Best option for American to work in Canada temporarily?

[NordLord]

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend is here in Canada and I've been staying with her and her parents for 4 months struggling to figure out how to work. I just want to not be so much of a burden on her parents while staying with them so I can get to know my girlfriend for the future. We're both 18.

I've reached out to multiple places of work who are willing to hire me with written offers and such. Its pretty depressing staying here by myself while everyone works and not being able to go out and do things while I'm here.

I will be applying to extend my stay in January 2019, as I have entered in August 1st 2018, and hope to be here for greater than 12 months in one time period so that when I go to apply for permanent residence I can file as her common-law partner. But that comes later, I just want to be able to do things like buy her flowers and christmas presents for her parents for supporting me.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Apologies for the edit: in Victoria B.C.

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend is here in Canada and I've been staying with her and her parents for 4 months struggling to figure out how to work. I just want to not be so much of a burden on her parents while staying with them so I can get to know my girlfriend for the future. We're both 18.

I've reached out to multiple places of work who are willing to hire me with written offers and such. Its pretty depressing staying here by myself while everyone works and not being able to go out and do things while I'm here.

I will be applying to extend my stay in January 2019, as I have entered in August 1st 2018, and hope to be here for greater than 12 months in one time period so that when I go to apply for permanent residence I can file as her common-law partner. But that comes later, I just want to be able to do things like buy her flowers and christmas presents for her parents for supporting me.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Apologies for the edit: in Victoria B.C.

You need a work permit in order to be able to work. To qualify for a work permit, you need a job offer and typically an approved LMIA from the employer. The LMIA step can be bypassed by Americans if the job offer you have is for an occupation that falls on the NAFTA list of occupations. However given you are 18 and (I assume) haven't completed college or university, it's unlikely you'd qualify for one of the occupations on the NAFTA list. (However you can certainly check it out.)

Assuming you aren't able to get a job that falls on the NAFTA list, your employer must obtain an approved LMIA before you can apply for a work permit. This is a very long (typically 4-6 months) and expensive process for the employer with no guarantee of approval. The employer also has to advertise the job for at least a month to prove no Canadian could be found for the role. As a result, the vast majority of employers aren't willing to go through the process. However you never know, you might get lucky and find an employer who is willing to do it.

 

[NordLord]

Yes that was my thought. The process isn't worth it for the grade of work I'd be doing and they would much rather just hire someone easier, especially with the high turnover rate.

What about here https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/working-while-waiting-for-permanent-residency.172682/ in this thread, is this still an applicable course of action?

 

[scylla]

Yes that was my thought. The process isn't worth it for the grade of work I'd be doing and they would much rather just hire someone easier, especially with the high turnover rate.

What about here https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/working-while-waiting-for-permanent-residency.172682/ in this thread, is this still an applicable course of action?

Yes - this is applicable - but only once you actually qualify and apply for PR through spousal sponsorship. It doesn't help you at all now. To qualify to apply for spousal sponsorship, you must either be married or have lived together for a full year continuously to become common law. Once you are either married or common law, you would submit an inland spousal sponsorship application and include an open work permit with that application. The open work permit will be approved around four months after the complete application is received. So if you plan to apply as common law, you're still about a year away from having an approved open work permit using the above process.

 

[NordLord]

From my understanding a conjugal partnership was listed as one of the family class sponsorship things. We have been together for 2 and a half years including the 4 months I've been here and have known eachother for around 5 or 6. I am referencing this page:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-conjugal.html

The only reason I would see this as not applicable is because feasibly we could be married, correct?

 

[scylla]

From my understanding a conjugal partnership was listed as one of the family class sponsorship things. We have been together for 2 and a half years including the 4 months I've been here and have known eachother for around 5 or 6. I am referencing this page:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/permanent-residence/non-economic-classes/family-class-determining-spouse/assessing-conjugal.html

The only reason I would see this as not applicable is because feasibly we could be married, correct?

You don't meet the requirements for conjugal. To qualify under conjugal, there must be real immigration barriers preventing you from getting married or becoming common law. As an American, you face zero barriers and can easily do either. If you apply as conjugal, refusal is guaranteed.