Advice for if Canadian Experience Class is not an option.....

[sw9350]

Hi (apologies in advance for the length of this post!),

I am an Exploration Geologist from the UK currently in Canada on a 2 year working holiday visa (expires March 2019). I work in the mineral exploration industry and was hoping to get PR through Canadian Experience Class. However, I have just found out that the 80+ hours a week I am working during the short exploration season mean no more to the Canadian Immigration authorities than a 30 hour working week. I had been anticipating that I needed to collect the 1560 hours of work experience (which I have already exceeded) to count as 1 years Canadian work experience! I am aware that I still have the time to accumulate this number of weeks work but given that the work I do is controlled by the harsh Canadian climate and mostly occurs in the summer (and perhaps a short 1-2 month window on a winter drill program if you are lucky) the chances of me being able to get the sufficient number of weeks experience to apply isn’t looking promising. Does anyone have any advice on other ways that I could apply for permanent residency or get an extension to my work permit to enable me to stay beyond next March?

I should add that the work I, and the overwhelming majority of geologists I have met in this industry, do is on a contract basis. There is little opportunity for permanent work (unless you hold a senior position) so I doubt that some kind of work permit sponsorship would be an option. There is, however, a high demand for workers in season. It seems daft that Canada would turn away in demand skilled workers simply because they are unable to gain enough weeks experience when it is typical of the industry to have about 8 or 9 months worth of work condensed into 4 months over summer.

While there is a chance I may still be able to satisfy the criteria before my permit expires I don’t want to be leaving anything to chance and would like to explore other options that would enable me to stay here. Has anyone else had this sort of issue? If so, how did you work around it? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

[scylla]

You cannot extend an IEC - and you do not qualify for a second one given you are from the UK. If you want to continue working past the duration of your IEC, your employer would need to obtain an LMIA so that you can apply for a closed work permit.

Do you happen to have 1 year of work experience from outside of Canada? If so, you can look into the Express Entry program (FSW stream).

 

[scylla]

And BTW - you are absolutely correct in your (now) understanding of how work experience is calculated. You need 52 weeks of full time work to make up a year of work experience. A week where you work 30 hours or more is simply counted as one week (regardless of how much you work). Extra hours cannot be carried over to form additional weeks.

 

[sw9350]

I do have just short of 18 months experience from the UK but under a different NOC, there is very little/no mineral exploration industry back there. As I stated before the work I do is contract work, I could ask my employer about this but he wouldn't be able to give me permanent work. Is this required or can I get a LMIA for a seasonal contract (next summer?).

I cannot beleive how massive this flaw is in the immigration process, I would have thought Canada of all places would understand how seasonal work can be. Finding out that working 84 hr weeks on a remote camp in the bush has the same value as a 30hr week is a complete insult. Is there no way to appeal these decisions/Do exceptions ever get made?