Visa for Housesitting

[visitor987]

Hey there!
My boyfriend and I (both German and both approved for eTA) are thinking about doing house- and petsitting via Trusted Housesitters in Canada. The website offers to connect homeowners with pet lovers for a small fee. There is no money exchange between the home owner and the sitter and no contract that signals any type of employment but completely built on trust. We never considered that type of housesitting as work as it is a way for us to get to know locals, experience new cities and cuddle with cute pets. We are also only planning to stay for 1.5-3 weeks (and probably spending part of that time in hotels as well). According to the trusted housesitters website you can enter most countries on a tourist permission, but I have found several articles (mainly about the us) where the exchange was classified as work and entry was denied. I really want to be sure that there will be no issues at the border. Does anyone know if the eTA would be enough? Or which other type of visa might be the right one?

thanks a lot!

 

[scylla]

Hey there!
My boyfriend and I (both German and both approved for eTA) are thinking about doing house- and petsitting via Trusted Housesitters in Canada. The website offers to connect homeowners with pet lovers for a small fee. There is no money exchange between the home owner and the sitter and no contract that signals any type of employment but completely built on trust. We never considered that type of housesitting as work as it is a way for us to get to know locals, experience new cities and cuddle with cute pets. We are also only planning to stay for 1.5-3 weeks (and probably spending part of that time in hotels as well). According to the trusted housesitters website you can enter most countries on a tourist permission, but I have found several articles (mainly about the us) where the exchange was classified as work and entry was denied. I really want to be sure that there will be no issues at the border. Does anyone know if the eTA would be enough? Or which other type of visa might be the right one?

thanks a lot!

Yes, this would be classified as work. You would need a work permit in order to do this legally in Canada. Check out the Working Holiday / IEC visas and hopefully you are the right age for those.

If you do this just on an eTA, you'll technically be working illegally.

 

[scylla]

Hey there!
My boyfriend and I (both German and both approved for eTA) are thinking about doing house- and petsitting via Trusted Housesitters in Canada. The website offers to connect homeowners with pet lovers for a small fee. There is no money exchange between the home owner and the sitter and no contract that signals any type of employment but completely built on trust. We never considered that type of housesitting as work as it is a way for us to get to know locals, experience new cities and cuddle with cute pets. We are also only planning to stay for 1.5-3 weeks (and probably spending part of that time in hotels as well). According to the trusted housesitters website you can enter most countries on a tourist permission, but I have found several articles (mainly about the us) where the exchange was classified as work and entry was denied. I really want to be sure that there will be no issues at the border. Does anyone know if the eTA would be enough? Or which other type of visa might be the right one?

thanks a lot!

Just to confirm I understand correctly, you are paid a small fee?

 

[visitor987]

Yes, this would be classified as work. You would need a work permit in order to do this legally in Canada. Check out the Working Holiday / IEC visas and hopefully you are the right age for those.

If you do this just on an eTA, you'll technically be working illegally.

Thank you! I already looked into the working holiday visa. The problem with that is, that we can’t be sure if we would both get one (because it‘s a bit like a lottery) and we are definitely planning to travel together.
I know a lot of people just don’t say anything about the housesitting at the border control but I wouldn’t do that. I also wouldn’t mind paying more for the visa but as there wouldn’t be a proper employer, I think most won’t fit.

The frustrating thing for me is just that trusted housesitters advertised with people being able to travel around the world using tourist visas.

 

[visitor987]

Just to confirm I understand correctly, you are paid a small fee?

No, I payed a fee to sign up on the website (about 150$/year I think), which includes insurances, a vet hotline and things like that.

 

[scylla]

Thank you! I already looked into the working holiday visa. The problem with that is, that we can’t be sure if we would both get one (because it‘s a bit like a lottery) and we are definitely planning to travel together.
I know a lot of people just don’t say anything about the housesitting at the border control but I wouldn’t do that. I also wouldn’t mind paying more for the visa but as there wouldn’t be a proper employer, I think most won’t fit.

The frustrating thing for me is just that trusted housesitters advertised with people being able to travel around the world using tourist visas.

Trusted housesitters are making money off fees. They aren't immigration experts. I'm sure there's fine print somewhere there that says it's entirely up to you to make sure you understand and follow the immigration rules of the country you are entering.

You are right. I'm sure there are people who do this on eTAs. Technically that is working illegally since you're exchanging your services for free housing.

 

[scylla]

No, I payed a fee to sign up on the website (about 150$/year I think), which includes insurances, a vet hotline and things like that.

Ah - got it. That doesn't really change anything. CBSA would still view this as working. You're getting a benefit (free housing) in exchange for a service (the housesitting). The free housing is a form of payment (although not monetary). Housesitting is normally a paid service in Canada - so technically this is entering the labour market without a work permit.

 

[visitor987]

Thanks! Yes that is what I feared. I didn’t think about that at first, because I would even pay to borrow peoples‘ pets for a week. (One our own just sadly doesn’t fit into our working schedule right now.)

But there is no visa that would guarantee (of course only if we met the requirements) us both to be able to go to Canada and housesit, am I right?
Also the normal working permits are often for a longer time and hard to get. (we would probably only be doing that for 5-10 days)

seems like it will be easier to stay in hotels in Canada and housesit in Europe I was really hoping to combine both.