For the past eight months I have been calling various employers and recruitment agencies trying to find an LMO available position in the Lloydminster and Edmonton areas with very little luck. I have sent in around 100-200 resumes/cover letters and just got back from a three and a half month stay in Alberta where I was led on by a company with several LMO's in processing. About a week before I had to leave, and after three months of them telling me that they were going to hire me as soon as the LMO's became available, I found out that they filled every one with a group of South Koreans. Now I'm back in the states with no idea on what to do next... All I want is to be with my long-time girlfriend in Alberta, but it seems damn-near impossible to get there... Does anyone have any advice to help? I would greatly appreciate anything right now... We are both just sick and tired of this process...
US Citizen needing help after bleak 8 month job search
- Thread starter CrzyGK
- Start date
If your long-term girlfriend is Canadian and your intention is to live together in Canada, then sponsorship would be the way to go. In order for her to sponsor you, you guys will need to either become common-law (live together continuously for a year) or get married.
Originally, I was looking for work in IT, but I was told by several TFW recruiters that it is almost impossible to get an LMO for that kind of work, so now I've been forced to look for a manufacturing/labour job since those seem to be the only LMO-available positions around... Thanks for the replies.
Canuck, if that's the case, how do you live together continuously for a year if you are not a Canadian citizen? I am a US citizen looking to get work in Victoria but it seems like I need to have my work VISA first, but I can't get a work VISA without a job offer? What is the best way to go about it?canuck_in_uk said:
You can come as a visitor and extend your status in order to stay for a year. Or you can spend 6 months together in Canada and then 6 months together in the US. Or you can spend the time in a third country.mcramer2011 said:
After you become common-law, the sponsorship process will take around 8-10 months, so you should factor around 2 years altogether. Or you get married and apply much sooner.
In Edmonton, that might be tough to find IT work. My brother in law is a Sys-Admin professional and still looking for work after six months. Hope you find an answer. 
Well, I "only" learned Law in the US but it seems to me that one problem with getting married "JUST" to come work in Canada would be Immigration Canada assuming that it's fraudulent. That and the Canadian citizen is "on the hook" financially for the support of the non-Canadian citizen for TEN YEARS. I am told that, yes, even if the Canadian citizen is the WOMAN. They expect the woman to financially support the man, which flies in the face of traditional "marriage." In the provinces other than Quebec, even.canuck_in_uk said:
The only legal "hitch" I can see to that is that Immigration Canada is wacked-out like that and will expect the wife to support the husband even if she doesn't have a job - which will make them cast a suspicious eye on the marriage. (It gets wackier than that - in the US they seem to have the convoluted notion that any "interracial" marriage is automatically "suspect"....)
No - it's not ten years. It's a three year obligation for spouses. The ten year obligation applies to parents and dependent children.choctawindian said:
Yes - the obligation still applies even if the sponsor doesn't have a job.
CrzyGK,
Did you ever find work? Someone on this forum (from the US) suggested US citizens should try finding work with US companies that have operations in Canada. Once you're in (state side), you can push for a transfer to Canada. The poster said it worked for him and a few other people. Unfortunately, I can't find the thread but you should consider that as an option since it's easier for you to network with the right people in the US.
All the best.
Did you ever find work? Someone on this forum (from the US) suggested US citizens should try finding work with US companies that have operations in Canada. Once you're in (state side), you can push for a transfer to Canada. The poster said it worked for him and a few other people. Unfortunately, I can't find the thread but you should consider that as an option since it's easier for you to network with the right people in the US.
All the best.