open work permit - help!!!

[yleniuccia89]

Hi everyone,

I don't know if anyone has a similar experience but I think not... anyway here's my story and then my question.

I am Italian.
May 2013 - Moved to Canada with WHV

February 2014 - Moved to USA, Los Angeles (I have a green card)

April - Moved back to Vancouver for 1 month where my fiancé (Italian with a a study permit) lives, while looking for a job and house in Bellingham to be closer to him

May 12th - moved to Bellingham

Monday June 16th - Got Married in Vancouver

Now - I have a crappy job in bellingham, I only work 10hrs a week so can't pay rent or anything and can't find a better job. I just found out I can apply for an open work permit in Canada since my husband is there with a study permit and the idea is to move back temporary since my old employer there will have me work there again and work there until my husband receive his green card to the USA and then move there.

My lease here ends on July 28th and I want to move back to Vancouver by then but the processing time for an application submitted abroad is 3 months and I can't stay here that long. Since I have a stamp from the Canadian border valid until October 2014 should I just move there and after apply for the work permit as a change of status? Am I allowed to do that?

Thank you so much for your help!
Yle

 

[fkl]

Generally speaking you can only apply for wp in side Canada ONLY if you were already there on some non visitor status. Otherwise you can only apply for wp at your country of residence / citizenship.

However, if you are from a visa exempt country (i.e. do not require a visa to visit Canada which an italian citizen shouldn't need as stated here
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp?country=Italy

THEN you can apply for a work permit at the port of entry / Border. So take your fiancee's study permit and other documents along with your own and get a wp from the border.

 

[yleniuccia89]

Generally speaking you can only apply for wp in side Canada ONLY if you were already there on some non visitor status. Otherwise you can only apply for wp at your country of residence / citizenship.

However, if you are from a visa exempt country (i.e. do not require a visa to visit Canada which an italian citizen shouldn't need as stated here


THEN you can apply for a work permit at the port of entry / Border. So take your fiancee's study permit and other documents along with your own and get a wp from the border.

Hi Fkl,

wow I didn't know that! So Can I just got at the border together with my fiancé and I will be issued the open work permit straight away? Because my concern would be to have to wait 3 months outside Canada if I apply from outside!
Should I have my future employer write me a letter saying that I will be working there? Because I don't have sufficient funds to show in case they ask!

Thank you
Yle

 

[fkl]

Hi yleniuccia,

Yes, you can get wp at the port of entry that way.

However, the funds requirement is a different one and if you are spouse of a student, you are required to show enough funds for your expense for a year.

If either of you don't have that, probably a confirmed job offer should help. However, i don't know if such a job offer holds the same value as the one with LMO.

I can tell you that i had a job offer with LMO and i had no proof of funds requirement but that was because i had a confirmed well paying highly skilled job for which my employer got me an LMO. For a job offered to a work permit holder, the employer is not as such accountable to CIC and might very well just lay off or any thing.

So i am not really sure how would they treat it.

Your best bet is to carry as much funds as you can, along with a confirmed job offer, plus may be have your employer ready to possibly receive a confirmation call. The contact number, person name and designation should be listed on your offer. This might get you away.

Again my spouse also got an open work permit, but there was no funds concern because i had a confirmed LMO based job (nor does she plan to work any way). So this cannot be treated similar to your case unless your spouse already has enough funds for her study + living for both of you.

 

[yleniuccia89]

Hi yleniuccia,

Yes, you can get wp at the port of entry that way.

However, the funds requirement is a different one and if you are spouse of a student, you are required to show enough funds for your expense for a year.

If either of you don't have that, probably a confirmed job offer should help. However, i don't know if such a job offer holds the same value as the one with LMO.

I can tell you that i had a job offer with LMO and i had no proof of funds requirement but that was because i had a confirmed well paying highly skilled job for which my employer got me an LMO. For a job offered to a work permit holder, the employer is not as such accountable to CIC and might very well just lay off or any thing.

So i am not really sure how would they treat it.

Your best bet is to carry as much funds as you can, along with a confirmed job offer, plus may be have your employer ready to possibly receive a confirmation call. The contact number, person name and designation should be listed on your offer. This might get you away.

Again my spouse also got an open work permit, but there was no funds concern because i had a confirmed LMO based job (nor does she plan to work any way). So this cannot be treated similar to your case unless your spouse already has enough funds for her study + living for both of you.

my husband has both a study and work permit and to get that he needed to show proof of having 10.000$ which he didn't have but his dad wrote a support letter saying he would take care of all his expenses so I guess I will bring that with us too. On the CIC website and on my check list of the documents I need to bring it is not mentioned that I need to bring proof of money so maybe they won't ask! ;D

I cross the border almost every week and the officers there seems pretty nice so I hope I will find someone who will understand my position since the only reason I am moving to Canada is because there I already have a job while here I am having a hard time finding a good one! We'll see!

 

[fkl]

Sure - you do understand the difference between a work permit granted to a student (which has no job guarantee and therefore does not substitute proof of funds).

I don't really know how they would treat it but its best if you have both sources of evidence i.e. proof of his supporting funds as well as that of your job offer.

For an open work permit, already having a job offer is definitely a plus. I just don't know if they value it as much as it is in the case of LMO based wp. Logically, it shouldn't - but you have got to try to find out.

I believe you have a pretty good chance of getting it.

All the best.

 

[yleniuccia89]

Sure - you do understand the difference between a work permit granted to a student (which has no job guarantee and therefore does not substitute proof of funds).

I don't really know how they would treat it but its best if you have both sources of evidence i.e. proof of his supporting funds as well as that of your job offer.

For an open work permit, already having a job offer is definitely a plus. I just don't know if they value it as much as it is in the case of LMO based wp. Logically, it shouldn't - but you have got to try to find out.

I believe you have a pretty good chance of getting it.

All the best.

thank you so much have a good night!!