Interesting "friend",
Hansdza. Not too dissimilar from my story, except for a few things:
- The gender
- The degree being real, related, and multiple years
- Finding the LMIA being a matter of skill
- A willingness (and desire) to learn another language
- Hiring a lawyer
Funny how that works.
You ask how you prove that no Canadians are qualified. The answer is specialized knowledge. The company in question used particular software that I had experience for. Their entire backend was written using that software long before I ever showed up, and they were unable to find Canadians with experience in it. They really did try, and they really couldn't find any Canadians. They tried hiring and training a few people and it didn't work.
For what it's worth, I didn't end up using the LMIA for immigration - my wife had enough points with her education, and the company laid me off later (it hurts financially when you can't hire someone for a year). They were desperate when I interviewed, legitimately, and they needed me to help them. They had 82 candidates apply, and only 3 had any experience with the software in question. They offered jobs to two, but the candidates in question were already hired. The third was me.
I turned down my own ITA.
My wife wanted to do a sports program, but it was full. She wanted it because she likes personal exercise, and was sitting around - academia doesn't like hiring people on an OWP. I, on the other hand, am in a multi-year Business Administration program, which is certainly related to my ongoing job of running a company. Despite having P/R, I'm enrolled in next semesters classes and going to try to transfer to SFU - I told the immigration officer that I was a legitimate student, and I meant it. I'm finishing what I started. My GPA's acceptable (but not perfect), and I'm trying to give back by serving on the Education Council for the college.
Despite what you might think, I didn't game the system. I don't lie, nor do I manipulate it. I follow the rules.
It's true I expected this to take longer. In that sense, I was lucky, in much the same way that people on the 25 NOC list last year were. I was going to get here one way or another. The luck came in the manner, not the outcome.
To those who really want to immigrate to Canada might want to follow my friend's friend story. Come to Canada to "study" and find employer who want to apply LMIA with you. Hire a lawyer to overcome challenges that might come from officer processing the LMIA.
That's silly. If you want to do the LMIA, come to Canada, tell the immigration officer you're looking for someone to hire you on a LMIA. Have a return ticket and obligations back home, and go look for a job. Expect to get a visitor record, and have some interviews lined up beforehand. No need to bother with a study permit if that's your only plan.
Now that my friend's friend is a recent Canadian PR. I am happy for him. His dream of getting out of US came true. No complain to Canadian Immigration system from him since he got his PR application approved. Otherwise he would have been joining this forum and sputtering around as his score would have been in the range of 350 - 450..
If you're sputtering, you're doing it wrong. Be one step closer to your goals every day than the day before.
