Hi everyone,
I have a couple of queries regarding work permit applications, temporary residence and entry to Canada that I hope someone might be able to advise me on.
Last month I submitted an application for a work permit with LMIA exemption having been offered a job in Toronto with a contract of 2 years (with the possibility of a third year). I currently live in Japan, where I have resided since June 2016. A few days ago I received a request for further information. They have asked for (a) police certificate(s). Unfortunately, the wording is a bit garbled. Here is the appropriate line from their request, where I have kept the formatting as it appears:
"Police certificate: From each country/state where the residence period has been six months or longer since the age of 18, provide an original police clearance certificate from Japan This must be received at this office by: 2018/08/30."
Because of the ambiguity that results from the grammar, I am not sure if submitting a police certificate from Japan only -- and not from the UK; the country of my citizenship -- is sufficient. I have already contacted the police here in Japan, and should receive the document by the end of the coming week. Getting one from the UK is much less trivial and it's a much more difficult process to get the appropriately translated documents from Japan to the UK and then to receive and upload it to my application page. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it usual to be asked for a police certificate only from a single country; one that is not your country of citizenship? Or should I be reading the mention of "Japan" in their request as an error, and assume they will want a police clearance certificate from both Japan AND the UK?
Another query relates to my travel plans. I finish work on Japan at the end of August and have plans to leave for Toronto early September. I am hopeful the application will have been approved by then, but I'm aware that it might not be. I currently have the intention to go to Toronto for only 2 days and then travel back to the UK until a couple of days before my employment is due to start in mid-September. (This is simply because my new employer will pay some moving expenses between Tokyo and Toronto, plus it is much cheaper for me to travel Japan -> Canada -> UK -> Canada than pay for two single fares Japan -> UK -> Canada). Will I have problems entering Canada if my work permit application is still processing even though I have an ETA? I will not be carrying out any work-related activities at that time; simply travelling in this way for convenience and to store a few of my possessions in Toronto before taking time off in the UK. Would it be likely that I could be refused entry even though I will have in my possession an itinerary for forward travel while waiting for the application to be cleared?
This was a long post, so thank you to anyone who has read it and is able to offer their opinions, experiences relating to this sort of thing.
I have a couple of queries regarding work permit applications, temporary residence and entry to Canada that I hope someone might be able to advise me on.
Last month I submitted an application for a work permit with LMIA exemption having been offered a job in Toronto with a contract of 2 years (with the possibility of a third year). I currently live in Japan, where I have resided since June 2016. A few days ago I received a request for further information. They have asked for (a) police certificate(s). Unfortunately, the wording is a bit garbled. Here is the appropriate line from their request, where I have kept the formatting as it appears:
"Police certificate: From each country/state where the residence period has been six months or longer since the age of 18, provide an original police clearance certificate from Japan This must be received at this office by: 2018/08/30."
Because of the ambiguity that results from the grammar, I am not sure if submitting a police certificate from Japan only -- and not from the UK; the country of my citizenship -- is sufficient. I have already contacted the police here in Japan, and should receive the document by the end of the coming week. Getting one from the UK is much less trivial and it's a much more difficult process to get the appropriately translated documents from Japan to the UK and then to receive and upload it to my application page. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it usual to be asked for a police certificate only from a single country; one that is not your country of citizenship? Or should I be reading the mention of "Japan" in their request as an error, and assume they will want a police clearance certificate from both Japan AND the UK?
Another query relates to my travel plans. I finish work on Japan at the end of August and have plans to leave for Toronto early September. I am hopeful the application will have been approved by then, but I'm aware that it might not be. I currently have the intention to go to Toronto for only 2 days and then travel back to the UK until a couple of days before my employment is due to start in mid-September. (This is simply because my new employer will pay some moving expenses between Tokyo and Toronto, plus it is much cheaper for me to travel Japan -> Canada -> UK -> Canada than pay for two single fares Japan -> UK -> Canada). Will I have problems entering Canada if my work permit application is still processing even though I have an ETA? I will not be carrying out any work-related activities at that time; simply travelling in this way for convenience and to store a few of my possessions in Toronto before taking time off in the UK. Would it be likely that I could be refused entry even though I will have in my possession an itinerary for forward travel while waiting for the application to be cleared?
This was a long post, so thank you to anyone who has read it and is able to offer their opinions, experiences relating to this sort of thing.