How much does immigration to Canada cost?

Is immigration to Canada an expensive affair?

This is perhaps one of the most popular questions among those who would like to move and live in the country of the maple leaf - and that’s reasonable, because it is also one of the most important questions one must ask. Does the individual or family have enough money to immigrate to Canada? Let's try to calculate (all figures are given as of the beginning of 2018).

We will proceed with the assumption that you already have everything else necessary to obtain a permanent residence permit in Canada: a job that’s on demand and sufficient work experience for it, the appropriate education, and, of course, knowledge of English or French or both.

Language test

To officially confirm your level of language proficiency, you must pass an appropriate exam and receive a certificate with scores. For English it's IELTS or CELPIP, for French it's TEF.

Each language exam for each spouse (this is mandatory for the principal applicant and optional for the spouse and may be beneficial), depending on the country and the city where the exam is written, it can cost about 300 Canadian dollars (CAD).

Educational credentials assessment

For immigration credentials assessment, immigrants to Canada now most often use the services of WES (World Education Services).

The cost of educational credentials assessment for one applicant is 200 CAD + 13% tax + shipping fee, that is, in total about 240 Canadian dollars.

It is necessary to add expenses for translation of diplomas with notarization (about 60-100 dollars for each) and their apostille - here the prices depend on the country in which you have it done.

Translation and certification of documents

Registration in the Express Entry system is free, but upon receiving an invitation to immigration, you must submit (upload into the system) a complete set of documents that must be translated into English or French and notarized. The cost here depends heavily on each specific case, as the number of documents vary for each case, but, as experience shows, it is approximately 200-400 dollars in total for a family of 3-4 people.

If a visa office requires additional supporting documents during processing of your case, you may need their translation, and possibly a notarization - it is likely that this will not be too costly, but one should bear this in mind.

You can translate documents in your country, or through a Canadian agency. In most cases you will need only need electronic versions of the translations for your immigration process. You can order a translation, for example, in Docsbase.

Medical examination

Next step in the immigration process is the medical examination in an authorized medical office. This examination is carried out for all adult family members and all dependent children, even if they do not immigrate with you. The cost of such medical examination varies depending on the country in which the examination is carried out, but in most cases it is in the range from 300 to 400 dollars per person.

Government fees

When submitting immigration application, you must pay a government fee for its processing. For most federal immigration programs, the fee is 550 Canadian dollars for each adult and 150 for each child.

Another fee is charged for the right to permanently reside in Canada - it can be paid both immediately and at the very end of the immigration process. This is another 490 CAD per adult, but this one does not apply to children.

Flight to Canada

The last item of expenditure is airfare. Depending on the airline, season, class, country and city, it can be estimated at around 1,000 Canadian dollars per person. If you plan to carry a lot of belongings with you, be prepared to pay extra for shipment by air or by sea, as well as any applicable customs clearance fees.

Settlement funds

In addition to costs, you must also show documentary evidence that you have enough of your own money to move, settle in a new place of residence and pay for living until you find a job and start earning enough income.

This money remains yours, but you must have it in your bank account (or several accounts in different banks), as you need to be able to afford housing and food, you are also required to show a bank statement. The value of your property (for example, apartments) is not included here and you cannot use borrowed money.

The minimum amount for accommodation in Canada depends on the number of family members and is recalculated every year.

Bottom line

Let's sum up all the above costs.

In the "do it yourself" option, we have approximately $2,500 Canadian dollars for the exams, evaluations, certifications and translations along with medical commission and government fees plus $1,000 for the ticket, and after these costs you need to have at least $12,500 in your bank account(s).

For a family of four, where both spouses have higher education and pass language exams, the costs of paperwork increase to about $5,500, air tickets will cost about $3,000-$4,000, and in bank accounts it will be necessary to show more than $23,200 (all figures are in Canadian dollars).

If you want to use our help with an immigration process, it can cost, depending on the amount of work in your particular case, from $4,500 to $6,000 CAD.