British Truckers Abroad

Has Anyone gone through the PNP process without using an immigration specialist? Is it possible to do the first part yourself (work permit, arrival, training) and just use the experts for the permanent residency application?

Technically you are able to do it ALL yourself. Even the PR part, it's just mostly paperwork.

You can hire a agency if you arnt confident enough on your own, with the PR part when the times comes.
But the initial, getting the job, can be down to you and your potential employer, no agency required.

I did it without an Agency. Loads more have as well, In fact I dont know anyone that used an Agency !

i did all of ours while in the uk for manitoba pnp but used an immigration consultant for the paperwork, was a bit of a wait but when we landed we had pr straight away, and was driving a week later though i did fly out twice before that.

We used an agency... we didn't have any contacts like here on a forum... Didn't know anybody in Canada...

The agency did a good job, can't complain about that... But now we know we could have easily done it ourselves (or Nocnie could, I'm just a lazy trucker... )...

Nocnie, my wife, did the PR stuff... In fact the agency should do it for free but she had more faith in herself... PR is not any more complicated compared to the workpermit... And she had good contact with a lady from the PNP in Fredericton... She checked papers and helped us along very well to make sure everything was done well...

But prices at agencies have grown skyhigh... The first Dutch family the agency that helped us brought in here paid 900 euro... One and a half years later we should have paid 2400 euro... We had about 10 months delay and the price turned out to be 3200 euro... They had forgotten the payment for our kids... Later we heard that they calculated the same rate for a single person or a 6 person family... Now you probably pay 6 or 7 thousand euro... It's just way to much...

I did it all without an agency, from the initial TWP through to PR. You shouldn't have any trouble with it.

No, in honesty they should deal with the company they are working for, and the PNP people themselves, and CIC themselves. I had no contacts here, and the ones who arrived in Steinbach before me were just starting theirs and were feeling their way along just as I was. If I can do it then anyone can.

I made one mistake throughout all of the process, which was fewer than the companies immigration worker made on almost all, including her own. If you read it all, it is self explanatory, and if you have questions you can call the 800 number. Almost all of these immigration consultants are very bad news. May 10 or 12 hours of paperwork, including the mistake I made, and the only costs were those to CIC. So it means that these agencies are charging something like $500 or more per hour.