Exploring our Visa options, it does seem as though Express Entry is the best option for us to emigrate to Canada. From the slew of temporary work programs (which run the risk of us being sent back), or the options available to Tracy (being American, she has different treaty options), Express Entry offers us hope.
Express Entry comes with that ranking system I mentioned a few posts back. It offers us the best option that I can see right now, due to my level of education and my work experience. It feels a little strange saying this (Dutch culture is highly critical of anything seen as bragging) but looking over my resume, I never realized how much I’ve learned and achieved over the past years. As it turns out, it’s actually reasonably impressive.
Fortunately, it seems the Canadian government agrees. Using their Comprehensive Ranking System Tool, I score quite high. Granted, this is assuming maximum marks on an IELTS-test (which, if you’re fluent, is what you’d score on an IELTS). Indications online (i.e. browsing immigration forums and so on) are that both me and Tracy may assume max points on the IELTS.
As I mentioned in the post linked above, the beauty of the Canadian immigration system is clarity, and so too with the CRS-scores—they actually list exactly what the cut-off score was for the previous round of immigrants. As of this moment (with assuming the IELTS scores), we’d reach just below the cut-off score. One major influence on this is the lack of a job offer; or, from another perspective, with a job offer I’m well over the cut-off rate. That’s quite motivating to know!
So, right now, we’re focusing on saving up some money for relevant costs—filing fees, plane tickets, bringing the cats along, and so on—and working on exploring our options as well as networking. Who knows, perhaps by the time we have all that more settled, I might have recovered enough of my French to score a few points there as well.
So you are aiming to go there without having a job lined up?
Oh, no, as I mentioned, we don’t even meet the point total without a job offer. Let alone that we’d need at least half a year’s worth of salary in savings to take such an enormous risk. No, the next step now is to figure out how to get a job at a distance, which, apparently, isn’t as outlandish as I thought it was.