Changing status (visitor to working permit)

[jameston1]

Hi All,

I am from Germany and I have been granted a work permit. There were some difficulties with the work permit process and I have had to re-upload documents online to finish the process. My flight to Canada will unfortunately land before my work Visa officially goes through, so I will be entering as a visitor, and hopefully within a couple weeks I will officially have my work permit.

My question: Do I have to leave the country and re-enter in order to change my status officially as a visitor to a work permit? (I've tried researching this but the answers tend to be aimed at how to change apply as a visitor who wants to work, and not for people who have already been accepted and are just waiting for the 4-6 weeks of processing time).

The help is very much appreciated!

Cheers,

James

 

[scylla]

I assume you'll be coming to Canada on an IEC/Working Holiday Visa? If so, yes - you'll need to leave the country and re-enter. You can either do this by flying out of Canada and then back in on an international flight. Alternatively, you can travel down to a US/Canada land border, exit Canada and then re-enter.

 

[jameston1]

Thank you for your response!

Yes, I will enter as a visitor and then roughly two weeks later my working holiday Visa will go through.

I will head down to the Washington/B.C border.

Thank you!