Immigrating to a country in which you’ve never lived is a big step, and it’s a decision that is often very hard to make. It’s akin to uprooting yourself from your home country which you’ve lived in most of your life, and planting yourself in another country with different culture, weather conditions, etc. When people make decisions to immigrate, they usually consider many factors such as career opportunities, way of life, standard of living, general work experience, and more often than not, Canada comes out as the top choice.

It’s not hard to imagine why, as Canada is a country with many big cities and a lot of opportunities for you to grow your career. It also has pretty good standards of living, and it’s an English-speaking country which makes it easier to blend in quickly. If you’re planning to immigrate to Canada, one big question on your mind should be, “what does it mean to reside in Canada?”.

There are different ways of answering this question. On one hand, you might want to know how to even gain permanent residence in Canada in the first place. You also might want to know what day-to-day living is like in the country. In this post, we’ll answer the first question.

How to get to and reside in Canada officially

To get an officially-recognized permanent residency in Canada, you need one of the following options:

Family sponsorship

Be sponsored by family members already living in Canada. This could be a family member who is an official citizen of Canada, or one who has gained permanent residence in the past by following the legal rules of the country.

Involvement in sport

Be granted permanent residency based on your involvement in sporting/athletic activities related to the country. It could also be activities that are of interest to the country’s culture.

Get a provincial nomination

Get a nomination for permanent residency from a Canadian Province. This is provided for by the law under the Provincial Nomination Program (PNP), and requires you to have done/be doing something significant to the development of the province for some time.

Job offer

Be granted permanent residency to enable you work in gainful employment in the country. This usually happens when you get a job offer from a company based in Canada, and you need the permanent residency to continue in the job. In this case, the company will apply to the appropriate authorities on your behalf, to enable you reside in Canada.

With all of these in mind, make sure you also prepare yourself mentally for the immigration by speaking to people who are already living in Canada. These things make the process of immigration and residing in Canada easier for you.