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Things To Do Before You Arrive in Canada As A New Immigrant

- by Brenda Anthony - 9 Comments.
Settlement Organizations in Ontario

If you are on this page, it means you have your permanent resident application approved. Congratulations! You are now at the stage where you are researching about your potential new home in Canada. Since Canada is most likely different from your current country, there are so much more to learn about and explore. As you will soon find out, there are things you need to do before you arrive in Canada as a new immigrant.

READ ALSO: HOW TO MIGRATE TO CANADA THROUGH EXPRESS ENTRY

The truth is that some of these things may look like herculean tasks but they will help to make your settlement smooth. This post will address these things to do before you arrive in Canada as a new immigrant

Deciding On Your Destination Province and City

The first you need to do when your Canada permanent application is approved is to decide on your destination city. This becomes necessary especially if you are not migrating to Canada through the provincial nomination program. If you are not sure how to go about this decision, you should read how to select the right Canadian Province and City. You can also review the Province and City immigration portals to get more information about your primary and alternative destinations and what to do as a newcomer.

Exploring Career Options

As a potential new immigrant, you will have to explore the requirements for your job and identify other career options. This includes exploring where your skill sets can also be utilized. We have listed some useful resources below to help you

  • Job Bank: This job bank allows to search for jobs within your field. You can also use it to explore other career options.
  • Career Cruising: This is a self-exploration and planning program that helps people achieve their potential in school, career and life.
  • National Occupational Classification (NOC Code) Occupational Classification: This is Canada’s national system for describing occupations. You can search the NOC to find where an occupation is classified or to learn about its main duties, educational requirements or other useful information.
  • Career Planning: This portal allows you to be able to plan your career. You will find some useful career planning tools like resume writing, finding a job and exploring careers.

Job Readiness

Licensure – Certification

Licensure is required if your occupation is a regulated profession, such as engineering, accounting or a health-related career.  Before you are allowed to work you must apply to the regulatory body for your profession.  The regulatory body will assess your qualifications.  You may be required to take examinations, to improve your English, to upgrade your education and to do work assignments.

So, before you continue, do the following:

  • determine if my profession is regulated.
  • identify the steps, how long they take and at what cost.
  • compare provincial requirements for regulatory bodies for my profession.
  • start the licensing process for my profession.

Most times, you will need to obtain original documents from issuing institution and arrange for them to be sent to the regulatory body for your profession.

Membership and Licensing Bodies

For some occupations, you need to become member of certain organization. Some of these bodies are

Some other professions require that you are licensed before you can practise. Check this list of licensing bodies for regulated professions in Canada.

Assess Your Credentials

The credential assessment process is to determine the Canadian equivalency of the education, training and experience you acquired outside Canada. This process will help you determine and demonstrate equivalency of your degree in Canada. It will also confirm document authenticity and store my credentials online securely. Even if you are not considering going back to school, you might need to begin the process of obtaining official credential evaluation for my non-regulated occupation.

Acquire Relevant Skills

As a next step, you need to ensure you have the ability to meet the technical skill requirements of your profession. This includes health and safety, climatic aspects, and ethical dimensions of your profession. Aside this, you need to have the ability to meet the non-technical skill requirements incl. Essential Skills of your profession.  So, assess your transferable skills and enroll in a Bridging Program if one is available in your profession. You will find the resources below useful

Master The Art of Communication

You will need to take steps to ensure you have the ability to speak fluently including use of occupationally – specific terms. You will also need the ability to pronounce correctly; understand others, including socio-cultural communication and the ability to read and write well. The resources below will be useful

Compensating For Experience

Most jobs expect you to have Canadian work experience. You can plan to compensate for this experience through volunteering, bridging programs, internships and mentorship. Check out the resources below

My Job Search / Self-Employment

Many people come into a new country without the right strategy. As someone, failure to plan is planning to fail. You need a very good strategy whether you are searching for job or you are looking to start a business.

Job Search Resources

Below are some tools / resources that can help with your job search.

Useful Resources on Resume and Cover letter

Below are some useful resources on Resume and Cove letter writing. These resources will give you tips on how to tailor your resume to Canadian norms. You will also learn about how to customize my cover letter for each job application. You can start working on this long before you arrive in Canada.

Preparing for Job Interviews

Irrespective of your career level, you will to learn how to prepare effectively for Canadian-style interviews. The resources below will come handy.

Self-Employment

Some new immigrants are looking to start their business in Canada.    So, we advise that you start exploring how to become self-employed / start your business. The resources below will help

In summary, below are some of the things to do before you arrive in Canada as a new Immigrant

  • Decide on your destination Province and city
  • Explore business opportunities
  • Consider volunteering / internship opportunities
  • Explore job opportunities in Canada
  • Research the requirements to practice in Canada if you are in a regulated profession
  • Conduct study on what is required to set up a business in the food industry
  • Explore training and certifications for business managers ( Technology and ICT)

This post focuses on an individual migrating to Canada. We will use another post to share tips on what you need to do with your family before you arrive in Canada. If there are other things you want us to write about,  please get in touch.

Editor’s note: You can now read the part 2 of things to do before you arrive in Canada as a new immigrant.

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