Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Canada Immigration: Possible ways

Canada is a nice place to live. It offers the opportunity of immigration to people throughout the world. But one have to understand, they will prefer the people who will be useful to them. That is why they have developed a system for immigration which gives only certain options to qualified persons for Canada immigration.

Canada Immigration: Possible ways

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada website, there are five ways one can migrate to Canada. These are:

1. Skilled workers and professionals: For people who want to settle and work in Canada (outside of Quebec). Only 29 classified occupations are acceptable. In current year 2011-2012, 10000 applications will be accepted in this category. A maximum of 500 application will be accepted per occupation.

2. Quebec selected skilled workers: For people selected by the Quebec government to settle and work in Quebec. French is the official language of Quebec. If you are thinking of picking up this option, you should know that french is the official language of Quebec.

3. Canadian Experience Class: For people who have recent Canadian work experience or have graduated and recently worked in Canada. This option is targeted to the person who have temporary permit to work or study in Canada. With this option they can convert their temporary permit to permanent one.

4. Investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed people: For people who want to start a business in Canada. Business immigrants are expected to make a C$800,000 investment or to own and manage businesses in Canada, and must meet certain experience and/or net worth criteria.

5. Provincial nominees: One of Canada's provinces or territories can nominate you to settle and work there. Each province has their own requirement and thus their program varies. At this moment Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Yukon are Northwest Territories offering the scope. Their requirements are available in the respective website.

To bring non-immigrant family of a permanent resident (for example, newly married spouse) to Canada, the permanent resident can sponsor his/ her spouse. This could be considered as another way to migrate to Canada.

Each program has separate requirements and paperworks. If you are planning for Canada Immigration, you'll have to follow one of the above mentioned possible ways and prepare accordingly.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Canada immigration: Language test is valid for two years

I have seen the following notice in the CIC website (maybe I have missed it previously) which says that language test is valid for two years for the applicants of Canada immigration. I think they should keep extending the time with their ever extending processing time.

"EFFECTIVE December 23, 2010: If you are submitting a language test with your application, the results are now valid for 2 years from the time you took the test, instead of 1 year. This change applies to Federal skilled worker, Canadian Experience Class and Business Class Immigrants (investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed people)."

As per the notice results of language test is valid for two years which means IELTS or TOEFL or French Language tests needs not to be retaken within the defined period. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

CAIP notes, FOSS files and GCMS files

What are CAIP notes, FOSS files and GCMS files and their uses:

CAIP notes/ CAIP file:
CAIP stands for 'Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System'. CAIP notes/ files is the computer system used by CIC. It holds all the information of all immigrant application being processed by overseas visa offices.
Now it is being gradually be replaced by GCMS.

FOSS files:
FOSS is same as CAIP except used for CIC offices in Canada.
It is also now being replaced by GCMS.

GCMS files:
GCMS stands for 'Global Case Management System' which is the newer computer system that will eventually replace CAIP and Foss files.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Canada Visa Lottery

According to CIC webpage and all other sources, there is no Visa Lottery for Canada.
If somebody want to get immigrated to Canada, he will have to go through any of the immigration visa options available, for example, skilled worker visa.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Best book for USMLE: Pathology

A whole lot of books are available to get prepared for USMLE. I shall try to put some light on pathology.

Best book for USMLE: Pathology

Rapid Review Pathology by Edward Goljan is the best book to study pathology for USMLE. One may find it difficult as it is full of texts and tables. But to score high in pathology you'll have to understand the subject and thus go through the book. Along this book, those who are visual learners, may use Big picture pathology.
But you must remember one thing, these are review books and are not text books. You may need to consult text books to clarify some complex topics discussed in these books.
If you have a lot of time, you can also try BRS pathology and Deja review pathology.

Have a good preparation in pathology for USMLE.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

CAIP note: Another way to know status of your application

CAIP notes/ CAIP file: Can help you know your file status

If you have submitted you immigration application long time ago and wondering why it is not processed yet while other are flying for Canada, you can use this CAIP service. You can also use it to get prepared for your interview as it may contain valuable information about the objective of your interview.
But be judicious about using the service as it may cause further delay of your application file processing.

What is CAIP notes:
CAIP stands for 'Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System'. It is the computer system used by Canada immigration to process visa applications, and holds all the information on the current status of every immigration application being processed by overseas offices (i.e. those outside of Canada).
For new applications the CAIP is replaced by the 'GCMS' system.
To know more about CAIP, FOSS and GCMS, click here.

Can an applicant apply for CAIP notes:
CAIP notes is available to citizens, immigrants of persons living in Canada. So, most of the time an Immigration applicant has no access to the system.
But he can use somebody else living in Canada to avail the service for him. There are also some service providers that will get the CAIP notes for you. If you want, you can Google for that.

How to process:

1. fill up consent form IMM 5475 and signed by me and my spouse.
------- I did it and send scanned copy to my friend through mail.
2. Person in Canada has to fill up formal request form (IMM 5563).
3. Person in Canada has to send both these form with a $5.00 cheque (in favor of Receiver General of Canada) to
              Access to Information and Privacy Coordinator
              Narono Building
              360 Laurier Avenue West, 10th floor
              Ottawa, Ontario
              K1A 1L1
4. Wait for few weeks to get the print out.