Obtaining work permit within Canada

[dstpcansgirlfriend]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your wonderful advice to my earlier questions. It's been very helpful, but I have another question. My partner has a TRV that's valid for 10 years. He was in Canada for six months and received an extension to his visitor status for another six months. We are planning on applying for PR/OWP in the fall of this year.

He is not studying or working here and is abiding by all the conditions of being in Canada a visitor. However, we were wondering about the possibility of him obtaining a work permit sooner rather than later. If a firm were to go through the LMIA process and obtain the necessary documentation and hire him as a foreign national, where would he apply for the permit? Would he have to go back to his country or could we get the permit in the USA? (He has a valid USA visitor visa so going there would be no problem). If he had to return to his own country, how would this affect our plan to apply as common law - would we have to go back to his country together? We've been living together for 7 months at this point. I could potentially go back with him for 2 weeks or so, but after that I would likely max out my holiday time from work.

I see that the CIC website says that you can apply for a work permit from within Canada if you have a temporary resident permit that is valid for six months or more. This only applies to permits and not regular TRVs right? His visitor status extension letter granted him exactly six months (as far as I can remember), and that is in addition to the six months that he was already in Canada.

Thanks for your advice - we are trying to explore different possibilities but don't want to mess anything up. If we need to be patient, then we will do so.

 

[canuck78]

You could also consider getting married and then applying for owp with your inland spousal sponsorship. Would still take 4 months to get the owp. Getting an employer to apply for an LMIA then getting approved for a work visa is a pretty long process with no guarantees.

 

[dstpcansgirlfriend]

Thanks Canuck78. We've discussed getting married, but we're just exploring different possibilities. Definitely something to keep in mind though.

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your wonderful advice to my earlier questions. It's been very helpful, but I have another question. My partner has a TRV that's valid for 10 years. He was in Canada for six months and received an extension to his visitor status for another six months. We are planning on applying for PR/OWP in the fall of this year.

He is not studying or working here and is abiding by all the conditions of being in Canada a visitor. However, we were wondering about the possibility of him obtaining a work permit sooner rather than later. If a firm were to go through the LMIA process and obtain the necessary documentation and hire him as a foreign national, where would he apply for the permit? Would he have to go back to his country or could we get the permit in the USA? (He has a valid USA visitor visa so going there would be no problem). If he had to return to his own country, how would this affect our plan to apply as common law - would we have to go back to his country together? We've been living together for 7 months at this point. I could potentially go back with him for 2 weeks or so, but after that I would likely max out my holiday time from work.

I see that the CIC website says that you can apply for a work permit from within Canada if you have a temporary resident permit that is valid for six months or more. This only applies to permits and not regular TRVs right? His visitor status extension letter granted him exactly six months (as far as I can remember), and that is in addition to the six months that he was already in Canada.

Thanks for your advice - we are trying to explore different possibilities but don't want to mess anything up. If we need to be patient, then we will do so.

Yes - the six month rule only applies to TRPs (not TRVs - which is what he has). So he doesn't qualify under that rule. If he wants to apply for a work permit, needs to find an employer who is willing to give him a job offer and obtain an approved LMIA. Typically this is extremely difficult to do.

 

[dstpcansgirlfriend]

Thanks scylla. On the off chance that he did manage to go through the job offer/approved LMIA process,do you know if he'd have to go back to his home country to get the work permit, or could we apply in the USA?

 

[scylla]

Thanks scylla. On the off chance that he did manage to go through the job offer/approved LMIA process,do you know if he'd have to go back to his home country to get the work permit, or could we apply in the USA?

He can apply from within Canada. That's the least of your concerns. The extremely difficult / next to impossible part is the job offer + approved LMIA. Where is he from? Any chance he qualifies for an IEC?

 

[dstpcansgirlfriend]

Oh, that's very interesting. Thanks. He's from Argentina, so unfortunately I don't think he qualifies for the IEC.

Yes, I've heard that the LMIA is next to impossible to get, and I guess I understand why they make it difficult. We thought we'd sit down and look at all the options available to us though, just in case something comes up. Some friends here in Canada told us about a firm that had already gone through the LMIA process for another applicant (who ultimately fell through because he found another job elsewhere in Canada), and my partner was wondering if it was worth applying when the job was posted again.

Once again, thanks for all your help. This forum has been really excellent for advice.