How To Immigrate To Canada From Nigeria

Generally, humans are mobile people who enjoy moving from one place to another for different reasons. The central question to be answered first is who a migrant is and what migration is.

A migrant is an individual who is moving or has moved to another place, away from their place of residence, for different reasons. Migration, or human migration, to be precise, is the process of moving from one place to another to settle down.

In recent years, Nigerians have increasingly migrated to Canada. Nigeria is one of the many sources of Canada’s immigration population. Over 18,000 Nigerians have received permanent residency in Canada from 2018 to 2020, just three years. There are many reasons why Nigerians immigrate to Canada.

They will be discussed briefly below

Immigrants move to find work or particular career paths unavailable in their country.
Some individuals migrate to be closer to friends or family. For example, children migrating to be with their parents or vice-versa.
Some individuals are victims of floods or other natural causes; they can choose to migrate to have a better life.
Individuals can migrate to escape political persecution in a politically unstabilized society.
Some individuals are forced to migrate either because of famine or drought, or war. Most times, this type of immigrant is called a refugee.
Most Nigerians migrate to Canada to further their education because of the internationally recognized schools in Canada, as well as scholarships. Both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

After seeing the significant reasons why Nigerians immigrate to Canada, we will discuss how to immigrate to Canada from Nigeria. Here are five popular ways to immigrate from Nigeria to Canada:

How To Immigrate To Canada From Nigeria

#1. Through Family Sponsorship

There are many immigration programs in Canada. But this type of immigration program offers the opportunity to Canadians to sponsor their family members to come to live in Canada. Before you are allowed to sponsor a family member to Canada, the sponsor must meet all conditions listed below:

They must be a citizen of permanent residence in Canada. And must be at least 18 years. A permanent resident can sponsor a family member even if they don’t live in Canada. Still, they must live in Canada by the time the sponsored loved one becomes a permanent resident of Canada.
The sponsor must have sufficient money to help support the sponsored family member for a while.
The sponsor must adhere to other requirements like a clean criminal record, etc.

#2. Through Canada’s Start-up Visa Program.

Canada is looking for genius entrepreneurs interested in starting businesses in Canada. To help grow the economy and create employment chances for its citizens, the startup visa program comes in. This program is created mainly for entrepreneurs.

If you are an ingenious entrepreneur with a creative business, you may be able to immigrate to Canada with this program. Individuals that are qualified can use a work permit to go to Canada. They will be given permanent residence once they have successfully started their business.

#3. Through Express Entry

This is the quickest and most common way for people seeking permanent residence in Canada. The Express Entry program arranges and processes applications for foreigners to obtain a Permanent Canadian residence and immigrate to Canada. The best people for this program are individuals with working experience, and university or college degrees. People who are good at English and French. So, educated or working-class people are the best for this program.

Three programs under the express entry system are:

– Federal Skilled Worker(FSW)

This is under the express entry program. It allows individuals with no connections in Canada to apply for permanent residency. It uses a ranking system called the comprehensive ranking system. This system ranks individuals who want to stay in Canada permanently.

Unlike the Canadian experience class discussed below, individuals do not need to have any Canadian work experience to enroll in this program. With the FSW, individuals must meet requirements like work experience, education, and language capability.

Once all that is compiled, the individuals with the best scores will get invitations to apply for permanent residence in Canada. Once in the pool, applicants with the most competitive CRS scores will receive invitations to apply for Canadian permanent residence.

– Federal Skilled Trade(FST)

This is one of the three programs managed under the express entry system. This is an economic program for skilled workers. The skilled federal trade also uses a comprehensive ranking system to rate interested individuals against each other. They will invite the most competitive candidates to apply for their permanent residence.

One of the major requirements to qualify for the federal skilled trade program are: that the candidate must have at least two years of full-time work experience in a skilled trade. The working experience must have been gained within the past five years. And the individual must have had a certification to practice that trade in their resident country.

– Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

This is the third program managed under the express entry system as one of the popular ways how to immigrate to Canada from Nigeria. The Canadian experience class is the best for individuals that have Canadian working expertise and seek permanent residence in Canada. This takes only three to four months to process.

To apply for the Canadian experience class, the individual must have had at most twelve months of full-time or an equal amount of part-time skilled work experience. The expertise must be obtained within the past three years before the application date. If you have no recent Canadian work experience, the Canadian experience class is not an option.

A few terms must be met to be eligible for a CEC application. You should have at least a work experience of three years and must be lawfully obtained and our work experience, etc.

#4. Through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP)

In Canada, there are ten provinces and three territories. They are making thirteen provinces and territories. Each of the provinces and territories handles its immigration program. They are called the provincial nominee program or PNP.

Each province and territory has a different or unique immigration program. Because each province has different economies and populations. The provincial nominee program is a favourite choice among people because it is one of the fastest ways to gain a Canadian permanent residence. Once nominated through a provincial nominee program, you will get an added six hundred (600) comprehensive ranking system (CRS) Points.

#5. Through Study Permit

Nigerian citizens can also immigrate to Canada with a permit to study. It is suitable for individuals who wish to work and study simultaneously. This permit is valid for the time of your study, but it is beneficial for individuals looking to immigrate. Studying in Canada will give you a degree that is internationally recognized.

This helps you an edge over others when applying for permanent residence. An extra advantage is that you can apply for a post-graduate work permit. With this postgraduate work permit, you can work in Canada. This gives you Canadian work experience, which can be used when applying for permanent residence through one of the programs.

#6. Through Caregiver Programs

There is a vast population in Canada that needs care. So if you have any experience of being a caregiver, you can immigrate to Canada through any of three caregiver programs:

Home support worker: This is best for individuals who have any experience as a housekeeper. You can apply to this program and be a home support caregiver.
Live-in caregiver: For individuals with years of experience caring for a child, a disabled person or an older person. You are advised to apply for permanent residence through this form of caregiver.
Home child care caregiver: For individuals who have cared for children below eighteen, this is the best caregiver program to apply for your permanent residency.

#7. Through Agri-food Pilot Program

This is an excellent program for Nigerians in agriculture to apply through. The program is designed to solve the needs of Canada’s colossal agric sector. If you work in the following industries, you can apply for permanent residency:

Farming. You can work as a harvest labourer, farm overseer, and farm hand.
Meat production. You can work as a butcher for an industry or in food processing.
Animal production. This excludes fishery. Cattle, pigs, sheep, goat, poultry and egg production

To be qualified to apply for this program, you must have a minimum of a secondary school certificate, a year of work experience, and you must be able to speak either English or French.

– #8. Through Job Offers

The Atlantic immigration pilot (AIP) is an employment program you can use to move to Canada and settle in any of the Atlantic provinces. The Atlantic province, New foundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. The primary requirement is to get a job from an employer in one of the provinces.

– #9. Refugee Immigration

Canada is known internationally for readily accepting refugees for humanitarian reasons. A good part of Canada’s yearly immigration target is set toward admitting refugees.

The Cost of Immigration to Canada from Nigeria

After talking about the best and safest ways to immigrate to Canada, it is imperative to discuss the cost of immigration as well. This depends on the type of program you apply to. The cost of immigrating to Canada might be about 2,300 Canadian dollars or more. This is for a single applicant. While for a couple can be twice the amount or more.

This amount does not include the settlement funds individuals must show to be considered for Canadian immigration. (A settlement fund is money that is to be shown as proof of financial support.) Although, if an individual applies through the provincial nominee program, extra fees might be needed, depending on the province or territory.

On the other hand, proof of settlement fund is not needed for individuals applying under the Canadian experience class or those with a Canadian job offer.

Any form of business immigration will require an investment in Canada. Either by investing in a company or taking an interest-free loan.

For family sponsorship, no financial information is needed to sponsor a dependent child. But for parents or grandparents, requirements need to be met before you will be considered for application.

For those applying for humanitarian reasons, there are no financial requirements. The organization sponsoring the refugees must have raised enough funds to sponsor their immigration.

Required Documents For Various Routes on Immigrating to Canada from Nigeria

Apart from the financial requirements, there are other requirements. These requirements need to be met before an individual is considered eligible. These requirements vary depending on the programs. Different documents will be needed to ascertain your education, working experience, criminal record, medical history and identity. As said above, these documents depend on the program you are applying to.

To know which document you will need to submit, decide on the most suitable program for you, kindly ensure you have the under-listed documents as it relates to your type of application at hand before starting your application.

Conclusion

Many Nigerians immigrate to Canada yearly for different reasons ranging from education to business. Due to these different programs made for immigrants, immigration has been made more accessible than before. The best thing to do is to carefully read the programs above to consider the most suitable for you. You should then apply to achieve whatever you plan to achieve by immigrating to Canada

How To Immigrate To Canada From Nigeria

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