Trying to remain in canada working

[PIERCE8141]

Hello there. i am new to this forum. I currentally work for a company in calgary as a HET. My original work permit was from Feb-10-14 to Feb-10-15. Now within this time I was to complete and pass my interprovincial exams as a HET. Well it seems my company didnt apply in time for me which left me doing my exams in the last few weeks. Anyways I sat two exams (one off road and one on). Got official marks and found I had passed, only to get a phone call from education people following day stating that they had given me two off road exams. I have since sat the on road one and after pushing them found out a hour later that I have passed this one also. So im now a HET awaiting my certs. Meanwhile we had applied for a extension to my work permit as I hadn't my exams done. For this application they also required me to have a LMIA which I was not aware what exactly it was until lately. I had filled out my application and brought it to my company to verify I had everything in order before I sent it. So then I found out baout the LMIA and that they had currentally applied for it but it would take time. Anyways the HR person of the company came to me last week and said Oh we are now under a Audit from immigration canada and we wont be able to get the LMIA until we pass this Audit.
So now with all that in mind does anyone have any advice for me? I know I can work until i get a reply from my application, but I cant see that being positive as there is no LMIA with it. Or does the government know internally that I have applied and that I am waiting for the LMIA from Kenworth and that that is being delayed? Is there something else I should or can do? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[scylla]

Your work permit renewal won't be approved without an approved LMIA.

The LMIA approval takes a number of months to complete. As a first step, your employer must advertise the job for at least a month to prove that no Canadian could be found for the role. They must then pay a $1000 fee and submit the LMIA for processing which can take 2-4 months.

If your employer is under an LMIA audit, I think it's extremely unlikely the LMIA will be approved in time for your work permit to be approved.

At this point there's not much you can do but wait and see what happens.

 

[PIERCE8141]

This is what I assumed would be the scenario. Is there any other route one might take? I'm wondering if there under audit should I try find another employer???

 

[scylla]

Yes - finding a new employer would probably be a good idea. Note that you can't start working for your new employer until that employer obtains an LMIA and you have a new work permit based on that new LMIA.

You will also have to stop working with your current employer as soon as you work permit extension is refused.

 

[irishIan]

This happened to me too. My work messed up the first LMIA application and the company foreign worker program got audited delaying my LMIA. I think its moving along now but I'm not sure where it is. They have yet to charge the fee so who knows. I'm waiting 3 months now so i can see another month or two

 

[PIERCE8141]

Hey irishian. So it seems most companies getting audited due to McDonald's incident. Is your original work permit expired then? Did you send application for extension without LMIA??

 

[irishIan]

Yes, I'm currently out of status as my permit expired Nov 12 2014 but i applied to extend my permit with a letter saying that an LMIA application is in process. This gave me 'implied status' which allowed me to continue working legally for another 9 weeks after my permit expired. But the denial letter will come if the LMIA isnt processed and they tell you to stop working.
I have 90 days to apply for restoration of status which will hopefully give me enough time to get that LMIA and then apply for new work permit and restoration of status as a worker.

I will find out today apparently if i get the LMIA or not...... ???

 

[PIERCE8141]

Well I wish you well. My permit expired on Feb 1st so I wonder will I have mine weeks. We applied for extension in early to mid December. We had no LMIA at the time so sent it but didn't include a note

 

[irishIan]

i dont think oil prices will have a huge impact in cities like Edmonton and Calgary just yet. If you work in Fort MacMurray then its a different story but it all depends on what sector your job is in and if you get an LMIA then the government is actually approving the company to hire you

 

[irishIan]

If your employer is under Audit that means they where probably hiring cheap Foreign unskilled labor worked before 2014 not any more.

Not really. They will be auditing every company that fails in an attempt to get a positive LMIA....they told this to my boss after our first LMIA failed for advertisement shortfalls.

This is part of their new hardline stance on foreign workers.

 

[PIERCE8141]

Irishian have you heard any news yet?? From what I gathered everyone who currently has foreign workers and looking for LMIA s are getting audited. My company are very accurate in how they deal with this and still got the audit. Bare in mind the whole foreign worker system has been reformed. When I came here originally I didn't even need any LMIA or LMO as my trade was in high demand in Calgary.
A LMIA also addresses the issue that there is no Canadian suitable for the job. Canadians may be available but are any of them suitable for the job.

 

[irishIan]

Hey Pierce, i got my LMIA on Friday thank God... My boss rang me Friday morning saying that SC wanted proof that they tried to hire Canadians for the position. Luckily they hired 2 people since the ad went up so it was obvious that I'm not taking Canadian jobs

My second application went in Nov 7 2014
Approved Feb 6 2015

so it was 3 months once application went in so i think that they just wait about 3 months once they have all your application and then see what kind of effort your company made to hire people before they make the decision.