Canadian Immigration and ACCA, CIMA, CFA or CMA

[Toronto_Boy]

Dear Talhaaz

“Work Permit/Visa” and “immigration visa” are two different type of visa for which requirements are different. In my personal view, it is easier to get immigration visa as compared to work visa, as already almost every type of professionals are available here in abundance. So no employer bothers to arrange for work visa for a worker from distant land. Even requirements are quite tough for that.

So, interested people and students in Pakistan may plan/prepare their case according to requirements of immigration visa and work toward that. It is more doable option with which thousands of Pakistanis immigrate to Canada each year.

You wrote, “My question is that if I become an ACCA member in Pakistan and then apply for CGA through MRA with ACCA, what will be my future prospects in Canada? Will I be able to get a Canadian work permit easily and find a well paid job?” Well you would be after all CGA, which is one of 3 preferable Canadian designations to Canadian employers, though without Canadian experience. You would be more preferable than other candidates who would not have Canadian designations or would be working toward one of those. Canadian designation and Canadian experience are two very important ingredients of getting a professional job in Canada. At-least you would have one of these two ingredients. I tell you upfront, it would be a huge advantage of having a Canadian designation. Unlike those who would be working hard to get a Canadian designation to survive in this economy after their landing, with efforts for better job, and with other responsibilities and obstacles. Still, you should also consider that you would be an immigrant from totally a different country, culture, economy, language, life style etc. etc. Please do not think that if you would have CGA and landing paper, you would not see any difficulty in finding a job. You must have to do efforts in new country/ environment and you would have to prove yourself to potential employers.

Just imagine about a queue of applicants competing for jobs. You would be ahead of many of them who would not have Canadian qualification. However, you would be behind those who have Canadian qualification plus experience.

ACCA/CGA from Pakistan, with a relevant degree, and at-least 2 or 3 years of relevant experience would satisfy requirements of getting immigration visa from Pakistan.


You wrote, “To sum up my question is that if I want to migrate to Canada, which one is a better option. To gain CGA through MRA or to go for ICAEW….”

I can simply point out some considerations from Canadian perspective. You would have to decide yourself.

ICAEW is a good qualification. You may get a good job solely basis of it, but generally speaking employers ask for Canadian designations. If you go for CICA’s CA after ICAEW, you would have to take reciprocity exam. Also, CICA most likely would not accept your Pakistani public accounting experience so eventually you would have to get a job in CICA ATOs to satisfy CICA’s experience requirement. Finding a job in ATO here is quite a difficult task specially for an immigrant. Your job search criteria would be limited to ATOs. However, it is upto your luck. So if you could not get a job in ATO, you cannot complete CICA’s CA.

With CGA (through ACCAs MRA), you would already have a Canadian designation to find a job in industry or in public accounting. With CGA, if you want to get CICAs CA, you would have to write only final UFE exam (of CICA). Still you would have to satisfy public accounting experience requirement in CICA approved ATOs.

So choice is yours. Either ACCA then ICAEW then reciprocity exam for CICA and experience in ATO, or ACCA, CGA through MRA, UFE exam for CICA and same experience in ATO.

I hope it helps.

Regards