IEC Working Holiday permit expiring soon. Need to stay in Canada and work

[kizza387]

Hi my name is Kyle and I am an Australian Citizen living in Canada. I have an IEC Working Holiday visa at the moment which expires on April 22nd 2015 and I am currently employed as a labourer. My wife (Canadian) currently has her Australian Permanent Residency Application being processed which hopefully will be approved within the next 2 months, but we are not sure when it will be approved. I need to stay in Canada and work while we wait for my wife's approval for Australia. I have 2 trade certificates but I am not currently working in those fields.

My questions are:

What is my best option to stay and work?

Does it make any difference that I am married to a Canadian Citizen?

Could I explain my situation to a border officer at a point of entry and see if they can give me at least a 6 month work permit?

Can I re-apply for another IEC working holiday permit within Canada?


Please Help...

Thank you.

 

[scylla]

No - being married to a Canadian citizen won't help. No - you can't go to the border and request a six month work permit.

Your options are:

1) Apply for a new IEC if you qualify.
2) Have your employer obtain an approved LMIA and then apply for a closed work permit. (Note that if your employer doesn't already have an approved LMIA then it's too late to go with this options since LMIAs take a number of months to obtain.)

Alternatively you can also change your status to visitor in Canada, stop working once your IEC expires and remain in Canada as a (non working) visitor until it's time to leave.

 

[kizza387]

Thank you for your quick response