Tips on applying for landed immigrant status

• The final authority is CIC Canada. Their webpage can be found at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.html. They have a phone # at 1(888)242-2100, which is open M-F 8am to 4pm, local time. As a warning, going through their automated system will never result in speaking to a human. If you want to speak to a human, pick English or French, and then dial "0" at any time to speak to a human. This may result in a busy signal, but it's your only hope.
• Eventually you'll need to get letters of police clearance from every place that you've lived in for 6 months or longer for the last 10 years, as long as you were 18 years old when you lived there. You do not need one from Canada. Exactly when you need to get this done seems to change regularly; currently it's when you submit your application. For people who have lived in the US, theoretically this process holds for both the FBI and each state you've lived in that meets the above qualifications. You can find out some info about how to deal with each state at http://www.geocities.com/canadian_immigration_club/state.html, but call to verify the information is correct. The FBI info can be found at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm.
• Canadian fingerprints and Canadian fingerprint forms seem to be just fine. The right placeto go to get this done is: International Fingerprinting Services Canada: 619 - 470 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1V5. Phone: 604-708-3315 Fax: 604-602-3081 Web: http://www.policecheck.com. This is the fingerprint agent of the Vancouver Police Department. The Vancouver Police info on this is at http://vancouver.ca/police/clearances/index.htm. They list an additional option for fingerprinting, but recommended the above service as having shorter lines. Don't bother just going to the RCMP nearest you, they won't help you.
• You can probably have the process sped up by using the BC Provincial Nomination process. More information about it is at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/skilled/provnom/index.html. The folks at Faculty Relations can help. Anyone else know more about this? I heard the person who replaced Jennifer Cox is now in charge, but I don't know who that is.

• informationaboutpermanentresidenceapplicationsandthebcprovincialnomineeprogram.doc: Information from the faculty association on applying for Landed Immigrant status