It didn’t come unexpected, that emigrating from one country to another wouldn’t be an easy thing to. Neither would the decition be easy. Nonetheless, I totally underestimated how complex and time consuming all the little preparation steps turned out to be. It was only after I accepted my job offer that the fun began.
The process
To immigrate to Canada as a German and tob e allowed to work there, you need to meet a lot of requirements, but there are multiple ways to fulfill them. The hardest thing for many usually is receiving a job offer – once you have one, though, it becomes rather easy to get your required visa. But first, your future employer needs to proof that no Canadian could be found who’d be able to do the same job. Is this the case, a so called LMIA process will start („labour market impact assessment“). But since a work permit generally will only be granted for one or two years, you should similtaneously begin with applying for permanent residency.
At the same time, there are countless things to consider from within your country of origin – organizing the relocation itself; timely notice of your current work contract; cancelling memberships, contracts, subsciptions, accounts; organize travel documents; dealing with local authorities; donating, storing, or selling the things you won’t be able to take along – first of all, the house (in our case, anyway).
Seven steps
All following blog posts shall provide a rough overview about all of those things which kept us busy the months prior to actually relocating to Canada and which took more time than I’d ever expected.
Step 6: Permanent residency (coming soon)
Step 7: Everything else (coming soon)
