Canadian Immigration guide for Skilled Workers from Lebanon

Canada is known to be a country with immense diversity, it welcomes immigrants from all aspects, religions, and nationalities. Also, immigrants who arrive in Canada from Lebanon. Immigration from Lebanon started back in 1882, presently there are over 400,000 immigrants of Lebanese origin who reside in Canada. A lot of these people are in prominent positions in Canada and hold important power-role. Some of whom are actors, politicians, academics, journalists, businessmen, and athletes. Even before the pandemic started, on average it was estimated that almost 1,800 newcomers from Lebanon were welcomed by Canada every year. According to the current scenario, Canada has been accepting roughly about 400,000 newcomers each year. Most of them are skilled workers. This article is a detailed list of pathways that you can consider while immigrating to Canada from Lebanon.

Process of immigrating to Canada from Lebanon through Express Entry

Express Entry is one of the most important pathways that you can consider as a Lebanese citizen to move to Canada. The Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023, has aimed to welcome around 110,000 newcomers yearly through this process. If you are a skilled worker and looking to immigrate to Canada, you have to make sure that you are eligible in any one of the following mentioned streams:

FSTP- Federal Skilled Trades Program
FSWP- Federal Skilled Worker program
CEC- Canadian Experience Class

For those who have never lived and worked in Canada before, the most sensible option is FSWP. Once you have met all the required criteria for Express Entry you shall skip stepping two. Step two requires you to upload your profile with detailed information about your past personal and professional experiences on the official website. The Canadian department of immigration is the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada. IRCC helps in analyzing a candidate’s human-interest factors such as age, work experience, language proficiency, education and so much more. It also evaluates other factors that include past Canadian experience, the employment offers, and if you have received a provincial nomination previously or not. Once IRCC considers all these factors carefully, it will grant you a CRS score that will decide upon whether you will receive an ITA Invitation to Apply or not. The IRCC also holds fortnightly draws where the highest scoring candidate receives an invitation to apply for a permanent residency in Canada. The selected candidates have a time frame of two months to submit their application to the Immigration department of Canada after their application has been approved by the IRCC. Once you know that you are eligible, you can easily enter the Express Entry pool and wait for an ITA. Although the nature of draws is fluid. The draws are held on the basis of goals pre-determined by Canada and IRCC acts according to that. Being in the pool means you have a fair chance of getting an ITA at least, without being in the pool there is no chance at all. Secondly, the pool also offers you a chance of getting an employment opportunity in Canada. If you get a valid job offer by a Canadian employer the chances of you getting selected increases as having a job in the Canadian territory grants you an extra 50 to 200 CRS points. Thirdly, you can also get an extra 600 points, by getting nominated for a provincial nomination while being in the pool. Once you bag the extra 600 CRS points there is a hundred percent chance that you will receive an ITA for Canadian PR Visa.

What is Provincial Nominee Program?

After Express Entry, PNP Provincial Nominee Program is the second most important pathway that can help a Lebanese citizen to immigrate to Canada without much time and effort. This program is specifically built for skilled professionals. The province of Canada recruits professionals that fill their labor market requirements. If you are eligible and are fulfilling all the set criteria, you will receive a certificate known as the provincial nomination certificate. This particular certification will support your PR application immensely in front of IRCC’s decision-making. Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario hold the biggest PNP streams. Manitoba and Saskatchewan also have big streams. If you desire to choose the pathway of PNP in order to move to Canada, you must research all the streams thoroughly and choose whatever suits you best. Another way is by directly entering the Express Entry Pool of IRCC. Provinces call for the candidates who are in the Express Entry Pool to apply for a provincial nomination in their territory. In order to receive a whopping 600 CRS points, you need to apply for a PNP.

Immigrate to Quebec as a Skilled Worker

The reason why a lot of Lebanese immigrate to Quebec since it is Canada’s only Francophone province. Quebec has an immigration system that it has curated in its own way. It is also the third-largest immigration pathway for skilled professionals. All those who apply for a PNP in Quebec need to prove that they are proficient in French. If you have never resided in Quebec before and wish to immigrate there the finest option for you to choose is the QSWP which is Quebec Regular Skilled Worker Program. It has a nature similar to that of Express Entry’s FSWP Federal Skilled Worker Program. Your profile will be evaluated and you will receive a score according to that. Quebec then sends invitations to the highest scoring candidates in order to move forward with the PR application. Along with this, also take careful note that there are a lot of immigration options available for professional talented workers Apart from Express Entry and PNP, you might consider various pathways as well depending upon your interest and needs. For example, there are specific pathways created for immigrants who wish to migrate to Atlantic provinces, in a particular sector Agri-food industry. In all, Canada has more than 100 pathways designed for the economic class to move and settle in the Maple country.