WILL CANADA CONTINUE WITH RECORD HIGH IMMIGRATION?

In a word: maybe. The next federal election must be held on or before October 20, 2025, though a snap election may be triggered before then as the governing Liberals do not command an absolute majority.

If the opposition Conservatives are elected to office in Ottawa — and there is every chance that may happen, according to leading pollsters — Canada's immigration targets may come down.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre often repeats a desire to 'get back to common sense immigration,' with a focus on filling jobs and favouring private refugee sponsorship over government assistance.

On the actual numbers of immigrants, Poilievre's comments indicate a sort of status quo ante ("get back to", and from that we could potentially witness levels similar to the decade between 2006 and 2015, the last period of Conservative government. During that period the number of new permanent residents was in the region of around 250,000 — relatively high when looking across peer developed countries on a per capita basis, but low compared with growth under the Liberals in the years since.

No matter who the key decision makers may be or what number they come up with, we can be confident that the number of people who want to live and work in Canada will be greater than the number who actually get to do so. Those who plan ahead may stand a better chance of success.

"Those who plan ahead may stand a better chance of success". That implies to succeed with your plan of relocating to Canada either through study of any other route, you need to plan and get your documentation right most importantly documents to proof your home tie.

You can get to read on nairaland.com about my previous articles on "how landed property valuation can boost your chance of visa approval".

Meanwhile, let's take a look at how an applicant can avoid getting a rejection on his/her study visa application. If you’re about applying for a Canadian study visa, kindly take very careful note of some common factors to watch out for when making your study visa application.

Although, most International students are eligible to apply to come to study in Canada with family members (spouses & children). These are few things to note to do this successfully. Let it be known that when you applied for admission, you did that for yourself alone, but when applying for visa, you can include your family (spouse and children) for your study visa.

Often times, visa applications are determined considering three factors:

* Purpose of study
* Proof of funds
* Home ties

These three factors are the expectations for both single applicants and applicants as a family.

For applicants as a family, you have a stronger justification to make. You will need to show additional funds to cater for the family, justify the importance of having family members with you, and have other ties to your country.

* Purpose of study:

In your study plan/letter of explanation, you will need to convincingly explain the reasons you chose to study in Canada and why your spouse & children should accompany you to Canada.

You as the principal applicant would apply for study visa while your children can apply for a visitor/study permit (depending on age), and spouse, a visitor/work permit (depending on what they intend to do in Canada)

NB: If you are a student going to a school/program that is not eligible for a post-graduation work permit (PGWP), your spouse is not eligible for the spousal open work permit (SOWP).

This is one of the important reasons to ensure the program you apply for is eligible for PGWP. The study plan helps you to justify the purpose of your study & the importance of having your family with you so that your spouse can work and support the family while you're are studying.

Other reasons could be anything from the fact that your children are young, or your family has never been apart before. Family unification is important to Canada, so you can leverage on that.

* Proof of funds (POF):

If you intend to apply with your family, you will have to pay extra application fees & also show more POF than a single applicant. You must also show that you have sufficient funds to support yourself & the family members accompanying you without working in Canada. You are expected to show enough to cover your tuition and living expenses as the student; and the additional funds for the living expenses of those accompanying you. And the total funds you need will depend on your family size/number.

To be more practical, you need to show that you have the value of living expenses for one year (Naira equivalent of CAD$10,000 for you in addition to the cost of your tuition for one year).

Let’s say you wish to study for a Masters in Marketing for 2 years, and your tuition is $12,000 per year, you are expected to have the sum of $10,000 living expenses (1year) and $12,000 tuition for one year, a total of CAD$22,000. So if you have a family and you will be applying for them as well, you need to have an extra CAD$4000 for each of them for their living expenses per year.

If you are applying alone (at first), then you or your spouse needs to show enough funds for the living expenses on your family (no definite amount for this but should be sizeable depending on your family size).

* Home ties

Proof of home ties, this is very crucial and an important aspect of the Canadian study visa application or any other non-immigration visa category owing to the fact that many applicants have been denied based on insufficient proof of home ties, that simply means having sufficient fund is not enough to guarantee your visa approval.

As an international student, you are a temporary resident & need to show that you have reasons to leave Canada after your study.

IRCC wants to see evidence of your home ties. Many applicants find it easier to use their family members as part of their home ties. But in the case you're not married or applying with your family, it means you must be ready to show other ties.

It could be your business, investments, employment, financial assets and most importantly landed properties (which are mostly preferred cos they hardly depreciate in value but appreciate more over time and could be source of additional income if its a rental property.

Therefore, you must know what the visa officers want to see and craft your application to satisfy them. Submitting a valuation report of your landed assets (land & building) along with other required documents for visa application could actually boost your chance of visa approval.

Either for visit, study, medical or other temporary or permanent residency visa applications, it is strongly advisable for applicants to provide a valuation report of their property(ties) in order to assist and convince visa officer about their economic/financial status in their home country and also as proof of strong home tie to pull the applicant to return on expiration of period granted.

Property Valuation report could make a visa officer develop good mental picture of who the applicant is, it just like what CV does to a job recruiter. An employer can develop an idea who a job seeker is through the CV to decide if the job seeker should be considered or not. A valuation report describe in details the property(ies) owned by the visa applicant and the corresponding value of such a property either a house, undeveloped land, agricultural farmlands etc which undoubtedly could be a strong proof of the applicant tie to the home country that can pull him/her back after his/her study.

This document shows the amount of wealth you own in property(ties) in your homeland which will make a strong pull factor for your return to your homeland once the purpose of your visit is over. It could also give a mental picture of your economic status in your country and that may eliminate doubt of your return and one point of visa rejection.

Also, it could serve as a support document to your proof of fund which are usually liquid assets such as bank deposit etc. It will make lots of senses if you have good financial status as confirmed by your bank statement of account and property or assets valuation report to corroborate your status.

Though, there are many who do not submit this document due to ignorance or it doesn't matter mind set but it would be wise to do it by a smart applicant especially if its a non apprearance visa application or the one you first submit your application for assesment prior to physical interview.

It is important to prove that your housing assets is valuable as a strong home tie for returning after your study abroad or temporary visit and back up for proof of fund especially Canada Express Entry applicants and schooling.

The report would be a guide to the visa officer to establish your affordability of expenses of visit, stay, study and that the applicant have assets that can be liquidated to raise funds if the need arises.

In view of above, you may wish to consult us for engagement in providing you with this service of property valuation to meet your immigration purpose or whatsoever, our expertise team of Registered Estate Surveyors & Valuers with indepth knowledge of valuation will do justice to that to achieve your maximum satisfaction with utmost professionalism.

For any further inquiries, do not hesitate to contact +2349049045703 (Whatsapp only) or +2348032296562.

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