behalf.

New for 2019

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

An offer to settle in smaller Canadian centres

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new Government of Canada pilot program will match applicants for permanent residency to jobs in rural Canada. The community-driven initiative aims to address ongoing labour shortages in rural and northern communities of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest territories.

The objective of the five-year economic immigration pilot project is to stimulate economic growth in communities that have, in recent years, seen population declines, and have job vacancies for mid-level positions that are never filled. The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot promises to link communities experiencing labour shortages to the one source that can supply a steady stream of human capital – immigration.

Merrickville
Merrickville calls itself “The Jewel of the Rideau.” It is located near Kingston, halfway between Montreal and Toronto, and close to Ottawa.

Launched in 2019, this pilot program aims to rejuvenate rural Canada, while answering the prayers of thousands of potential new Canadians who are seeking a new start to their lives. Each year during the next five years, Canada will bring 2,750 principal applicants and their families to these outlying areas of Canada. Communities wishing to be a part of the initiative will enroll in the pilot by demonstrating their capacity to respond to the influx of human resources through social capital, supportive infrastructure and readiness to welcome and settle newcomers. The deadline for communities to get on board is March 1, 2019.

Check out some smaller Ontario towns and cities all within driving distance of Toronto.

Thirty percent of Canada’s GDP is derived from rural Canada, where the workforce between 2001 and 2016 has shrunk by 23 percent. The percentage of retirement-age population has steadily increased, while the potential for work and economic benefits remain. Some 78 percent of immigrants tend to settle in large urban areas in Canada, where friends, family and established ethnocultural communities exist. The vision of newly arrived immigrants is no different. This five-year plan aims to assist rural communities to set themselves up as attractive, welcoming and economically viable for newcomer settlement, by offering supports.

The Northern and Rural Immigration Pilot could tap into the best practices of previous approaches to community-driven programs, where community collaborative efforts have included business and service sectors working closely with government to settle and integrate newcomers into the local environment.

Canada, the second-largest country in the world by land size, welcomes immigrants on an ongoing basis through various programs, initiatives and pilots. The Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program implemented in 2017 has been successful in driving economic growth in the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. So far, 734 principal applicants along with their families totaling 1,562 people, have been approved for permanent residency.

The Government of Canadian has defined participating Northern and rural communities as either:

  • Cities of 200,000 but classified as remote because of distance from an urban centre; or
  • Those with a population of less than 50,000, and located at least 75 kilometers from centres boasting a population of 100,000 or more.

The pilot will operate through the respective provincial nominee programs of the identified provinces and territories. The local community and economic development office for each community is expected to play a key role in matching candidates to local job openings. Potential candidates will have to wait until later in 2019 when participating communities would have been designated, and the parameters respecting candidate applications defined.

Contact us for more information, and to discuss whether the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot might be a route to Canada for you.

Contact Info

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

Keep up to date with us

Upper Canada Immigration e-newsletter
Be sure to subscribe to our periodic e-newsletter to receive updates on immigration to Canada, and find out when and where our consultants may be in your area for a meeting.
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pper Canada Immigration uses a mail list manager called Mailchimp. It is a powerful tool. It helps us keep in touch with you, and helps us get you specific information quickly. For a list and description of the open source software we use in our business, and which you can use too, click here.

If you don’t receive our e-mail newsletters, you may want to subscribe. If you do receive our e-mail newsletters, you should check to be sure the information we have on you is complete. A few notes for people unsure of what to share with us:

  • We assume we are dealing with serious and honest people whose interest in their future is genuine;
  • To help you, we have a genuine need to know where in the world you live, and how to contact you. Let us know who you are, and where you live. Or, if you receive our newsletter, please spend a few moments checking the information you may have given us earlier;
  • We respect your privacy, and don’t share your information in any way with anyone. Should you no longer wish to hear from us, the contact information you supplied is deleted when you unsubscribe to our e-mail newsletter.

Click here to see our latest e-mail bulletin, correct or update your contact information, or join the list.

Remember, other than you and us, the rest of the world will never see your info. We hope you enjoy our occasional (never too frequent) e-mail newsletters.

 

Atlantic Immigration Pilot

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

You need a job offer

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he Atlantic Immigration Pilot Project is aimed at experienced, skilled and qualified immigrants to the four Atlantic Canada provinces: Newfoundland & Labrador; Prince Edward Island; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The initial challenge to apply for permanent residency to Canada through this pilot, is to obtain a job offer from a designated employer.

The threshold for language proficiency and proof of settlement funds is much more attractive than for Express Entry. And more importantly, it is not points based, as in the case of Express Entry.

Read the most commonly-asked Questions and Answers about the program.

Pharmacare

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

Ontario youth drug coverage

Pharmacare
Ontario’s 2017-18 signature Budget measure means all eligible Ontario residents 24 years of age and less are fully covered for the cost of all 4,400 drugs in the Ontario formulary.
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he Province of Ontario’s 2017-18 budget, passed in 2017, implemented universal drug coverage for Ontario residents age 24 and less, and who are eligible for its Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

Ontario became the first Canadian province or territory to extend pharmacare coverage to its residents. Coverage for eligible Ontario residents became effective in 2018. The entire Ontario drug formulary of more than 4,400 drugs is included, from routine prescriptions to expensive treatments.

Ontario Links

Newcomers to Ontario can qualify for the Ontario Health Insurance Plan if they are:

  • A Canadian citizen;
  • An Indigenous person (registered under the federal Indian Act);
  • A permanent resident (formerly called a “landed immigrant”);
  • Have applied for permanent residence, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has confirmed that they meet the eligibility requirements to apply (i.e. have not yet been denied); are in Ontario on a valid work permit and are working full-time in Ontario, for an Ontario employer, for at least six months.

Your spouse and any dependents also qualify if you do. You are eligible to apply to OHIP if you are in Ontario on a valid work permit under the federal Live-in Caregiver Program, or are a convention refugee or other protected person (as defined by Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada).

OHIP annual health care premiums are among the lowest in the world.

Google e-mail issue

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

Gmail accounts issue resolved

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lients and friends who use personal Gmail accounts to send and receive e-mail had an issue in late November of 2018. It appeared some overzealous programmer at Google concluded that businesses like ours, that correspond with international clients (like you) beyond their home country’s borders, must therefore be spammers. Google has since rectified the issue, whatever it was.

The problem was that we could receive your Gmail messages, but Gmail wrongly bounced our replies. This had to be affecting countless other businesses like ours too. It lasted a few days before Google made changes, and the issue went away.

To ensure the reliability of your communications with us (or anybody you value for that matter), please be sure to tell your e-mail program (especially if you use Gmail) that the e-mail messages you receive from andrea@uppercanadaimmigration.ca and/or andrea@ucic.email are from a ‘safe sender.’ Both e-mail addresses go to the same place.

During this short period, we used our own Gmail account to correspond. You did not experience this issue corresponding with us from e-mail accounts from Yahoo, Hotmail or other providers. Just thought some of you might want to know.

Christmas 2017

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

Christmas greetings & Holiday hours

Christmas Card 2017

Merry Christmas to all our clients and friends, wherever in the world you are!

Holiday hours

Our Upper Canada Immigration people enjoyed their Christmas break. We are back at work for you, and accepting new and familiar callers.

Looking at Canada

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

Oh America, what are you in for?

A new American President who won by dividing the country, and has never held any elected office in his life? Your Canadian brethren have been there before.

  • A leader and provincial political party dedicated to the breakup of Canada won election in the Province of Quebec during the 1970s, and was re-elected – twice! Canada and Canadians survived two separation referenda, the last by a slim one percent margin. Quebec remains part of a strong and united Canada;
  • Canada’s largest city of Toronto – larger than Chicago – elected the late Rob Ford as mayor in 2010. His struggles with alcohol, drugs and bizarre behaviour made talk shows and news coverage across the world. Toronto subsequently elected a staid replacement in 2014, and life continues;
  • In 2006, Canada elected a Prime Minister whose Conservative Party actions in many respects resembled some of the Republican and Trump agenda. The Conservative government won two minority and one majority government, governed Canada for ten years, and was decisively defeated in 2015.

Canada and the United States are more than joined at the waist of North America. We are family in every literal and figurative sense. No two nations on earth have ever had a larger trading relationship. Our families marry across the border, and share a common language, most of our culture and values, and a friendship and trust warmer than any other two nations on earth or in history.

What are the odds of America surviving a Trump presidency? Probably pretty good. Even when a President’s party has had a grip on both Houses of Congress, any thought that the President ‘controls’ government is fanciful at best. And this President is not even on-side with his own party’s 2016 election platform! Though the majority of states may be governed by Republicans, U.S. states are fiercely independent and autonomous levels of government. Still, is there the potential for America, as our beloved brothers and sisters have known it, to come unglued? To be frank, your neighbours to your north concede that Americans have steered their ship of state into dark and uncharted waters.

In the past several years, America has crept into the list of top ten places from which new immigrants come to Canada. Every year, some 20,000 Americans leave the United States for a new life in Canada.

When Canada entered both world wars, Americans made their way north to join Canadian forces in the struggle. Canada stood by the United States when no other nation would during the Iranian revolution, and brought American hostages back home safely. American air travellers grounded in Canada by the attacks of September 11, 2001 found a few days of welcome in uncounted Canadian homes. It’s what family members always do to help one another.

Should you come to Canada?

Canada is at the same time a nearby and familiar land, as well as a very different country. If leaving your USA home and coming to Canada is more than a reaction to the state of America, it’s time to look into it. This will be a hard look.

  • Click here to start, or;
  • Call Andrea Seepersaud at Upper Canada Immigration Consultants at (647) 988-3846.

 

Considering Canada

Posted on by Andrea Seepersaud

Immigrate to Canada and fulfill your dreams

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elcome to the Upper Canada Immigration Consultants web site. We are an immigration consulting firm, serving clients throughout the world who wish to come to Canada. Upper Canada Immigration Consultants (UCIC) provides consulting services to individuals seeking advice, guidance and assistance in citizenship, refugee and immigration matters.

UCIC prepares applications and submits them to Visa Offices on behalf of clients; drafts documents; prepares rationales in support of applications and proceedings before federal and provincial government, as well as the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). UCIC also certifies documents, affidavits and statutory declarations that are needed for submission to government offices, schools, universities, visa offices and other places.

Our firm conducts research and provides feedback to foreign nationals and clients who are interested in exploring investment programs or self-employment in Canada. We develop concept papers and business plans for the investor or entrepreneur and strategic settlement plans for the integration of their family as well.

UCIC can assist foreign nationals who have failed in their application for permanent residency, visitor’s visa, work permit or study permit to obtain your case files and the visa officer’s case notes.

Helping people get a better understanding of why an application did not succeed helps you know what to do to increase your chances the next time you apply. These notes are very helpful and provide deep insight into the decision making process and  the factors that contributed to a failed application.

To reach Upper Canada Immigration: