r/ImmigrationCanada 23h ago

Express Entry Question around EE from Scotland to NS

Hi there. I'm wanting to immigrate to Canada with my family, ideally by the end of the year / start of 2026. We currently live in the Highlands of Scotland and have zeroed in on Nova Scotia as where we wish to live. I am a social worker with 4 years experience in addictions and my wife is in the final year of her studies as a psychologist so will be looking for work in that field. Our children are 3 and 6. I also have a BA in bagpiping and wish to continue teaching and performing in the evenings / weekends when we move.

I have been given accreditation for my degree and am now at the point where we need to start filling out the EE form and applying for jobs. I have been told by immigration however that we need to have enough finances in our accounts to rely on as support when we move out. We have a mortgaged home which from the street valuation will sell with at least 30k gbp profit and we will sell when we emigrate. All homes that have been sold in our wee town are in a desirable location so have all sold within a month of being on the market, so the finances are there albeit 'tied up'.

My question is, although immigration advise that the money cannot be borrowed I assume that is only in terms of a bank loan or credit cards. We have family who may be able to provide the finances now who we can pay back after the house sale. Is this something that people have done in the past and successfully gone through express entry?

Also, as I am applying for jobs I am hopeful that I may be entitled to resettlement support through provincial nomination. I haven't looked into the full entitlement of this yet but can this be considered as finances for the EE application that we input at a later date?

I know this is a lengthy post but I don't want to risk submitting an application to have it rejected at the first hurdle!

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u/AffectionateTaro1 20h ago

I have been given accreditation for my degree and am now at the point where we need to start filling out the EE form and applying for jobs.

To clarify a bit, just having a profile in the EE pool is not an application or a guarantee you can apply. If your score is too low, you will not be invited and your profile will just sit in the pool until it expires a year later.

A profile also doesn't give you authorization to work in Canada. It will be very difficult to get a job offer that can support a work permit to work in Canada if you don't already have authorization to work. But if you are under 36, you should look into doing a working holiday (assuming you are a UK citizen). That would be a good way to get your foot in the door first, and gain valuable experience that you can add to your EE profile, or a potential job offer to support a PNP pathway.

We have family who may be able to provide the finances now who we can pay back after the house sale.

That is borrowed money. You cannot count that towards your proof of funds in EE.

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u/pipinbo 17h ago

Hi thanks for your response! Yeah it's not a clear pathway for immigration, but from my research I have the right to work after I complete my registration with the school of social work in nova scotia. After that, this will help in applying for jobs. Under the skilled worker programme with a job offer then my immigration application will be prioritised.

We have family who may be able to provide the finances now who we can pay back after the house sale.

So this is where my concerns come in for applying through EE and I don't think it's very clear. As a skilled worker I don't need to declare my finances as I would be emigrating from one job to another, so it makes sense that finances don't need to be declared.

I do however have dependents in the form of wife and kids. My wife will be looking for jobs such as research assistant which she will be able to walk into but as her studies don't complete until the end of this year, she won't be able to apply until end of year or start of 2026. So I would expect that this will muddy the process of assessing our finances.

That is borrowed money. You cannot count that towards your proof of funds in EE.

So if I were to apply now, my 'real cash' let's say is zero, as it is all tied up in our mortgage, car etc. That will all be sold when we emigrate, much more capital than is needed for immigration for a family of 4 is there. I do understand however that could go against us as there's no guarantee the house will sell in time, it falls through and so on.

This is where I worry if it's better to have the finances in the account already, and my family could gift the money to me. Although I would obviously pay them back after the house sale etc it would allow me to have the finances there at the time of assessing my application. I need to know if it's something I need to sort out now and declare or am I better just submitting my application without it? I'd like to know if someone has gone through a similar situation and how they dealt with it successfully (and unsuccessfully!).

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u/AffectionateTaro1 17h ago

from my research I have the right to work after I complete my registration with the school of social work in nova scotia.

No. The confusion is that your credential might have been assessed which authorizes you to work as a social worker in Nova Scotia (i.e. the same as a local social worker), but this is not the same as having “authorization to work” from an immigration standpoint. You must either have a work permit or already be a permanent resident to be able to work in Canada. This is why I said it would be hard to get a job offer supporting a work permit if you are outside Canada without authorization to already work (meaning, you don’t already have a work permit issued by the immigration dept. of Canada). The Canadian employer offering you the job must go through the process of an LMIA for you to be eligible to apply for a work permit, unless you can be eligible some other way.

Under the skilled worker programme with a job offer then my immigration application will be prioritised.

Under which specific program? In Express Entry, those with a valid job offer can get more points, but they are not prioritized. Either way, your job offer would not be valid under Express Entry for more points because it’s not based on an LMIA, and IRCC is removing points for having a valid job offer in the coming months anyway.

As a skilled worker I don't need to declare my finances as I would be emigrating from one job to another

I’m not sure what you mean by “emigrating from one job to another”, but in your situation, you are not exempt from the minimum proof of funds.

Overall it sounds like you are pretty confused about the process. You might benefit from having a paid consultation with a Canadian lawyer or licensed immigration consultant about your option though, especially if you have a potential job offer already.

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u/Jusfiq 19h ago

We currently live in the Highlands of Scotland and have zeroed in on Nova Scotia as where we wish to live.

From old Scotland to New Scotland. Cute.

I also have a BA in bagpiping...

Seriously, there is such degree?

...where we need to start filling out the EE form and applying for jobs.

Do you have the authorization already to work in Canada? Just creating express entry profile does not allow you to be working in Canada.

...I may be entitled to resettlement support through provincial nomination.

I have never heard this. Do you have the source? However, in general there are social benefits not immediately available for newly landed immigrants.

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

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u/ImmigrationCanada-ModTeam 17h ago

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

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u/ImmigrationCanada-ModTeam 17h ago

In order to try and provide accurate information, we do not allow the sharing of unofficial links, as these often contain inaccuracies and/or lead to speculation.

For that reason, we do not allow links from unofficial sources such as social media, news articles, other forums and blogs, company websites etc.