Due to the war in Israel, Canada is allowing Israelis to obtain a work or study visa for the country for three years, for those who meet one of the following conditions:
- Tourist visa holders who are currently in Canada (regardless of the date they arrived there).
- Relatives of Canadian citizens or PR (permanent residency) holders.
This is a humanitarian visa, which gives Israelis an open work visa for three years, with the route being temporary and closing this June.
"We estimate that hundreds of Israelis have already arrived in Canada following the war and there are many more who are planning to arrive soon," says Michal Harel, who moved to Canada in 2019, and founded the nonprofit website ovrimtocanada.com with her husband.
In both cases, visa-seekers are required to submit the application from within Canada itself, and not at the border crossing. It is highly recommended to speak with an immigration consultant about this program, especially if you plan to use it to submit a PR application in the future.
'We built the website to help people, not for profit'
"After October 7, we started receiving a lot of calls from friends in Israel, who know that we relocated to Canada due to work," said Michal. "They asked us how they could move to Canada and if we could help them. We found ourselves talking on the phone for hours every day and explaining to everyone who called us about immigration routes to Canada and life here.
"After a few days of long phone calls, I realized that we couldn't keep talking on the phone all day, and we decided to build a website that has all the information." That way, Michal explained, "it would be easy for people to learn about moving to Canada. We built the site to help people, not for profit."
Immigrating to Canada is not cheap
Michal and her husband sent the new site to the applicants, they began to distribute it to their friends, and then, suddenly, the new immigration route was opened for Israelis.
"Overnight, the site almost collapsed from too many visitors," she said. On the website you will find information about the new temporary immigration route for Israelis, about life in Canada, and also a blog written by Mia, another Israeli who moved to Canada a few years ago. In her blog Mia writes about her and her husband's immigration process. However, keep in mind that the immigration process itself can cost up to tens of thousands of Canadian dollars.
Here is a list of expenses to be expected during the process:
- Immigration legal advice – between C$3,500 and C$7,000
- Airline tickets – around C$1,000
- Per person initial rent (2 to 6 months in advance) – starting at C$2,000 per month
- Furniture, clothing, miscellaneous – about C$10,000
- Car rental – about C$1,600 per month
- Buying a car – starting at C$20,00
- International college tuition – about C$7,000 per semester
- International university tuition fees – starting at C$30,000 per year