Italian citizen married to a canadian skilled worker

[aledima89]

Hi everybody!
This forum became my best friend in the past weeks, cause it's very helpful! I'd like to thanks all people writing here and giving precious adivces to who has a lot of doubt and questions, as I do!!!
I'm an italian citizen married to a canadian citizen and we are doing the application so that I can go to Canada with him, cause we've been living in italy till now but we decided to go back to canada for a better future together!
Anyway, we are going through a looooot of problems doing this application and I'm basically freaking out cause my mind is overwhelmed by so many doubts I can't found a solution about! We are doing the outland application cause it's faster to obtain a response: my husband will move soon to toronto to go back to his old job and I will wait here in italy to get all the papers ready :-[ I know that I can go to canada as a tourist for a period of maximum 6 months, asking for a visa exemption while I'm there. My question is: am I allowed to work during those months??? My husband is a plumber so, according to the NOC, he is a level B skilled worker (NOC code 7251) and I read this on the CIC website:
"However, your spouse or common-law partner may be able to apply for an open work permit—allowing him or her to accept any job with any employer—if you meet one of these conditions: you are
- allowed to work in Canada for at least six months,
- doing work in Canada that meets a minimum skill level (usually work that requires at least a college diploma) and
- doing a job listed in Skill Level 0, A or B in the National Occupational Classification"

I'm losing my mind thinkin about that I won't be able to work waiting for a responde from the Canadian government!!! It's not only about money, it's also cause I will got depressed if I will have to stay home everyday without anything to do!!!!
Thanks in advance to who will reply!!!
Alessandra

 

[Kayaker]

Is your husband a Canadian citizen, or has he gained PR as a skilled worker?

 

[aledima89]

He's a canadian citizen! Actually, he has the double citizenship: italian and canadian.

 

[Kayaker]

For a Canadian citizen sponsoring his spouse/common law partner for PR, his (the Canadian citizen's) occupation does not matter.

You cannot work while you are visiting Canada. You can visit for 6 months, and apply (online) for an extension. All that's fairly easy. But you cannot work, or study in Canada. What you CAN do to fill the time is do an online course for a school that is NOT in Canada. If you want to take some courses online in Italy, that's no problem. You can also do online work, if it's not for a Canadian company, and your clients are not Canadian. (It's a slightly grey area, so as a rule of thumb, the less this online work has to do with Canada the better. Your employer cannot be Canadian, your clients should not be Canadian, and it would probably be better if they paid you outside Canada, such as to your bank account in Italy.)

 

[aledima89]

What about if I already sent an application to a Canadian University? Will I be allowed to attend it?

 

[Kayaker]

You can attend it if you apply for and get a student visa. (A student visa application is separate from your PR application, I believe, so you can apply for both at the same time.)

 

[aledima89]

Ok.. so there's no way that I can work in Canada while I'm waiting for my application to be accepted, right? Not even if I receive a job offer and I apply for a work permit? That's so stupid!!! How can they think that I can be sitting on a couch for 1 year and half????

 

[Kayaker]

If you receive a job offer, and your employer is willing to sponsor you for a work permit (very costly and time consuming for your employer) then yes, you can work.

Actually, you will probably get PR much earlier than that. You say a year and a half - is that what the processing time says? That's a worst case scenario. Most cases are processed much faster, unless you have red flags such as criminal inadmissibility. For example, my VO, Manila, has a processing time of 15 months. I got PR in about 7 months, and I wasn't the only one - there were a lot of people getting it in 7, 8 months.

 

[aledima89]

Thank you so much for your time!! Another question: I called one of the physician listed on the government website, in order to get the appointment for the medical examination. I've been told that I have first to send the application and then I will be called by the canadian embassy in italy to set an appointmen.. but I thought that the medical labs have to be sent WITH the application, not after!!

 

[Kayaker]

You need an UPFRONT medical exam - you take the exam, and they give you a paper with your photo and your passport number, name, etc., and probably a bar code and number. The clinic sends the results are to a database, and you just send in the paper (it's a printout, doesn't need to be signed or stamped) to CIC with your PR application.

It should be possible - if you are having problems, maybe you can start another thread on the forum and ask other Italian people about their experiences. Good luck!