Please help: Work Permit or Job Offer, what's first?

[gacillo2]

Hello all of you people,

I am thinking of going to Canada to work there. I am trying to find out what's better, applying for the Skilled Workers program or rather for the Temporary Work Permit. What are roughly the drawbacks/advantages of each one? Regarding the Temporary Work Permit I saw on the Citizen and Immigration Canada web site that you need a written job offer from your employer. However, when I look at job offers, sometimes the employer is requiring a work permit for you to be a potential candidate. Could somebody please clarify these points?

Any comments, experiences you might have had before are very welcome,

Cheers

 

[neochan]

For Temporary Work Permit, you need to have a job offer then LMO then apply for a visa after which at the point of entry a work permit will be issued.

 

[Mermaid3011]

Hello all of you people,

I am thinking of going to Canada to work there. I am trying to find out what's better, applying for the Skilled Workers program or rather for the Temporary Work Permit. What are roughly the drawbacks/advantages of each one? Regarding the Temporary Work Permit I saw on the Citizen and Immigration Canada web site that you need a written job offer from your employer. However, when I look at job offers, sometimes the employer is requiring a work permit for you to be a potential candidate. Could somebody please clarify these points?

Any comments, experiences you might have had before are very welcome,

Cheers

Hi Gacillo,

you have a number of options but almost all of them require a job offer from a Canadian employer:

1. Temporary Work Permit
you'll have to find an employer who is willing to give you a job offer and do the paperwork for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). Once this LMO is done you can apply for a temporary work permit. This can take up to 6 months - depending on the province where you are applying and the kind of job you like to do. These days it can also happen that the LMO is denied (if a Canadian could do the job, they will not give your employer permission to hire a foreign worker). Then you'd have to go another route.

2. You apply for Permanent Residency
If you look at the CIC homepage you will find 3 possible ways to apply for Permanent Residency as skilled worker... take your time and read through these pages. It's a lot of information but you have to understand the different programs! If you make it through the process and receive your Permanent Residency you could come and search for a job in Canada. The Permanent Residency gives you the right to work in Canada without a Work Permit.

The problem these days is that for most cases you need a job offer or you must be trained in one of the 38 occupations in need (according to the list on the CIC homepage).

Many employers dont want to go through the hassle of applying for an LMO or AEO for a foreign worker. They receive enough applications from Canadians or PR holders. That's why they state in their job postings "Work Permit required".... they dont want applications from foreign workers who need help with their work permits.

But sometimes - in remotely rural areas of Canada or if the employer can't find Canadians/PRs who want to do the job - you might be lucky and find an employer who is willing to help you and wait for you until you can start working.


Most of the people here are going both routes. They are applying for jobs to find an employer and get a TWP (temporary work permit). Once they have the TWP they start the application as Permanent Residents.

Oh and have a look at the Provincial Nominee Programs. These are some special programs to receive a PR sooner/easier. But I believe most of the PNPs require a job offer from a Canadian employer as well...

good luck!

 

[gacillo2]

Thanks a lot Mermaid3011 for all this information you've given me. I've appreciated very much. As far as TWP is concerned, things seem to be clear to me.

PNP's might require a job offer too (case of Alberta for instance).

Now I turn back to the skilled workers program. Let's say, I start the process (by the time I search for a job) for permanent residence visa. That must take some time. Now let's suppose I got the permanent residence but I am not interested in going to Canada straight-forward but keep on working where I am and search for a canadian job in the distance so that I have a job by the time I arrrive in Canada. Is this permanent residence visa non-expirable? if not: When does this visa expire after date of issue?

Thank you very much again