Cost of Immigration to Canada from the Philippines

When you plan to immigrate from the Philippines to Canada, you of course have to spend time and effort gathering together all the documents required by the immigration authorities in Canada. This is to ensure your application has the best possible chances of being successful. But there is also something else you should be keeping track of us as you put together your application. Money.

by Plumoyr / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

When you plan to immigrate from the Philippines to Canada, you of course have to spend time and effort gathering together all the documents required by the immigration authorities in Canada. This is to ensure your application has the best possible chances of being successful. But there is also something else you should be keeping track of us as you put together your application.

Money.

How much will it cost you to immigrate to Canada? What sort of a budget should you have planned out in order to successfully immigrate? And have you thought of all the expenses you will incur in the immigration process? Let’s put together a budget for someone in the Philippines who is considering migrating to Canada.

 

Canadian Government Fees

Let’s assume you’re applying through the Express Entry online portal which means you are applying under the category of Economic immigration. Let’s further assume you are applying under the Federal Skilled Workers program. Here are the official fees that you will be paying to the Canadian authorities:

Government Fees FEderal Skilled Worker	Cost in Canadian Dollards ($)
Application Processing Fee	$550.00
Right of Permanent Residence Fee	$490.00
Spouse’s Application Processing Fee (if applicable)	$550.00
Spoue’s Right of Permanent Residence Free (if applicable)	$490.00
Dependent Child Fee (per child)	$150.00
Total:	$1,040
Total for Married Couple	$2,080
Total for Married Couple with 2 children (example)	$2,380

If instead you apply under the Family Class because your spouse is sponsoring the rest of the family, then the government fees you will be paying to immigration authorities are as follows:

Government Fees Family Class	Cost in Canadian Dollars ($)
Sponsorship Fee	$75.00
Principal Applicant Processing Fee	$475.00
Right of Permanent Residence Fee	$490.00
Dependent Child Fee (per child)	$150.00

Let’s say you have 2 children and the 3 of you are being sponsored by your Canadian (or permanent resident) spouse, and that you will be paying Permanent Residence fees. The total fees come to CAD$1,340.00.

 

Other Fees and Expenses

We next look at fees or expenses you will be incurring mostly in the Philippines as you gather your documents and book your flight to Canada. Let’s start with language tests and then we’ll move through the other expenses:

Fee Description	Cost in Canadian Dollars ($)
IELTS	$250 (10,270 pesos)
Birth Certificate(s) and Marriage or Death certificates, if applicable	$3.50 each (140 pesos each)
Proof of “No Marriage”	$5.00 (195 pesos)
ePassport	$25.00 (950 pesos)
Adult Medical Exam	$415.00 (17,025 pesos)
Child Medical Exam (for each dependent child)	$235.00 (9,583 pesos)
Manila-Toronto Economy Class (per person, April 2018)	$1,200-$1,800

Let’s consider these costs as they would relate to a family of 4, with 2 adults and 2 young children, and how much these expenses would total in their case:

The total for this set of expenses adds up to CAD$10,517.50 or about CAD$10,500.00.

 

Settlement Funds

So far, we’re around CAD$10,000.00 but we now have to consider the largest expense for a family of 4 from the Philippines (or anywhere else of course) that is applying to immigrate to Canada: the amount of funds Canadian immigration authorities require you to have in your bank account in order to be able to support yourself as you establish yourself in your new home.

Size of Family	Funds in Canadian Dollars ($)
1	CAD$12,475
2	CAD$15,531
3	CAD$19,093
4	CAD$23,181
5	CAD$26,292
6	CAD$29,652
7	CAD$33,014
For each additional Family Member add	CAD$3,361

You have to either transfer these funds to a Canadian bank account in your name or have acceptable proof of funds and convince immigration authorities that you will deposit those funds in a Canadian bank account. In the case of our family of 4, we have a required total for settlement funds of CAD$23,181.00.

 

AND THE GRAND TOTAL IS

For our family of four:

Category	Total Required in Canadian Dollars
Government Fees (FSW)	$2,380.00
Other fees and expenses (some hypothetical)	$10,517.00
Settlement funds in your bank account	$23,181.00
Total for hypothetical Family of Four	$36,078

This means that our family of 4 from the Philippines will need over CAD$36,000 to cover fees, expenses, travel costs, and settlement fund requirements. In Philippine pesos at current exchange rates that’s about 1,384,000 pesos. A well-managed savings plan is clearly a key part of any immigration application and should be started years in advance if possible. So budget carefully and start saving those pesos as soon as possible!

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