Best way to apply for landed-do I need an immigration lawyer?

[carrottan]

Hi,

I have been living in Canada for the past 5 yrs. I have graduated with a honors university degree and am currently working in Toronto.

I am on a post graduate work permit, I have been working in Canada since May this yr but has not quite fufil a yr yet. My permit expires May 07 and I am thinking of applying for PR now.

Before I came to Canada, I have worked a yr in Singapore(that is where I am from.However the jobs I had were not in NCO code either A, B or O and would not qualify me as a skilled worker.

Now, I want to apply for PR as a federal skilled worker but I am worried about being rejected because I have insufficient experience.

However, I have a bf in Canada and would not want to be seperated from him when my work permit expires in May and I really want to get a head start in my application.

Questions are:

Do I need an immigration lawyer to help me with my application esp since I don't seem to have quite enough experience as yet, would getting a lawyer help me with that?

And where do I go to get a good one?
And what are the rates?

I do not have a lot of savings, and I do not wish to spend 000s of $. Because if I have to, I might as well spend the same amt of $ on paying interational student school fees, getting another student permit while I wait for PR?

Pls advise,

I am really in a rut.

[Tsveta]

Hi,

I would suggest contacting an immigration lawyer. He can tell you whether you will qualify for PR application or not and may have good suggestions. With most lawyers the first consultation is free so you don't loose anything. If you find the process too expensive you can consider probably marring you boyfriend if that's what you want. Is he a Canadian citizen?
Here is a list of Canadian lawyers (http://www.getlawyer.ca/)by province.
I hope this will help.

[almo81]

Permanent Residency will likely not be quick enough for you. It will likely take more than the 5 months you have.

However, Since you have work, You should look into getting a Permanent work permit - your Employer may have to help you - but it can be done quickly enough.

Another option is an "arranged employment" - which Is really a method of speeding up the Permanent residency process - and improving your chances of qualifying for PR. See this link for more:

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/epb/lmd/fw/poArrEmp.shtml


hope this helps,

Almo

[carrottan]

Thanks it helps

I am just overwhelmed, I think it takes really long to get it approved.sigh.:confused: