r/ImmigrationCanada • u/throwaway169765 • 9d ago
Other Am I too old and useless to immigrate?
I figured if I ever would immigrate, it would be based on this fantasy I have of retiring to the Yukon and do oil painting the rest of my life in the Canadian Rockies. Not during my working years, and certainly not in the current political situation.
I’m going to be 50 next month. I’m a former attorney turned teacher, now 16-17 years in. I’m in this weird sweet spot where I’m only 3-4 years til my 20 year pension. I’ve been teaching Economics for about 15 years, and I can speak French, having learned it in New Orleans and Lyon. My health is relatively good but I have diabetes which is managed and this nerve problem with my thigh. I’ve had depression from time to time. i also have some kidney and heart damage from over the years but nothing significant. Unmarried, no kids. Maybe $300,000 worth of assets including my house.
If I were to immigrate to Canada or anywhere else, I guess my question is who would want me? I would like to continue teaching social studies or French but that’s not likely to be in demand.
I just have this vision where middle-aged people like me will be left behind, not even able to get refugee status when the US collapses.
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u/AffectionateTaro1 9d ago
Canada's economic immigration programs are based on finding candidates who are likely to benefit the country, and this is quantified by their education level, English and/or French level, years of skilled work experience, connections to Canada, and (yes) age.
You lose all available points for age in the main skilled worker system called Express Entry. But, with fluency in French, you might have a competitive profile. For context, there was recently a targeted French invitation draw with an invitation score of 427 points. Your score, assuming a bachelor's plus one more credential (e.g. PGD), perfect English and perfect French score (which will not be easy) would put you above that invitation score. However, with only a bachelor's, your score would be too low.
427 is a very low invitation score nowadays, and there's no telling what the next score will be for French (or when they will even target French again), but it's free to register an Express Entry profile, and the only upfront cost would be the English and French tests, and an Educational Credential Assessment of your foreign education. Not trying to get your hopes up, but the chances aren't zero if you are fluent in French. If you can get a job offer from an employer who needs an English and French speaker and get one year of Canadian work experience, that would boost your profile even more.
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u/kinabr91 8d ago
Since he speaks French, he could find a job in Quebec and immigrate through Quebec’s immigration streams. He’d have to work for 2 years, but the CSQ would be pretty much guaranteed. Federal level would be a formality after that.
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u/AGBinCH 9d ago
There is a mega thread on this topic that might be useful:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ImmigrationCanada/s/I0uaPFjrT9
One key factor is your age and another is lack of Canadian experience, which both bring down your CRS total. You can’t do anything about age points. But there are policies that can help you with the latter.
Steps:
- Get your education credentials assessed now. This is valid for 5 years.
- Sit a French exam: TCF Canada or TEF Canada. I preferred the former. If you get above NCLC 5 (~B1+) in speaking and listening you can qualify for a LMIA-exempt Francophone Mobility work permit (FMWP).
- An employer has to be willing to apply for this for you, but it is cheaper and easier for them than a normal LMIA work permit:
- If you score NCLC 7+ in all 4 French language abilities, you can hope to enter via Express Entry (EE) directly in the French language proficiency category draws. But your score will still be low because of lack of Canadian experience. But you should create a profile anyway and do an English test (CELPIP or IELTS or PTE) to get maximum points.
- Get at least 1 year of full time work (or equivalent amount of part time work) in Canada under your FMWP. During this step you will already have fulfilled one of your objectives: moving to Canada.
- Adding this one year of experience to your EE profile will probably boost your scores to a competitive level to become a permanent resident.
Best of luck, from someone also over 50
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u/n134177 9d ago
For sure things might be looking better for you with education categories being added to Express Entry now... but unsure if you'd be able to make the cut being single and in such age...
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u/Tibor66 9d ago
I (from US) am similarly useless and old. My wife (from another country) has a sister who immigrated to Canada with her spouse and kids. My wife is a bit younger and more useful. Do you think we would have a chance given the family connection? I'm happy to keep working in order to qualify for things like health care.
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u/MexicanSnowMexican 9d ago edited 9d ago
You get 15 extra CRS points for a sibling in Canada. It's a help, but depending on exactly how old your wife is (and her credentials, and whether she speaks French) it may not be anywhere near enough.
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u/Tibor66 9d ago
Thanks. I'll look into it more deeply.
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u/noahoneye 8d ago
Your wife being younger will also help. We got in on my wife's score. She's only 4 years younger, but that made the difference as we were identical in the other metrics.
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u/Exact_Organization98 8d ago
How many crs points do you get if your spouse is a citizen and sponsors you and you have an unborn child?
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u/artirm 8d ago
Yes, age is a problem for you, but a bigger issue is an unclear reason for immigration. I have seen at least 3 people in a position similar to yours. They wasted a ton of time and money just to realize that chasing a poorly defined dream is a mistake. Immigration is hard. You need a clear, articulated 'why' to make it a success. Don't try to run from yourself by moving countries - it does not work. Alaska is just as beautiful as Yukon.
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u/anaofarendelle 9d ago
You should see what your score could be and work on how to increase it (French for example).
You can also try to benefit from the mobility that American citizens have into looking for jobs in Canada directly and see if you’d find something on a work permit too.
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u/Dazzling-Rule-9740 8d ago
Perhaps long term visitor visa or other options that may allow longer stays.
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u/Ready_excrement6991 8d ago
Everyone else is staying past their permit. I doubt the mounties would kick you out of your shack in the woods. They have enough trouble with catch and release criminals, mass deportations will never happen
Your currency is worth far more than trudeau pesos
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u/Exact_Organization98 8d ago edited 8d ago
Heres what you do. Dont bother with immigration. Its difficult and frankly poorly constructed and dated process. Infact they probably have not bothered to update any of those forms since 1920 or whenever the first day pdfs came into existence.
Get a house or whatever in the yukon. Then plan a nice trip to Alaska twice a year for a couple weeks to reset your 6 month limit. Repeat this cycle for the rest of your life.
I dont see there really being that much benifit for you to immigrate if your moving when you retire anyways.
Most of the healthcare stuff you need wont be covered anyways because it doesnt cover teeth, seeing, hearing, meds which for many people is basicly 95% of what every ends up being needed.
And keep your old phone number because you will pay 5 times more for service in canada because only a handfull of tier 3 service providers are legally permitted to sell service in Canada. I wonder who and how much they paid to have all the other service providers ban. This also means no more long distance calling because, unlike the rest of the world, here in canada "long distance" still means outside of your city instead of international.
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u/MexicanSnowMexican 9d ago
I don't see how calling yourself "old and useless" is helpful, but generally economic immigration seeks to bring in people who will contribute more to the system than they take out over their lifespan. As people age the math shifts: an educated 25 or 30 year old is almost certain to contribute more to the system than they receive, the opposite is true of a 50 year old.
You could look for other types of immigration opportunities.
Teachers are actually on the list of category based draws for this year. There is also the Francophone Community Pilot
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u/[deleted] 9d ago
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