Which Visa / immigration company should I go through?

WillPainter

I am looking to move to Toronto for an IEC in January, when the visas are released again.

I have been looking at various companies like USIT, BUNAC, GO International and Global Visas, but I am not sure which one to choose. I was on the phone to one of them today, he said their services cost £500. (I got a £100 discount because I was recommended by a friend.) He also said government buildings shut down for 3 weeks in December, so I only have five weeks to get all my documentation organised and sent off.

Could you please provide some advice on which companies you went with? I am looking for a good price, but I will require a decent immigration support system at the same time.

To make things simple please provide your:

• Immigration Company
• City
• Cost
• Time taken from payment to receiving the visa
• Assistance in looking for a place to live?
• Assistance in a job search?
• Any additional points.

Thanks for your help.

againstthetide

WillPainter wrote: »

I am looking to move to Toronto for an IEC in January, when the visas are released again.

I have been looking at various companies like USIT, BUNAC, GO International and Global Visas, but I am not sure which one to choose. I was on the phone to one of them today, he said their services cost £500. (I got a £100 discount because I was recommended by a friend.) He also said government buildings shut down for 3 weeks in December, so I only have five weeks to get all my documentation organised and sent off.

Could you please provide some advice on which companies you went with? I am looking for a good price, but I will require a decent immigration support system at the same time.

To make things simple please provide your:

• Immigration Company
• City
• Cost
• Time taken from payment to receiving the visa
• Assistance in looking for a place to live?
• Assistance in a job search?
• Any additional points.

Thanks for your help.

Why not do it yourself?
It's pretty straight forward and will only cost you the application fee which was 105 euro last year
Most of the visa company make you fill in the forms and they check them over before they get sent off

WillPainter

They must provide more than that though. £500 is a lot of money.

Did you go over on your own? How soon did you have a job after you went over?

againstthetide

WillPainter wrote: »

They must provide more than that though. £500 is a lot of money.

Did you go over on your own? How soon did you have a job after you went over?

Me and mywife came over in 2010 to Edmonton. I got a job labouring for a concreter within my first week and my wife got a job with a finance company also in the first week. I left that guy after a short while due to a personality clash and after that I concentrated on getting a job in my own field of IT and it took a month to get that job where I stayed for two years

We were forced to go through USIT but really they did nothing for us. We filled in the forms and all that.

retalivity

USIT et al charge an extra 400 to fill in the forms for you.
Save yourself some money, and apply yourself directly.

WillPainter

againstthetide wrote: »

Me and mywife came over in 2010 to Edmonton. I got a job labouring for a concreter within my first week and my wife got a job with a finance company also in the first week. I left that guy after a short while due to a personality clash and after that I concentrated on getting a job in my own field of IT and it took a month to get that job where I stayed for two years

We were forced to go through USIT but really they did nothing for us. We filled in the forms and all that.

Why did you have to go through USIT? Did they have a monopoly on the immigration agent market?

I have a qualification in IT too, but it is only a higher diploma (conversion course post-grad). Have you any idea what the starting salary would be for junior IT? I just graduated so I have no working experience in the IT field.

Edmonton, do you know a red haired guy from Maynooth named Daithi?

againstthetide

WillPainter wrote: »

Why did you have to go through USIT? Did they have a monopoly on the immigration agent market?

I have a qualification in IT too, but it is only a higher diploma (conversion course post-grad). Have you any idea what the starting salary would be for junior IT? I just graduated so I have no working experience in the IT field.

Edmonton, do you know a red haired guy from Maynooth named Daithi?

Had no choice but to go through usit at that stage they were the only game in town.
Are you a developer or what branch of it are you in?

WillPainter

againstthetide wrote: »

Had no choice but to go through usit at that stage they were the only game in town.
Are you a developer or what branch of it are you in?

No particular branch, it was a one year H.Dip in Maynooth. It covered Java, web development, networks, operating systems and databases.

Kippure

http://www.albertaimmigration.com/about_us.php

http://www.canadavisa.com/immigration-attorney-david-cohen.html

And David Cohen. I know people who used both these people and had no problems.

jjbrien

[QUOTE=
WillPainter;81552025]

I have a qualification in IT too, but it is only a higher diploma (conversion course post-grad). Have you any idea what the starting salary would be for junior IT? I just graduated so I have no working experience in the IT field.

[/QUOTE]

What kind of IT work do you want to go into? Whats the background of your diploma?

The company I am working for in Toronto is looking for software testers and developers so if your in that area I might be able to get your CV if you come over to the people who matter. I work for a small company about 100 people.

And do the visa application yourself if you follow the check list on the IEC page you will have no issues.

Ajfunky

Currently in canada on the iec, you no longer NEED a sponsor company - its very easy to get here yourself! a lot of straightforward paperwork and a few photocopies of your legal documents and you're sorted!

Dont give em the satisfaction of doing nothing for your money!

Panthro

I went through Go4Less, 75quid I think it was.

WillPainter

jjbrien wrote: »

What kind of IT work do you want to go into? Whats the background of your diploma?

The company I am working for in Toronto is looking for software testers and developers so if your in that area I might be able to get your CV if you come over to the people who matter. I work for a small company about 100 people.

And do the visa application yourself if you follow the check list on the IEC page you will have no issues.

I would like to go into web development, however I would take anything. What languages does your company work with? We learned Java mainly, there wasn't and C or Python or the likes.

As I said, it was only a one year, post graduate higher diploma. The government funded it, in order to fill the demand for IT professionals here.
My undergrad was a degree in Product Design, Marketing and Innovation. Would you have any connections in that field?

WillPainter

Oh and if I do the application myself, are there any official resources that I could check with to confirm that everything on the form is correct? For example, the Canadian embassy maybe?
Apparently people were being rejected purely on the basis that they made a slight mistake on the form, or that they had to wait months extra.

V8_man

WillPainter wrote: »

Oh and if I do the application myself, are there any official resources that I could check with to confirm that everything on the form is correct? For example, the Canadian embassy maybe?
Apparently people were being rejected purely on the basis that they made a slight mistake on the form, or that they had to wait months extra.

I suppose they think that if you can't fill out a simple form properly, you're no use to Canada

If you are worried about it, submit to an immigration lawyer in Canada. they will charge you a few hundred dollars to look over it, but you pay for peace of mind.

DeclanClune

USIT no longer has a monopoly on applying for the IEC visa on behalf of Irish people.

I know various employers in Alberta across the trade sectors looking for guys so if someone is looking for a job there, let me know.

Will Painter - did you get sorted out.

Declan Clune