Taking Up Offer of Employment

[KolaKeren]

Hi, I apologise if this question has already been answered elsewhere. If I get an offer of employment , how long do I have to stay in that job? Also, would I then get permanent residency and does that residency depend upon my staying in that job for a fixed period of time?

I know that this is an odd question, but ultimately we want to start up our own business but have been advised that the better route for permanent residency would be to get a job first rather than getting the 'business visa'.

We're very confused and would welcome any advice, thanks

[Taffy]

How long you have to stay in the job depends on what kind of visa or visa conditions you get. If you get granted a Work To Residence Visa, you need to remain in that job until your Residency application is complete and possibly for any length of time imposed on your Residency visa too. If you get Residency straight away, sometimes you can have a "Section 18a" imposed, which means you must remain in that job for the time specified on your visa - usually around 3 months.

[KolaKeren]

Thanks Taffy. How do you get Residency straight away? Is that only through the Skilled Migrant Category?
Thanks

[Taffy]

That's the most common way. There's also the investor category and family sponsorship category.

[MotherBear]

How do you get Residency straight away?

May I just clarify, in case this is taken the wrong way, getting residency 'straight away' means 'via the direct route' i.e. not via any other visa type and not that you apply and are granted residency more or less immediately. A residency application can, in a lot of cases, take many months to complete.