FAQ

Skilled Workers Frequently Asked Questions:

1.    Am I eligible to immigrate?

In order to answer this question, we need to know a lot about you. The information we require from you is needed to make a correct legal assessment; we cannot provide an answer based on a few personal facts.

Unless you believe you are eligible for an Entrepreneur or Investor program (agricultural or otherwise), you will need to complete our Initial Assessment process. The documents you provide enable us to make a preliminary assessment about your eligibility which can then be followed up with more specific advice in an initial consultation.

If you want to know whether a specific personal circumstance may make you ineligible to immigrate, we would be happy to hear from you before you complete the initial assessment process.

2.    Can I sign a contract now to get the ball rolling?

It is great that you are dedicated to your immigration journey.

Before we can sign a contract to help you in you, we first need to make sure that we will be able to help you given the current immigration season in Canada, and that you have the correct understanding and expectation of your personal immigration options. The place to start is to go through our assessment and booking process. See below ‘How do I book an initial consultation?’

3.    What is the process?

The whole process always starts with a one-on-one initial consultation with our Immigration counsel and Director, Cobus Kriek.

In the initial consultation, you will receive 1) a breakdown of your options 2) have an opportunity to discuss your personal circumstances as they relate to your eligibility to immigrate to Canada.

After an initial consultation, a retainer agreement (contract) will be sent to you should you choose to appoint Matrixvisa.

If Matrixvisa is appointed, you will receive full instructions concerning all documents that are required for immigration purposes. You will begin to work with an administrative assistant to compile your application either in preparation of or alongside your immigration strategy (such as looking for work). Each family/ person’s strategy is different and so the process will vary.

For example, the process could include, obtaining a job offer, getting an LMIA (labour market impact assessment) or provincial nomination, applying for a work permit, and finally submitting a permanent residence application. Or if you are eligible for permanent residence without a job offer your process may include a provincial nomination application and a permanent residence application, or an express entry profile, invitation to apply and a permanent residence application.

Should you have any questions about the administration of the initial assessment or booking process please contact Jessica at bookings@matrixvisa.com and she will be happy to help.

4.    How do I book an initial consultation?

The following is general information which explains our process and how to go about completing your initial assessment and booking a consultation.

Important Facts

We have a high volume of people wanting to immigrate for various reasons. Some of these people are not 100% serious about immigration to Canada yet. It takes time to make the decision to commit to this process, and we appreciate that. To assess this and ensure we prioritize our time with clients that are ready to commit to immigration, we require all potential clients to go through our initial assessment first.

Our process will assist you to increase your knowledge of the different immigration options and risks involved in the immigration process. Immigrants are often gullible and they believe what is told to them. Unscrupulous immigration “agents” inside and outside of Canada use this eagerness and lack of knowledge to get foreign nationals to retain them. Our approach is different – we want you to be educated about immigration and it’s risks first. If you go through this process you will notice that we are very different from most companies and we consistently receive positive feedback from present and past clients to that effect. Once you have completed the initial assessment process you will have information about immigration that will assist you to make informed decisions. If you then decide to have a meeting with Matrixvisa Inc. you will be able to ask more important and focused questions.

It is critical that you are aware that we are not paid to find work for our clients (that is illegal in most parts of Canada), however we do assist our clients in methods of how to look for work in Canada and in legal advice to immigrate. In some cases, we find work for applicants but in most cases applicants find their own jobs with our assistance.

Lastly, for your assurance – certain actions in our process (such as signing the recruitment disclosure) are prescribed by provincial legislation. Matrixvisa was audited five times during 2016 by our immigration regulator as well as provincial authorities and we passed all audits. We are successful as we follow legislative requirements closely.

Assessment Process

  1. Read the information at the links provided:
  2. Navigate here to start the assessment and follow the procedure
  3. Fill in Assessment Documentation
  4. Upload Online to the link provided. Please do not e-mail the documents to anyone at Matrixvisa but upload them at the link provided.
  5. Matrixvisa will assess your Documents.
  6. Matrixvisa will send you an invitation for an Initial Consultation Meeting (if we believe we can assist you).
  7. You will navigate to the book a meeting link to make your booking request, upload additional documentation and make payment for the consultation.

Initial Consultation

If you pass our assessment and we believe you stand a reasonable chance, we will invite you to schedule an Initial Consultation in which Cobus Kriek will meet with you to talk about your situation, explain different immigration options to you and to answer any questions you may have.

An initial consultation costs CAD $200 for the 1 hour meeting. This cost is credited to the account of Applicants who retain Matrixvisa for legal services. We do not have a South African bank account. The fee is paid via credit card when making your booking.

5.    How long does it take? How quickly can I be in Canada?

While it is great that you are motivated to begin your new life in Canada, the important thing to focus on is going through the process properly to ensure the highest possibility of success for you and your family.

Similar to the answer at #3, which explains that there are many different pathways to immigrate to Canada, the amount of time the process takes will vary depending on your immigration strategy and personal circumstances.

In addition to your personal immigration strategy, many factors can change how quickly an application may be submitted, such as finding employment, obtaining a particular document, technical or legal issues, etc. After submission of an application, the processing time of the application is out of our control. For example, we have seen some Permanent Residence Applications being processed in 2 months or less, while others could take 2 years depending on the stream of application. Frequently, where an client requires a job offer to be eligible to immigrate, they would come to Canada as temporary residence (on work permits) before their permanent residence application is approved or submitted.

6.    What can I do now to prepare?

While we could mention a variety of items you could prepare, the horse must come before the cart. Are you eligible to immigrate to Canada?

Figuring out what the process would be for you and committing to this life changing decision is most important. Thereafter it is matter of going through the motions, which Matrixvisa is here to help our clients to do.

What is important is for you to inform yourself as much as possible, we ask everyone who comes to see us to read the following links on our website:


7.    Do I need to get any documents before you can help me?

Generally, No. However, this can only be determined in an initial consultation where the conclusion of the consultation might be that the applicant needs to confirm whether it is possible to obtain a specific document before the process can proceed.

We will need your (and your spouse/ partner’s) up-to-date CV for the initial assessment process.

8.    How much does it cost?

The initial consultation costs CAD $200 for a one-hour one-on-one meeting. Thereafter, Matrixvisa has standard fees for different services such as permanent residence, work permits, visitor visas, etc. The prices are subject to change based on the complexity of your case or additional work required to be completed on a file.

For each service a different contract must be signed. For example, a Permanent Residence contract is separate to a Work Permit contract and the services delivered for each. All of Matrixvisa’s contracts are payable in 2 to 3 phases based on progress of the file and on work completed.

9.    I want to go to Canada to work.

Roughly speaking there are two ways that a person can go to Canada to work, one is as a permanent resident and the other is on an employer-specific work permit.

If you are not eligible to obtain permanent residence without a job offer, you will need to apply for an employer-specific work permit. In order to do this you must first obtain an “offer of arranged employment”.

An offer of arranged employment is a job offer which is validated through either a LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment), or a provincial nomination – each on is a different type of application. In some cases, a job offer may be LMIA exempt which still requires an application to prove why that specific application should be LMIA exempt – such as inter-company transfers.

A job offer by itself (without a validation factor) will not be sufficient to support a work permit application.

It is vital that you read the following page on our website on looking for employment in Canada.

10.     Is there work in Canada in my occupation?

Whether there is work in your occupation is a very complicated question and depends on a variety of economic and geographical factors.

For example, a large factor in whether there is a skill shortage in a given occupation depends on where in Canada you look for work. 9/10 times, large metropolitan hubs have saturated job markets whereas non-metropolitan areas experiencing growth will have labour shortages.

To understand more about challenges faced by non-Canadian citizens/ permanent residents who look for work you must read the following page on our website on looking for employment in Canada. This page will give you fundamental perspective on this question.

Skilled shortages are also industry dependent. For example, there is roughly a 59,000-person labour shortage in the agricultural industry across Canada. This is a good indication that an individual in the agriculture industry would be able to find employment in Canada. In contrast, the mining industry has suffered significant cuts in Canada in the past couple of years as a result of the commodity crisis. Many mines have closed and thousands of people in this industry lost their jobs. An individual with only mining experience is unlikely to find employment in Canada at the moment.

Overall, this is a topic which would be further discussed in an initial consultation.

11.     How easy will it be for me to get work?

See the answer above and read the following page on our website on looking for employment in Canada. This page will provide you with understanding with regards to getting work in Canada.

Further, how easy it will be to get work is largely dependent on you. As mentioned above – where are you looking for work and where are you willing to look for work? Is it in Toronto, the most populated city in Canada? Read the link above to understand why this is important.

Additionally, this question will come down to the complicated question of labour shortages.

12.     Can Matrixvisa do my recruitment?

To understand the recruitment work that Matrixvisa does, it is important to know that there are two types of immigration services that Matrixvisa provides. Employer driven services and applicant driven services.

Applicant driven services are like those listed above, permanent residence, work permits, etc. Applicant driven immigration services are initiated by an applicant, such as yourself, who wants to immigrate to Canada. In most provinces of Canada it is illegal to be paid to find work for people. In turn, as a blanket rule and practice, Matrixvisa is not paid to find work for people.

Employer driven immigration is when a Canadian employer asks Matrixvisa to fill a labour shortage with a foreign worker with the necessary skills. Matrixvisa provides this recruitment service as well as LMIA services to employers. When an employer is seeking to fill a vacancy, Matrixvisa recruits a suitable applicant and in turn provides them with immigration services if they choose.

Matrixvisa does show our clients (to the extent possible) how to look for work in Canada and how to market their skill-set in the Canadian job market, while providing industry contacts where available.

13.     Who can come to the meeting? What should I bring?

If you have a spouse or partner, it is vital that they attend the consultation if possible. You are definitely welcome to bring your children as well, keeping in mind that you will get the most out of the consultation with your full attention.

For any other questions, please send us an inquiry at the “Contact Us” page and we would be happy to help!